AFRO-005, Section 04 [3 Credit Hours], CRN 10015[1 Essays

AFRO-005, Section 04 [3 Credit Hours], CRN 10015[1 Essays AFRO-005, Section 04 [3 Credit Hours], CRN 10015[1] Introduction to Afro-American Studies I[2], Spring, 2010 Semester Tuesdays/Thursdays, Ernest Everett Just[3] Hall (Biology) Auditorium, 9:40- 11:00 a.m.. Greg E. Carr, Ph.D., J.D., Associate Professor; Office: Founder's Library, Room 318 [202.806.7581, [emailprotected]] Office Hours: Tuesdays, 1-3 p.m.; Thursdays, 5:30-7:30 p.m.; By Appointment This course introduces and teaches students to apply major concepts and methods of the stand-alone academic field, discipline and meta- discipline of Africana Studies[4]. General Course Objectives: Students successfully completing this course[5] will be able to: . Identify and discuss the broad contours and some key specifics of the African intellectual tradition and genealogy, from antiquity to the present; . Utilize vocabulary, comparative and evaluative techniques explicitly associated with the academic field, discipline and meta-discipline of Africana Studies to analyze texts, practices and narratives; and . Relate a working knowledge of the African historical experience as a discrete element of world history, and demonstrate greater acquaintance with and interpretive acuity for institutions and forces shaping Africana life in the period of late modernity [1800 to the present], for the African experience in Latin, Caribbean, and North America and Africa in general and the United States in particular. Interdisciplinary Course Objectives Students successfully completing this course will be able to: . Describe and use basic academic vocabulary, concepts and methods (skills) associated with the academic field, discipline and meta- discipline of Africana Studies in their bi-weekly response essays; . Apply basic academic vocabulary, concepts and methods (skills) associated with other academic fields, including (but not limited to): History, Literature, Art History and Physics and Mathematics in an interdisciplinary fashion in their bi-weekly response essays; . Demonstrate a basic understanding of conceptual approaches common to clusters of academic fields. . Participate in Learning Communities with other faculty and students taking interdisciplinary research courses and integrate themes discussed in bi-weekly response essays and mbongi forms Research Skills Course Objectives Students successfully completing this course will be able to: . Describe and apply basic steps in completing a research paper in the social sciences or humanities; . Evaluate source materials critically and incorporate their evaluation in each bi-weekly response essay; . Identify the steps in creating a research proposal and final research project requiring the demonstration of applied skills in the field and discipline of Africana Studies and at least one other academic field/discipline. Evaluation System[6]: Bi-Weekly Written Response Essays [5]: 20% Every two weeks, you will be required to submit [typed, double- spaced] a three-page response essay. This essay will follow the format of a mini-research paper. Accordingly, it will rely on your notes taken from the previous two week's class readings and classroom discussions. You are required to include no fewer than two (2) citations from your reading assignments and no fewer than two (2) citations from class discussions and/or materials discussed in class. Each review will include the following categories: . Abstract [With Clearly Worded Thesis Statement of 1-2 sentences]: Your abstract should be a one paragraph answer to the framing question for the period. It should tell the reader what to expect from the rest of the paper. For example: Framing question one asks "How do we undertake the study of the African experience?" The first paragraph of your essay should give your clearly worded scholarly opinion on how to answer that question based on your notes from the readings and class discussions. You will spend the rest of the essay persuading the reader of the logic of your interpretation based on the evidence you have found in your textbooks and class notes to support what you have said in this first paragraph. [Many researchers refer to this paragraph as the "abstract" and also use it to summarize their paper. This requires them to compose it last, as a summary of their longer paper]. . Critical Review of Scholarship: You should indicate in several paragraphs what specific sources you will be referring to in your essay, and for what specific points. You will, of course, be referring to the class textbooks, but should also refer to sources introduced in class. This is also the section of the paper where you should indicate how well your textbooks help you to answer the bi-weekly framing question. This last point is critical: This