Welcome to Fall 2018! Weeks of September 5 and 12

Hank Williams , ,

First, a few housekeeping details:

  • Please sign up for the class text message service run by Remind if you didn’t in class. Send a text to 81010 with the message “@introaas” to sign up. (Don’t include the quotation marks around the @introaas). If that doesn’t work, send a text with the message “@introaas” to (608)-467-4328. This gives me a simple way to contact the entire class for important updates or emergencies.
  • If you do not have a cell phone capable of text messages, sign up for email notifications at: rmd.at/introaas
  • Note that this class doesn’t use Blackboard. Check the course website every week for updates and detailed reading instructions
  • Get copies of the two required course books. You will need them to do the reading assignments for 9/12 and the rest of the semester. The main textbook is on reserve at Lehman’s library.

Wednesday 9/5 is a Monday schedule (PDF!) in CUNY, so we don’t meet. Note that we also don’t meet on Wednesday 9/19

For Wednesday 9/12:

  • Read Dr. John Henrik Clarke’s “Africana Studies: A Decade of Change, Challenge, Conflict” (PDF on the Readings page) Password hint: what year is it?  Reading notes: Dr. Clarke’s essay is organized very informally and confirms to his storytelling-based style. It can be read quickly or while traveling, but be sure to highlight or underline key points and take good notes.
  • Skim “About Us” and “AHSA Matters” on the African Studies Heritage Association website (Clarke refers to this in his essay).
  • Read Chapters 1 and 2 in Maulana Karenga’s Introduction to Black Studies (pages 1-60).
    • Skim (read quickly and to gain an overview) pp 1-17 on history and development of the discipline.
    • Focus on the following sections: (pp 17-27) 1.3 (Relevance of the Discipline) and 1.4 (Scope of the Discipline) and sections 2.3-2.7 — the different developmental initiatives.
    • Read only pp 39-60 (“Developmental Initiatives”) in chapter 2
    • This book is on reserve at Lehman’s library if yours doesn’t arrive in time.

Reading points/ questions to consider:

  • Think about how Clarke is defining the field of Africana/Black Studies
  • Note key issues, approaches, and dilemmas/challenges he outlines
  • What is worldview?
  • What’s the importance of worldview to the discipline of Africana Studies?

Quick recap of first class highlights:

  • Who’s in the room/ what brought you to this class?
  • Reading of Dr. Leonard Jeffries Jr’s “The Essence of Black Studies” (handout and also on the Readings page). What’s his view of a Black Studies methodology (i.e. ways to analyze information and do research) and how should it approach the world?
  • Viewing of first half of the John Henrik Clarke documentary film A Great and Mighty Walk. [EDIT: we didn’t get to this. We’ll view it next week. And you can watch on your own if you want.] Embedded below via YouTube:

 

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