Dr. Jossianna Arroyo
jarroyo@mail.utexas.edu
Department of Spanish and Portuguese, Office: BEN 3.120
Office Hours: 9-11 (T/Thu) (sign up by Blackboard) or by appointment
Spring 2010
Introduction to African American Culture
This course is a survey of African American cultural production in the United States from
1619 to the Obama Era. The purpose of the course is to critically explore the historical,
social, political and cultural processes that have built African American political cultures in
the United States. The main focus of the course will be African Americans in the United
States, their historical and cultural languages, contributions, social struggles and legacies.
Though centered on the historical-cultural experiences of African Americans in the U. S. and
their struggles with persistent anti-black racism, economic exploitation and sexual-gender
oppression our lectures will extend across borders to touch these same dimensions in black
diasporic communities in the Americas and the United States. Thus, the course will
emphasize what it means to be “African American” vis à vis other cultures in the African
Diaspora, both in the Americas and globally. By the end of the course the students will be
able to understand African-American cultures through the global and interconnected
dimensions of black experience. While some of these Afro-diasporic communities come
from different historical-cultural experiences that disavow or deny blackness we will analyze
how some of these communities (Afro-Puerto Ricans) have had similar experiences of
racialization and oppression not only in their places of origin but also in the United States.
The course will include some films and documentaries which will be shown in class. Some
theoretical key points that will be discussed will be: 1) race, identity formation and the
meaning of blackness, 2) colonialism, diaspora and racial formation theory, 3) whiteness and
white priviledge 4) black feminisms, gender, sexuality, knowledge production 5) Black
performance, cultural agency and power.
Teaching Assistants:
Ms. Beliza Torres-Nárvaez (Theater and Performance), Email: belizat@gmail.com
Mr. Adam Williams (Radio, Television and Film), Email:awilliamsiii@austin.rr.com
COURSE TEXTS (Required):
Painter, Nell. Creating Black Americans. Oxford UP, 2006.
Thomas, Piri. Down these mean streets. Vintage P, 1997.
Theoretical readings- posted on Blackboard Arroyo-Martínez AFR 301.
COURSEWORK, GRADING, AND EXPECTATIONS
1) Attendance
This class has a strict attendance policy. Students are expected to attend all class and
discussion meetings and attendance will be taken everyday. Each time you have 3 absences
your final grade will be diminished by a letter grade. The rule is cumulative, so that your
grade will be dropped another letter with the 4th and 6th absence. However, a student
missing more than 40% of classes (that is, having 8 or more absences) will automatically fail
the course. Please be aware that I do not make a distinction between “excused” and
“unexcused” absences, except under extremely extraneous circumstances, and on a case-bycase basis.
2) ACTIVE Class Participation (20 points)
While I will devote a part of our class time to lecturing there will be plenty of time
for class discussion. Credit will be given to meaningful and critically engaged
discussion in class. This means that prior to each class you must do the readings, think
critically about them, and be ready to discuss them.
3) In-Class Exams (40 points)
There will be two in-class exams (one Mid-Term and one Partial Exam); each will be worth
20 points. Be sure to bring Blue Books to class the day of the exam.
4) Response Paper (20 points)
Each student will be expected to turn in a response paper for the book, Down these mean streets
by Piri Thomas. The question will be provided by Prof. Arroyo. These papers are to be 5
typed pages and should include a brief summary of the storyline and the student’s critical
response to the story, particularly how it connects with the theme of the section under
discussion and the similarities and differences between the African American and the AfroPuerto Rican experience.
*All papers are to be single-sided, double-spaced, and typed in 12-point font. Please make note of
the deadline for the paper. I will not accept e-mailed papers or any sort, late papers, or rewrites.
Under very special circumstances, I will provide extensions, but only with the mutual understanding
that I will subtract ½ letter grade for each day that the paper is late.
** PLAGAIRISM AND ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
All students are expected to adhere to the University’s guidelines regarding academic integrity. This
information can be found at: http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/sjs/acint_student.php. Students
who violate these rules—including those who plagiarize—are subject disciplinary penalties,
including the possibility of failure and/or dismissal from the University. Please see Prof. Arroyo or
the Teaching Assistants if you have further questions regarding plagiarism.
***ACCOMMODATIONS FOR STUDENTS WITH DISSABILITIES
In compliance with the UT Austin policy and equal access laws, I am available to discuss appropriate academic
accommodations that may be required for students with disabilities. If accommodations are necessary, you are encouraged
to discuss this with Prof. Arroyo as soon as possible. Requests for academic accommodations are to be made during the
first three weeks of the semester, except for unusual circumstances, so appropriate arragements can be made. Students
are encouraged to register with Student Disability Services to verify their eligibility for appropriate accommodations.
5) Blackboard Postings (20 points)
Each week each student is expected to post comments/questions on BLACKBOARD.
THESE POSTINGS ARE TO BE UP ON BLACKBOARD BY 8AM on the morning
of class. Students are expected to post every week , except during Springbreak
(March 15-21) The questions/comments could be based on the assigned reading for the
day, a film seen the day before, or anything relevant for the day’s lecture or class discussion.
A student may ask whatever question s/he feels important, as long as it is a response to the
reading assignment, film, book, and/or the theme under discussion. Students may respond
to each other’s comments/questions/suggestions as well—just as long as the discussion is
about the topic being covered in class that day. Each posting will be worth 1pt, adding up to
a total of 20 pts.
*To access BLACKBOARD, go to: http://www.utexas.edu/academic/blackboard/. Once
you have logged in, all students should be able to access the Discussion Board under AFR
301.
6) Students should attend at least two events at the Center for African and African American
Studies (CAAAS) this Spring 2010 semester. Those of you who attend can comment about
these special events in your Blackboard/comments area so we can add it to class discussion.
