Courses

Courses by semester

Courses for

Complete Cornell University course descriptions are in the Courses of Study .

Course ID Title Offered
ASRC1121 Reel Africa
ASRC1202 Elementary Arabic II
This two-course sequence assumes no previous knowledge of Arabic and provides a thorough grounding in the four language skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. It starts with the alphabet and the number system and builds the four skills gradually and systematically through carefully selected and organized materials focusing on specific, concrete and familiar topics such as self identification, family, travel, food, renting an apartment, study, the weather, etc.). These topics are listed in the textbook's table of contents.  The student who successfully completes the two-course sequence will have mastered about 1000 basic words and will be able to: 1) understand and actively participate in conversations on a limited range of practical topics such as self-identification, family, school, work, the weather, travel, etc., 2) read and understand, with the help of a short list of words, passages of up to 180 words written in Arabic script, and 3) discuss orally in class and write a 50-word paragraph in Arabic.  The two-course sequence aims to take the student from the Novice to the Intermediate Mid level according to the ACTFL proficiency guidelines.

Full details for ASRC 1202 - Elementary Arabic II

Spring, Summer.
ASRC1500 Introduction to Africana Studies
This course offers an introduction to the study of Africa, the U.S., the Caribbean and other diasporas.  This course will examine, through a range of disciplines, among them literature, history, politics, philosophy, the themes - including race/racism, the Middle Passage, sexuality, colonialism, and culture - that have dominated Africana Studies since its inception in the late-1960s. We will explore these issues in the attempt to understand how black lives have been shaped, in a historical sense; and, of course, the effects of these issues in the contemporary moment. This course seeks to introduce these themes, to investigate through one or more of the disciplines relevant to the question, and to provide a broad understanding of the themes so as to enable the kind of intellectual reflection critical to Africana Studies.

Full details for ASRC 1500 - Introduction to Africana Studies

Fall, Spring.
ASRC1841 FWS: Exotic/Erotic Blackness: Race, Sex and Cultural Consumption
How did Blackness become an object of curiosity, desire and fascination? How did it become exotic? In this course, we will see that this is not the result of a recent development in the representation of black bodies. Rather the construction of Blackness as exotic/erotic originates as far as the beginnings of colonialism. We will look at how and why black bodies have been sexualized and commodified through literary and media representation. We will then turn to works by black intellectuals and writers who analyze and resist this form of cultural consumption. Students will critically address these issues and demonstrate their knowledge of the material through close readings and essay writing.

Full details for ASRC 1841 - FWS: Exotic/Erotic Blackness: Race, Sex and Cultural Consumption

Fall.
ASRC1900 Research Strategies in Africana and Latino Studies
The digital revolution has made an enormous amount of information available to research scholars, but discovering resources and using them effectively can be challenging. This course introduces students with research interests in Latino and Africana Studies to search strategies and methods for finding materials in various formats (e.g., digital, film, and print) using information databases such as the library catalog, print and electronic indexes, and the World Wide Web. Instructors provide equal time for lecture and hands-on learning. Topics include government documents, statistics, subject-specific online databases, social sciences, the humanities, and electronic citation management.

Full details for ASRC 1900 - Research Strategies in Africana and Latino Studies

Spring (weeks 8-14).
ASRC2112 Black Spirituality, Religion & Protest
This course examines Black spirituality, religion, and protest from an historical perspective, beginning with African traditions and Christianity during enslavement, which created resistance ideology and racial nationalism. Prophetic Christianity and church formation became primary political weapons after enslavement, particularly in the Age of Jim Crow, and foundationally led to twentieth century civil rights movements. While exploring these themes, the course will also analyze the complexities and contractions (i.e. Southern Baptist Convention, Nation of Islam and Black Lives Matter) inherent in resistance movements based on spiritual leadership.

