Studying the African Diaspora = Studying the World

From the Greek word diaspeirein meaning “to scatter,” a diaspora refers to any people dispersed from an original homeland. Because of the African diaspora--that is, the spread of people of African descent to communities across the globe due to the earlier slave trade and/or migration—multiple nations, including the United States, have found themselves utterly transformed culturally, socially, politically, and economically. AAS 202 explores these transformations in "the West" (e.g., United States, Britain, France, and Germany), as well as the relationships people of the African diaspora have developed with each other, and with peoples living on the African continent. Topics include: the Atlantic slave trade; environmental stewardship; health and medicine, imperialism and post-colonialism; freedom movements; religion; and popular culture in the form of movies and fiction. Requirements include a short research paper, reading quizzes, a midterm, and a final exam.