Students who attend these events will get extra credit-points towards their final grade. Prof.
Arroyo, Ms. Torres and Mr. Williams will notify class about CAAAS’ events schedule for
Spring 2010.
► Your final grade will be calculated as follows:
Participation
20 points
In-Class Exams
40 points
Down these mean streets Paper
20 points
Blackboard Postings
20 points
TOTAL
100 points
COURSE RULES:
1) This is a large-lecture seminar, so students need to be engaged completely in class discussion.
CELL PHONES AND TEXTING IS NOT ALLOWED IN CLASS. PERSONAL
COMPUTERS ARE FOR CLASS USE ONLY. STUDENTS USING PERSONAL
COMPUTERS FOR OTHER MATTERS IN THE CLASSROOM WILL BE
PENALIZED.
2) NO FOOD allowed in the classroom. This is a strict University policy that we all
need to follow. Be sure to eat before class.
3) Respectful and courtesy to your peers is mandatory even when you don’t agree with
their ideas.
WHO ARE AFRICAN AMERICANS?: RACE, RACIAL FORMATION IN THE
U.S, GLOBAL RACIAL FORMATIONS
Week 1
1/19—Introduction to the course.
Reading: Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, Racism without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of
Racial Inequality in the United States (Intro)
1/21—The Obama Era. A post-racial society?
Week 2- Race?
1/26 “Race the Power of an Illusion” Part I
1/29 “Race the Power of an Illusion” Part II
Reading: “Background readings”on film website, http:/www.pbs.org/race/000 General/000
00-Home.htm (Post a question in Blackboard)
Week 3-Racial Formation, African Americans in the United States
2/2 Race and the Power of an Illusion-Discussion
Reading: Omi and Winant Racial Formation in the U.S. from the 1960s-1980s (1994)
2/4 Racial Formation Theory
Reading: “Captives Transported 1619-1850, “A Diasporic People 1630-1850” from Creating
Black Americans (CBA)
FROM SLAVERY TO RECONSTRUCTION
Week 4
2/9 QUIZ #1 Africans in the Americas
Reading: “Those who were Enslaved”, “Those who were Free” (CBA)
2/11 Masters and Slaves I
Reading: O. Patterson, Slavery and Social Death
Week 5
2/16 Masters and Slaves II, “Unchained Voices” (part of documentary in class)
Reading: “Civil War and Emancipation” “The Larger Reconstruction” (CBA)
2/18 African American Politics after the Civil War I
Frederick Douglass: “Lecture on Haiti” (Chicago, 1893)
http://www.webster.edu/~corbetre/haiti/history/1844-1915/douglass.htm
Reading:
Week 6
2/23 African American Politics after the Civil War II
Reading: “Hard Working People in the Depths of Segregation (CBA), Lynching and Spectacle,
Amy Wood
2/26 Land and Segregation
Reading: Ida B. Wells, “Southern Horrors” http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14975/14975h/14975-h.htm
Week 7
3/2-Jim Crow, Lynching and Race Riots
Reading: Colin Dayan, “Legal Slaves, Civil Bodies,” Richard Wright “The Man who Lived
Underground”
SELF DETERMINATION: CIVIL RIGHTS, BLACK POWER AND PROTEST
Week 8
3/2 QUIZ #2 Slavery, civil death, and the corporate prison system
3/4 MIDTERM-Review in Class
Readings: Arturo A. Schomburg “The Negro Digs Up his Past”, WEB Du Bois, The Souls of
Black Folk
3/9 Afro-Diasporic histories and double conciousness
3/11 MIDTERM-In class
Week 9-SPRINGBREAK Readings, Read excerpts from The New Negro by Alain Locke and
chapters 9-11 from CBA.
Week 10
3/23 Harlem Rennassaince, Culture and Power I
Readings: Langston Hughes, Claude Mc. Kay, Countee Culleen, “Women Poets of the
Harlem Rennassaince” Gwendolyn Bennet, Georgia G. Johnson
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/19694
3/25 Harlem Rennassaince, Culture and Power II
Readings: CBA, Chapters 12-14, Martin Luther King “Beyond Vietnam”
Week 11
3/29 Black Power and Repression I
Audio Assignment: Listen and reflect critically on Malcom X’s speech: “The Ballot or the
Bullet” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRNciryImqg
4/1- Black Power and Repression II Excerpts on “Pa lante siempre pa lante Documentary
on the Puerto Rican Young Lords.
Reading: Down these mean streets
Week 12
4/6 Down these mean streets
4/8 Down these mean streets
Week 13
4/13 Down these mean streets
4/15 “Every Man is Born a Poet”-Documentary on Piri Thomas Prof. Arroyo hands out
questions for Response Paper
Reading: Roderick Ferguson “Towards a Queer of Color Critique”, James Baldwin, “My
Dungeon Shook: Letter to my Nephew on the one Hundreth Anniversary of the
Emancipation”
LEGACIES OF STRUGGLE: FEMINISM, BLACK AGENCY AND
PERFORMANCE 1980s-2009
Week 14
4/20 Film: Black is Black Ain’t Part I
4/22- Film: Black is Black Ain’t Part II RESPONSE PAPER DUE
Reading: CBA Chapter 15, Hill Collins, “On Intersecting Oppressions” Sista II Sista, (2006)
Week 15
4/27-Hip Hop Activism and the Politics of Gender
4/29 – Katrina, Haiti: Race, Racialization and Media Violence
Selection of articles and images from Haiti, When the Leeves Broke, Part II (Selections)
Week 16
5/4 Katrina and Haiti II
5/7 Partial EXAM-In Class