African American Studies Minor
Institute of Arts and Humanities
Arts and Humanities Building, Room 653
All courses, faculty listings, and curricular and degree requirements described herein are subject to change or deletion without notice.
The Minor
The African American studies minor (AASM) at UC San Diego is an interdisciplinary field of study in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. AASM is a scholarly examination of African American life, history, and culture as it has taken shape within the United States and helped to transform the nation. In addition to taking a core course, students will complete twenty-eight total units of which at least twenty units (five courses) must be upper division. The required distribution of the five upper-division courses may be selected from among the following courses. Students may petition to receive credit for courses not listed below.
CORE COURSES
(Choose ONE COURSE from the list below)
AAS 10. Introduction to African American Studies (4)
ETHN 3. Introduction to Ethnic Studies: Making Culture (4)
HILD 7A. Race and Ethnicity in the United States (4)
LTEN 27. Introduction to African American Literature (4)
ELECTIVE COURSES
(Choose SIX COURSES from the list below)
AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES
AAS 10. Introduction to African American Studies (4)
AAS 87. First-year Student Seminar (1)
AAS/ANSC 185. #BlackLivesMatter (4)
AAS 190. Special Topics in African American Studies (4)
AAS 198. Directed Group Study in African American Studies (2 or 4)
AAS 199. Independent Study in African American Studies (2 or 4)
ANTHROPOLOGY
ANAR 121. Cyber-Archaeology and World Digital Cultural Heritage (4)
ANAR 183. Chiefdoms, States, and the Emergence of Civilizations (4)
ANBI 131. Biology and Culture of Race (4)
ANTH 21. Race and Racisms (4)
ANTH 23. Debating Multiculturalism: Race, Ethnicity, and Class in American Societies (4)
ANSC 110. Societies and Cultures of the Caribbean (4)
ANSC 138. The Cultural Design Practicum: Using Anthropology to Solve Human Problems (4)
ANSC 183. Visualizing the Human: Film, Photography, and Digital Technologies (4)
ANSC/AAS 185. #BlackLivesMatter (4)
BIOLOGY
BILD 60. Exploring Issues of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Relation to Human Biology (4)
BISP 193. Biology Education Research (4)
CRITICAL GENDER STUDIES
CGS 114/ETHN 183. Gender, Race, Ethnicity, and Class (4) (course previously approved and listed only under ETHN)
CGS 117. Transgenderisms (4)
CGS 118. Gender and Incarceration (4)
CGS 125. Women of Color Writers (4)
CGS 126. Muslims on Gender and Sexuality (4)
CGS 147/ETHN 147. Black Feminisms, Past and Present (4)
CGS 165/ETHN 165. Gender and Sexuality in African American Communities (4)
COMMUNICATION
COMM 101E. MPL: Ethnographic Methods for Media Production (4)
COMM 110M. LLC: Communication and the Community (4)
COMM 111F. CCP: Folklore and Communication (4)
COMM 120M. AMP: Media Stereotypes (4)
COMM 135. Contemporary Minority Media (4)
COMM 137. Black Women Filmmakers (4)
COMM 138. Black Women, Feminism, and Media (4)
ECONOMICS
ECON 138. Economics of Discrimination (4)
EDUCATION STUDIES
EDS 112. Urban Education in the United States (4)
EDS 117. Language, Culture, and Education (4)
EDS 126. Social Organization of Education (4)
ETHNIC STUDIES
ETHN 3. Introduction to Ethnic Studies: Making Culture (4)
ETHN 101. Ethnic Images in Film (4)
ETHN 102. Science and Technology: Race, Gender, and Class (4)
ETHN 103. Environmental Racism (4)
ETHN 104. Race, Space, Segregation (4)
ETHN 105/USP 104. Ethnic Diversity and the City (4)
ETHN 108/MUS 151. Race, Culture, and Social Change (4)
ETHN 109. Race and Social Movements (4)
ETHN 119. Race in the Americas (4)
ETHN 120. Race and Performance: The Politics of Popular Culture (4)
ETHN 128/MUS 152. Hip-Hop: The Politics of Culture (4)
ETHN 142. Medicine, Race, and Global Politics of Inequality (4)
ETHN 147/CGS 147. Black Feminisms, Past and Present (4)
ETHN 149/HIUS 139. African American History in the Twentieth Century (4)
ETHN 150/CGS 150. Visuality, Sexuality, and Race (4)
ETHN 151. Ethnic Politics in America (4)
ETHN 152. Law and Civil Rights (4)
ETHN 159/HIUS 183. Topics in African American History (4)
ETHN 161. Black Politics and Protest Since 1941 (4)
ETHN 164/MUS 153. African Americans and the Mass Media (4)
ETHN 165/CGS 165. Gender and Sexuality in African American Communities (4)