Full details for ASRC 2112 - Black Spirituality, Religion & Protest

Spring.
ASRC2200 Intermediate Arabic II
In this two-course sequence learners continue to develop the four language skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing and grammar foundation through the extensive use of graded materials on a wide variety of topics.  While more attention is given to developing native-like pronunciation and to grammatical accuracy than in ARAB 1201 and ARAB 1202, the main focus of the course will be on encouraging fluency and facility in understanding the language and communicating ideas in it.  The student who successfully completes this two-course sequence will have mastered over 1500 new words and will be able to: 1) understand and actively participate in conversations related to a wide variety of topics beyond those covered in ARAB 1201 and ARAB 1202, such as the history and geography of the Arab world, food and health, sports, economic matters, the environment, politics, the Palestine problem, etc. 2) read and understand, with the help of a short list of words, passages of up to 300 words, and 3) discuss orally in class and write a 150-word paragraph in Arabic with fewer grammatical errors than in ARAB 1202.  The two-course sequence aims to take the student from the Intermediate Mid to the Advanced Mid level according to the ACTFL proficiency guidelines.

Full details for ASRC 2200 - Intermediate Arabic II

Spring.
ASRC2204 Introduction to Quranic Arabic
This course is designed for students who are interested in reading the language of the Qur'an with accuracy and understanding. The first week (4 classes) will be devoted to an introduction of the history of the Qur'an: the revelation, collection, variant readings, and establishment of an authoritative edition. The last week will be devoted to a general overview of "revisionist" literature on the Qur'an. In the remaining 12 weeks, we will cover all of Part 30 (Juz' 'Amma, suuras 78-114) and three suuras of varying length (36, 19, and 12).

Full details for ASRC 2204 - Introduction to Quranic Arabic

Spring.
ASRC2212 Caribbean Worlds
This introductory course to the study of the Caribbean will begin with examinations of what constitutes the Caribbean and an understanding of Caribbean space.  We will then study its peoples, contact between Europeans and indigenous peoples, African enslavement and resistance, Indian indentureship and other forced migrations.  By mid semester we will identify a cross-section of leading thinkers and ideas. We will also pay attention to issues of identity, migration and the creation of the Caribbean diaspora. Constructions of tourist paradise and other stereotypes and the development of critical Caribbean institutions and national development will be discussed as we read and listen to some representative oral and written literature of the Caribbean and view some relevant film on the Caribbean. This inter-disciplinary survey provides students with a foundation for more specialized coursework on the Caribbean offered in our department.

Full details for ASRC 2212 - Caribbean Worlds

Spring.
ASRC2360 Music and Islam
What does Islam "say" about music? This course will trace circulations of this question in scholarly, popular, media, and religious discourses. Why and how does it matter what sound is called music and not, what music is called Islamic and not? We ask both how the thinking and the doing of music and Islam have been entangled in particular moments and places and how and why Muslim and non-Muslim scholars have sought out these entanglements. No prior study of music or Islam is required.

Full details for ASRC 2360 - Music and Islam

Spring.
ASRC2505 Literature, Sport, and Ideology
There is a sentence that is 65 pages long in Don DeLillo's novel "Underworld." Nothing but an unending series of elliptical thoughts, phrases, incomplete thoughts, fragments. Only a novel about the "shot heard around the world," we might argue, could produce such a sentence. We will read DeLillo's novel, and not only to see if this sentence actually exists. There is nothing more ideological than sport -there is a good reason why some critics prefer to call it "war by other means" - in this course we will explore the connection amongst sport, ideology and literature. We will read novels, historical memoirs, short stories and works that defy categorization. We will wander the globe, from cricket in the Caribbean (CLR James) to football in Latin America (Eduardo Galeano, "Soccer in Sun and Shadow"), books about baseball ("The Boys of Summer") and a story about Roger Federer.

Full details for ASRC 2505 - Literature, Sport, and Ideology

Spring.
ASRC2512 Black Women in the 20th Century
This course focuses on African American women in the 20th century. The experiences of black women will be examined from a social, practical, communal, and gendered perspective. Topics include the Club Woman's movement, suffrage, work, family, black and white women and feminism, black women and radicalism, and the feminization of poverty.

Full details for ASRC 2512 - Black Women in the 20th Century

Spring.
ASRC2631 Race and Modern US History
This course surveys modern U.S. history, from Reconstruction to the contemporary period. It will examine how race has been the terrain on which competing ideas of the American nation have been contested. From struggles over citizenship rights to broader meanings of national belonging, we will explore how practices, ideas, and representations have shaped political, cultural, and social power. A key concern for this course is examining how groups and individuals have pursued racial justice from the late-nineteenth century to the present.

Full details for ASRC 2631 - Race and Modern US History

ASRC2670 The History and Politics of Modern Egypt
This lecture class will explore the socio-cultural history of modern Egypt from the late 18th century to the 21st century "Arab Spring." We will explore Egyptian history under the Ottomans and the Mamluks, the unsuccessful French attempts to colonize Egypt, and the successful British occupation of the country. We will then examine the development of Egyptian nationalism from the end of the 19th century through Nasser's pan-Arabism to the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. We will accomplish this with the aid of a variety of texts and media, including novels and films.

Full details for ASRC 2670 - The History and Politics of Modern Egypt

Spring.
ASRC2870 Freedom Writes: Literature of Global Justice Struggles
This course examines some major justice movements of the modern era, introducing students to a submerged history that should neither be idealized nor forgotten. One goal will be to connect the ongoing struggles for social justice of minoritized populations in the US with the history of struggles for justice by workers, women, and disempowered social groups across the world. We'll begin with the work of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and Gandhi, and conclude with a look at contemporary activist movements.  Along the way, we'll look at such cultural forms as AIDS quilts, urban murals, the music of Bob Marley, and theatrical productions from prisons, as well as Anna Deveare Smith's Twilight L.A. and Helena Viramontes' novel Under the Feet of Jesus.

Full details for ASRC 2870 - Freedom Writes: Literature of Global Justice Struggles

Spring.
ASRC2955 Socialism in America
"Why no socialism in America?" Scholars and activists have long pondered the relative dearth (compared to other industrialized societies) of sustained, popular, anticapitalist activity in the United States. Sure, leftist movements in the U.S. have often looked and operated differently than those in other parts of the world. But many Americans have forged creative and vibrant traditions of anticapitalism under very difficult circumstances. This class examines socialist thought and practice in the U.S. from the 19th century to the present. We trace intersections of race, class, and gender while exploring the freedom dreams of those who have opposed capitalism in the very heart of global power.

Full details for ASRC 2955 - Socialism in America

Spring.
ASRC3020 Representing Brooklyn: Race, Place and Popular Culture
Hip Hop/Hipster/Immigrant/Brownstone Brooklyn. This course borrows from hip hop's notion of "representing" to explore popular and cultural understandings of race and place in Brooklyn as depicted in print, music, film, and online. While today Brooklyn is New York City's hippest borough and the site of swift gentrification, booming real estate, and the ever-escalating displacement of immigrant and Black communities, in the 1980s and 1990s it was a hotbed of hip hop music, making the borough synonymous with Black cultural production. The course examines Black cultural production as it relates to representations of Brooklyn and deconstructs images and discourses that marginalize the borough's Black residents. Spanning the period from 1945 to the present day, the commodification of hip hop in the 1980s-1990s, and close readings of films including Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing," to reflect on how Black popular culture engages with Brooklyn's diverse communities. While materials are interdisciplinary in approach, our investigation is informed by anthropological, historical, and literary texts covering topics including immigration, youth culture, transnationalism, gentrification, authenticity, and classed, gendered and racialized inequality.

Full details for ASRC 3020 - Representing Brooklyn: Race, Place and Popular Culture

Spring.
ASRC3101 Advanced Arabic II
In this two-semester sequence, learners will be introduced to authentic, unedited Arabic language materials ranging from short stories, and poems, to newspaper articles dealing with social,  political,  and cultural issues. Emphasis will be on developing fluency in oral expression through discussions of issues presented in the reading and listening selections. There will be more focus on the development of native-like pronunciation and accurate use of grammatical structures than in the previous four courses. A primary objective of the course is the development of the writing skill through free composition exercises in topics of interest to individual students.  This course starts where ARAB 2202 leaves off and continues the development of the four language skills and grammar foundation using 18 themes, some new and some introduced in previous courses but are presented here at a more challenging level.  The student who successfully completes this two-course sequence have mastered over 3000 new words and will be able, within context of the 18 new and recycled themes to: 1) understand and actively participate in conversations, 2) read and understand, with the help of a short list of words, authentic, unedited passages of up to 400 words, and 3) discuss orally in class and write a 300-word paragraph in Arabic with fewer grammatical errors than in ARAB 2202.  The two-course sequence aims to take the student from the Advanced Mid to the Superior level according to the ACTFL proficiency guidelines.