ETHN 172/LTEN 183. Afro-American Prose (4)
ETHN 174/LTEN 185. Themes in Afro-American Literature (4)
ETHN 178/MUS 126. Blues: An Oral Tradition (4)
ETHN 179/MUS 126. Discover Jazz (4)
ETHN 183/CGS 114. Gender, Race, Ethnicity, and Class (4)
ETHN 184. Black Intellectuals in the Twentieth Century (4)
ETHN 185. Discourse, Power, and Inequality (4)
ETHN 188/USP 132. African Americans, Religion, and the City (4)
GLOBAL SOUTH STUDIES
GSS 21. Africa: History, Culture, and Politics
HISTORY
HIAF 120. History of South Africa (4)
HILD 7A. Race and Ethnicity in the United States (4)
HILA 121A. History of Brazil through 1889 (4)
HILA 121B. History of Brazil, 1889 to Present (4)
HILA 122. Cuba: From Colony to Socialist Republic (4)
HIUS 126. The History of Race in the United States (4)
HIUS 128. African American Legal History (4)
HIUS 134. From Bebop to Hip-Hop: African American Cultural History since 1945 (4)
HIUS 135. The Atlantic World, 1492–1803 (4)
HIUS 139/ETHN 149. African American History in the Twentieth Century (4)
HIUS 144. Topics in US History (4)
HIUS 146. Race, Riots, and Violence in the U.S. (4)
HIUS 148/USP 103. The American City in the Twentieth Century (4)
HIUS 155. From Zoot Suits to Hip-Hop: Race and Popular Culture since World War II (4)
HIUS 176/276. Race and Sexual Politics (4)
HIUS 183/ETHN 159. Topics in African American History (4)
LITERATURE
LIGN 108. Languages of Africa (4)
LIGN 175. Sociolinguistics (4)
LTAF 120. Literature and Film in Modern Africa (4)
LTAM 111. Comparative Caribbean Discourse (4)
LTCS 130. Gender, Race, Ethnicity, Class, and Culture (4)
LTEN 27. Introduction to African American Literature (4)
LTEN 183/ETHN 172. African American Prose (4)
LTEN 185/ETHN 174. Themes in African American Literature (4)
LTEN 186/ETHN 175. Literature of the Harlem Renaissance (4)
LTEN 188. Contemporary Caribbean Literature (4)
LTSP 137. Caribbean Literature (4)
MUSIC
MUS 19. Blacktronika: Afrofuturism in Electronic Music (4)
MUS 126/ETHN 178. Blues: An Oral Tradition (4)
MUS 127/ETHN 179. Discover Jazz (4)
MUS 150. Jazz and the Music of the African Diaspora: Special Topics Seminar (4)
MUS 151/ETHN 108. Race, Culture, and Social Change (4)
MUS 152. Hip-Hop: The Politics of Culture (4)
MUS 153. African Americans and the Mass Media (4)
PHILOSOPHY
PHIL 170. Philosophy and Race (4)
POLITICAL SCIENCE
POLI 13 or 13D. Power and Justice (4)
POLI 100H. Race and Ethnicity in American Politics (4)
POLI 100I. Participation and Inequality (4)
POLI 100J. Race in American Political Development (4)
POLI 100O. Perspectives on Race (4)
POLI 100W. Politics, Policy, and Educational Inequality (4)
POLI 102D. Voting Rights Act: Fifty Years Later (4)
POLI 102E/USP 107. Urban Politics (4)
POLI 102K. The Urban Underclass (4)
POLI 104N. Race and Law (4)
POLI 108. Politics of Multiculturalism (4)
RADY SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
MGT 18. Managing Diverse Teams (4)
SOCIOLOGY
SOCI 10. American Society. Social Structure and Culture/U.S. (4)
SOCI 105. Ethnographic Film: Media Methods (6)
SOCI 113. Sociology of the AIDS Epidemic (4)
SOCI 126. Social Organization of Education (4)
SOCI 127. Immigration, Race, and Ethnicity (4)
SOCI 139. Social Inequality. Class, Race, and Gender (4)
SOCI 148E. Inequality and Jobs (4)
SOCI 151. Social Movement from Civil Rights to Black Lives Matter (4)
SOCI 152/USP 133. Social Inequality and Public Policy (4)
SOCI 153/USP 105. Urban Sociology (4)
SOCI 157. Religion in Contemporary Society (4)
SOCI 158. Islam in the Modern World (4)
SOCI 187. African Societies through Film (4)
SOCI 187E. The Sixties (4)
SOCI 188E. Community and Social Change in Africa (4)
SOCI 188J. Change in Modern South Africa (4)
THEATRE AND DANCE
TDGE 127. The Films of Spike Lee (4)
TDHT 109. African American Theatre (4)
TDMV 138. Beginning Hip-Hop (2)
TDMV 143. West African Dance (4)
URBAN STUDIES PROGRAM
USP 1. History of US Urban Communities (4)
USP 3. City and Social Theory (4)
USP 104/ETHN 105. Ethnic Diversity and the City (4)
USP 105/SOCI 153. Urban Sociology (4)
USP 107/POLI 102E. Urban Politics (4)
USP 132/ETHN 188. African Americans, Religion, and the City (4)
USP 133/SOCI 152. Social Inequality and Public Policy (4)
VISUAL ARTS
VIS 126J. African and Afro-American Art (4)
Students interested in either taking African American Studies courses or completing the minor are encouraged to contact the program coordinator in the Virtual Advising Center.