Full details for ASRC 3101 - Advanced Arabic II

Spring.
ASRC3333 Ethics and Society: Aid and Its Consequences
The course looks at the connection between ethics and society.  It does so by focusing on the issues raised by the phenomenon of aid, giving or receiving it, and how we understand and react to it.  We seek to make sense of aid and its place In society.  We explore the ethics of aid from the point of view of philosophy.  We move to working through the implications of aid for (1) the giver; (2) the receiver; (3) the society, local and global; (4) the relations between individuals in a given society with respect to aid and; (5) relations between one society and its members and another society when they engage in aid-related activities.

Full details for ASRC 3333 - Ethics and Society: Aid and Its Consequences

Spring.
ASRC3480 Brazilian Culture through its Music
Few areas of cultural expression can rise to the importance of music in Brazilian life. This seminar-style course employs discussion, critical reading and listening – and hands-on music-making – to investigate Brazilian culture, history, and politics through the lens of its music.  Samba will be a significant focus, but we will also discuss a range of additional regional and national styles. Along with two class meetings per week, our "discussion" will coincide with rehearsals for Deixa Sambar, Cornell's Brazilian ensemble. The course will be taught in English. Music experience is not necessary, but engagement in music-making is an integral part of the course.

Full details for ASRC 3480 - Brazilian Culture through its Music

Spring.
ASRC3506 Slavery and Visual Culture
This interdisciplinary undergraduate lecture examines the visual culture of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade from the 16th century to the present. Lectures present artifacts, prints, paintings, photographs, sculpture, film and installation art that images the history of slavery and its profound contemporary resonance. Lectures and assignments consider the following themes: how does the gaze structure vision and influence the control of historical narratives? Which themes dominate the visual culture of slavery? How does visual culture encode memory, violence or racism? How did the visual culture of slavery produce and circulate new technologies of vison? Where is the history of slavery visible in the built environment or the local landscape? Students study artifacts in the May Anti-Slavery Collection at Kroch Library and artworks at the Johnson Museum. Field trip to nearby anti-slavery sites of memory.

Full details for ASRC 3506 - Slavery and Visual Culture

Spring.
ASRC3612 Pan-African Drum and Dance Ensemble
Pan-African Drum and Dance Ensemble is an introductory performance course where students learn performance traditions from across West Africa. No prior experience is necessary. Students may choose to focus on drumming or dancing.

Full details for ASRC 3612 - Pan-African Drum and Dance Ensemble

Fall, Spring.
ASRC4368 Reading Édouard Glissant
This seminar will focus on the writings of the polymorphous Martinican poet and thinker, Édouard Glissant (1928-2011).  We will attend to the historical context of French colonialism, particularly in the Caribbean, that gives his writing part of its impetus and to the anticolonial intellectuals with whom he engages (chiefly Aimé Césaire and Frantz Fanon) as well as to his major self-professed influences (William Faulkner, Saint-John Perse, Hegel) and to an array of interlocutors and fellow-travelers as well as a few dissenters. The seminar will examine the main preoccupations of Glissant's writing (world histories of dispossession and plantation slavery, creolization, Relation, opacity, flux, transversality, Caribbean landscapes as figures of thought, the All-World, etc.) but our focus will be on reading Glissant and attending carefully to the implications of his poetics and of his language for decolonial thought.

Full details for ASRC 4368 - Reading Édouard Glissant

Fall.
ASRC4602 Women and Gender Issues in Africa
There are two contrasting views of the status and role of women in Africa. One view portrays African women as controlled by men in all social institutions. Another view projects women as having a relatively favorable position in indigenous societies they were active with an identity independent of men's and no concentration of women in a private sphere while men controlled the public sphere. This course examines critical gender theories and women in historical and contemporary periods. The topics covered include: non-westernized/pre-colonial societies; the impact and legacy of colonial policies; access to education and knowledge; women in politics and the economy in local and global contexts; women's organizations; armed conflicts and peace; same gender love and evolving family values; the law and health challenges; the United Nations and World Conferences on Women: Mexico 1975, Copenhagen 1980, Nairobi 1985, Beijing 1995 and post-Beijing meetings, and the 2010 superstructure of UN Women, and Beijing +20 in 2015 with the UN Women's slogan "Empowering Women, Empowering Humanity: Picture it!"

Full details for ASRC 4602 - Women and Gender Issues in Africa

Spring.
ASRC4637 Viewing Black Girlhood
This seminar explores the narratives of Black girlhood in contemporary media and popular culture. This exploration will also deal with the dearth of existing narratives around Black girlhood and the complexities of their lived experiences in education, sexuality, and interaction with authority.

Full details for ASRC 4637 - Viewing Black Girlhood

Spring.
ASRC4721 Peace Building in Conflict Regions: Case Studies Sub-Saharan Africa Israel Palestinian Territories
This course focuses on issues of conflict, peace, and reconciliation in Israel and the Palestinian Territories as well as Sub-Saharan Africa. Both regions exemplify how issues ranging from nationalism and ethnocentrism to land, water and resource management, climate change and migration, as well as socio-psychological dynamics, can exacerbate conflicts. At the same time, these regions also exemplify how trans-border collaboration and regional integration, civilian peace building efforts, strategies for achieving historical justice, as well as science education and science diplomacy can become crucial tools for long-term peace-building, reconciliation and development. In this course we will work with and discuss issues of peace and conflict with policy-makers and local stakeholders involved in peace-building efforts.

Full details for ASRC 4721 - Peace Building in Conflict Regions: Case Studies Sub-Saharan Africa Israel Palestinian Territories

Spring.
ASRC4901 Honors Thesis
For senior Africana Studies majors working on honors theses, with selected reading, research projects, etc., under the supervision of a member of the Africana Studies and Research Center faculty.

Full details for ASRC 4901 - Honors Thesis

Spring.
ASRC4903 Independent Study
For students working on special topics, with selected reading, research projects, etc., under the supervision of a member of the Africana Studies and Research Center faculty.

Full details for ASRC 4903 - Independent Study

Spring.
ASRC6207 Black Feminist Theories: Sexuality, Creativity, and Power
This course examines black feminist theories as they are articulated in the cross-cultural experiences of women across the African Diaspora. We will explore a variety of theories, texts and creative encounters within their socio-political and geographical frames and locations, analyzing these against, or in relation to, a range of feminist activisms and movements. Some key categories of discussion will include Black Left Feminism, Feminist Movements in Latin America and the Caribbean and African feminisms. Texts like the Combahee River Collective statement and a variety of US Black feminist positions and the related literature as well as earlier black feminist articulations such as the Sojourners for Truth and Justice will also be engaged. Students will have the opportunity to develop their own research projects from a range of possibilities.

Full details for ASRC 6207 - Black Feminist Theories: Sexuality, Creativity, and Power

Spring.
ASRC6212 Michel Foucault: Sovereignty to BioPolitics
This course will explore the ways in which Michel Foucault's oeuvre transitions from a concern with sovereignty to a preoccupation with biopolitics. Foucault's early work (one understands that there is no absolute Foucaultian division into "sovereignty" and "biopolitics"), such as "Madness and Civilization," attends to the structure, the construction and the force of the institution -- the birth of asylum, the prison, while his later career takes up the question of, for want of a better term, "political efficiency." That is, Foucault offers a critique of sovereignty insofar as sovereignty is inefficient (neither the sovereign nor sovereign power can be everywhere; certainly not everywhere it needs or wants to be; ubiquity is impossible, even/especially for a project such as sovereignty) while biopower is not. Biopower marks this recognition; in place of sovereignty biopower "devolves" to the individual subject the right, always an intensely political phenomenon, to make decisions about everyday decisions -- decisions about health, sexuality, "lifestyle." In tracing the foucaultian trajectory from sovereignty to biopower we will read the major foucaultian texts -- "Madness and Civilization," "Birth of the Prison," "History of Sexuality" as well as the various seminars where Foucault works out important issues.

Full details for ASRC 6212 - Michel Foucault: Sovereignty to BioPolitics

Spring.
ASRC6321 Black Power Movement and Transnationalism
This seminar explores the international and transnational dimensions of the Black Power Movement, broadly defined. Beginning with an examination of transnationalism in the early 20th century, it examines the thought and political activities of African-American intellectuals and activists who crossed national boundaries, figuratively and literally, in the quest for black freedom. We will focus on the postwar era, particularly the 1950s through the 1980s, exploring transnationalism in the context of black feminism, Marxism, black nationalism, Pan Africanism, and other political traditions. We will examine the meeting and mingling of transnational discourses, ideologies, and activists in North America, the Caribbean, and Africa. 

Full details for ASRC 6321 - Black Power Movement and Transnationalism

Spring.
ASRC6368 Reading Édouard Glissant
This seminar will focus on the writings of the polymorphous Martinican poet and thinker, Édouard Glissant (1928-2011).  We will attend to the historical context of French colonialism, particularly in the Caribbean, that gives his writing part of its impetus and to the anticolonial intellectuals with whom he engages (chiefly Aimé Césaire and Frantz Fanon) as well as to his major self-professed influences (William Faulkner, Saint-John Perse, Hegel) and to an array of interlocutors and fellow-travelers as well as a few dissenters. The seminar will examine the main preoccupations of Glissant's writing (world histories of dispossession and plantation slavery, creolization, Relation, opacity, flux, transversality, Caribbean landscapes as figures of thought, the All-World, etc.) but our focus will be on reading Glissant and attending carefully to the implications of his poetics and of his language for decolonial thought. 

Full details for ASRC 6368 - Reading Édouard Glissant

Fall.
ASRC6600 Education and Development in Africa
In the 1950s and 1960s, the human capital theory that emphasizes the importance of formal education for achievement of full productive potential of individuals and economic growth and development of countries enjoyed a renewed popularity. African countries promoted educational expansion with the expectation that it would lead to socio-economic development. The initial euphoria, however, was followed by skepticism and then disillusion.  Education, as it was being organized, delivered, received, and utilized, began to be perceived even as a hindrance to development. The course examines the relationship between formal education and individual and national development. Different paradigms of development, including modernization and dependency theories, and Third World Forum, are discussed with an emphasis on the perceived and actual roles of education in individual and national development. The issues to be discussed include education and schooling, the role of primary, secondary, and higher education in development, the problems of employment, language, equity in access and results with a focus on gender, race, and social class. Case studies, including selected countries of the different African sub-regions, will be used for illustration.

Full details for ASRC 6600 - Education and Development in Africa

Spring.
ASRC6602 Women and Gender Issues in Africa
There are two contrasting views of the status and role of women in Africa. One view portrays African women as controlled by men in all social institutions. Another view projects women as having a relatively favorable position in indigenous societies they were active with an identity independent of men's and no concentration of women in a private sphere while men controlled the public sphere. This course examines critical gender theories and women in historical and contemporary periods. The topics covered include: non-westernized/pre-colonial societies; the impact and legacy of colonial policies; access to education and knowledge; women in politics and the economy in local and global contexts; women's organizations; armed conflicts and peace; same gender love and evolving family values; the law and health challenges; the United Nations and World Conferences on Women: Mexico 1975, Copenhagen 1980, Nairobi 1985, Beijing 1995 and post-Beijing meetings, and the 2010 superstructure of UN Women.

Full details for ASRC 6602 - Women and Gender Issues in Africa

Spring.
ASRC6637 Viewing Black Girlhood
This seminar explores the narratives of Black girlhood in contemporary media and popular culture. This exploration will also deal with the dearth of existing narratives around Black girlhood and the complexities of their lived experiences in education, sexuality, and interaction with authority.

Full details for ASRC 6637 - Viewing Black Girlhood

Spring.
ASRC6901 Independent Study
Independent study course in topics not covered in regularly scheduled courses. Students select a topic in consultation with the faculty member who has agreed to supervise the course work.

Full details for ASRC 6901 - Independent Study

Spring.
ASRC6903 Africana Studies Graduate Seminar
The seminar is coordinated and supervised by one professor but team taught by three or four faculty members per semester. Each participating faculty member is responsible for a topical segment of the course related to her or his areas of specialization or an area of interest pertaining to theory and methodology of Africana Studies.

Full details for ASRC 6903 - Africana Studies Graduate Seminar

Spring.
ASRC8901 Graduate Thesis
SWAHL1101 Elementary Swahili II
Elementary Swahili provides a foundation in listening, speaking, reading, and writing the basic grammatical structures and vocabulary. No prior knowledge of the language is required. Swahili (Kiswahili) is spoken in the East and Central parts of Africa. It is an official and national language in Tanzania, and in Kenya. During a first semester course, students engage in short conversation and communicative tasks, such as, greetings, introduction, daily routines, shopping, etc. Students learn to comprehend short and simple utterances about topics pertaining to basic personal information and immediate setting in day to day life. A Swahili second semester increases your oral fluency, grammar, vocabulary, writing, reading, and listening skills. All listening exercises will aim at preparing students to speak. Be ready to actively participate in conversations, to express yourself orally, and write stories/compositions. Literature and Cultural materials are incorporated into the course, along with audio, video, and web-based materials.

Full details for SWAHL 1101 - Elementary Swahili II

Winter, Spring, Summer.
SWAHL1107 Elementary Swahili for Global Health
This course is intended for students whom will be spending the summer in Tanzania for the Global Health Program.  To prepare students to live and learn in Tanzania, this course will provide an introduction to and foundation in basic Kiswahili.  Students will develop the capacity to communicate with Tanzanian peers and homestay families, as well as develop the competency to navigate community life in Tanzania. Since this is a one credit seminar, this course does NOT fulfill a language requirement for colleges or majors.This course is intended for students whom will be spending the summer in Tanzania for the Global Health Program.  To prepare students to live and learn in Tanzania, this course will provide an introduction to and foundation in basic Kiswahili.  Students will develop the capacity to communicate with Tanzanian peers and homestay families, as well as develop the competency to navigate community life in Tanzania. Since this is a one credit seminar, this course does NOT fulfill a language requirement for colleges or majors.

Full details for SWAHL 1107 - Elementary Swahili for Global Health

Spring.
SWAHL2102 Intermediate Swahili II
Intermediate Swahili levels I and II in general impart speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills beyond Swahili elementary level to participate with ease and confidence in familiar topics and exchange information on unfamiliar topics. Students are assigned communicative tasks such as respond to a situation with a short text and take part in a discussion after viewing short video clips and prompts to elicit speaking and listening competence and cultural awareness responses beyond elementary level. The language and cultural scenarios practiced are designed to help students demonstrate language responses beyond familiar topics, and to feel comfortable conversing with Swahili native speakers, as well as to blend in and feel welcomed as part of the community while exploring different topics such as acquaintanceship, relationships, health, festivals, education, sports, housing, politics, commerce, travel, etc. Short stories are used to depict cultural aspects such as cultural expressions, proverbs, sayings, and riddles. Literature and cultural materials are incorporated into the course, along with audio-visual and web-based material. In this course, students have an opportunity to participate in language conversation outside the classroom and explore the opportunities for study abroad in East Africa. Swahili Elementary I and II are prerequisite for this course. By the end of this course, students should be able to reach proficiency level Intermediate High according to the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) www.actfl.org.

Full details for SWAHL 2102 - Intermediate Swahili II

Spring.
WOLOF1118 Elementary Wolof II
Wolof is an African language. It is widely spoken in West Africa in countries such as Senegal, The Gambia and Mauritania. Wolof is the most widely spoken language in Senegal.  There are strong historical and contemporary links between the African American experiences and West Africa. Senegal and Wolof are important links in these experiences.  Wolof has some influence on some West European languages. Banana is a Wolof word and it is also an English word! Study Wolof, Know Africa and Know the world!

Full details for WOLOF 1118 - Elementary Wolof II

Spring.
WOLOF2119 Intermediate Wolof II
The course is structured around IsiZulu Sanamuhla, a set of web-based learning materials that features Zulu-speaking students and families in South Africa.

Full details for WOLOF 2119 - Intermediate Wolof II

Spring.
YORUB1109 Introduction to Yoruba II
A two-semester beginner's course in Yoruba Language and Culture. Organized to offer Yoruba language skills and proficiency in speaking, reading, listening, writing, and translation. Focus is placed on familiar informal and formal contexts, e.g., home, school, work, family, social situations, politics, etc. Course uses Yoruba oral literature, proverbs, rhetoric, songs, popular videos, and theater, as learning tools for class comprehension. First semester focuses on conversation, speaking, and listening.  Second semester focuses on writing, translation and grammatical formation. Through the language course students gain basic background for the study of an African culture, arts, and history both in the continent and in the diaspora. Yoruba language is widely spoken along the west coast of Africa and in some African communities in diaspora.  Yoruba video culture, theater, music, and arts has a strong influence along the west coast and in the diaspora.A two-semester beginner's course in Yoruba language and culture. Organized to offer Yoruba language skills and proficiency in speaking, reading, listening, writing, and translation. Focus is placed on familiar informal and formal contexts, e.g., home, school, work, family, social situations, politics. Course uses Yoruba oral literature, proverbs, rhetoric, songs, popular videos, and theater as learning tools for class comprehension. First semester focuses on conversation, speaking, and listening. Second semester focuses on writing, translation, and grammatical formation. Through the language course students gain basic background for the study of an African culture, arts, and history both on the continent and in the diaspora. Yoruba language is widely spoken along the west coast of Africa and in some African communities in diaspora. Yoruba video culture, theater, music, and arts have strong influence along the west coast and in the diaspora.

Full details for YORUB 1109 - Introduction to Yoruba II

Spring.
YORUB2111 Intermediate Yoruba II
Intermediate Yoruba II is a follow-up to Intermediate Yoruba I. It is a fourth-semester Yoruba language course. The course assists students to acquire advanced level proficiency in reading, speaking, writing, and listening in Yoruba language. Students are introduced to grammatical and syntactic structures in the language that will assist them in describing, presenting, and narrating information in the basic tenses. At the end of the course, students will be able to listen to, process, and understand programs produced for native speakers in media such as television, radio, and films. They will be able to read and understand short stories, novels, and plays written for native speakers of the language.

Full details for YORUB 2111 - Intermediate Yoruba II

Spring.
YORUB3111 Advanced Yoruba II
This course will help students expand their understanding of the Yoruba language through the communicative approach. We will focus on the four skills, speaking, listening, learning, and writing.

Full details for YORUB 3111 - Advanced Yoruba II

Spring.
ZULU1116 Elementary Zulu II
IsiZulu is the most widely spoken language in the Southern African region and it is an official language of South Africa. This two-semester beginners' course emphasizes speaking and listening, and trains students to communicate in everyday situations.  In acquiring this competence, students are introduced to the structure of the language and to the significant status of Zulu language and culture in contemporary multilingual South Africa.  The course is structured around IsiZulu Sanamuhla, a set of web-based learning materials that features Zulu-speaking students and families in South Africa.IsiZulu is the most widely spoken language in the Southern African region and it is an official language of South Africa. This two-semester beginners' course emphasizes speaking and listening, and trains students to communicate in everyday situations.  In acquiring this competence, students are introduced to the structure of the language and to the significant status of Zulu language and culture in contemporary multilingual South Africa.  The course is structured around IsiZulu Sanamuhla, a set of web-based learning materials that features Zulu-speaking students and families in South Africa.

Full details for ZULU 1116 - Elementary Zulu II

Spring.
ZULU2117 Intermediate Zulu II
The course is structured around IsiZulu Sanamuhla, a set of web-based learning materials that features Zulu-speaking students and families in South Africa.

Full details for ZULU 2117 - Intermediate Zulu II

Spring.
ZULU3114 Advanced Zulu II
The course is structured around IsiZulu Sanamuhla, a set of web-based learning materials that features Zulu-speaking students and families in South Africa.

Full details for ZULU 3114 - Advanced Zulu II

Spring.
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