Spring 2019 Classes
For information about the program please contact:
Maria Lima, Professor of English, Welles 225 A (lima@geneseo.edu) or
Catherine Adams, Associate Professor of History, Sturges 6 (adamsc@geneseo.edu)
**If you are a non-English major interested in an English class, or a non-history major interested in a History class, please see the instructor as soon as possible to take care of pre-requisite forms.
BLKS 188-01: Ex: Intro-Black Studies Melanie A. Medeiros & Lytton J. Smith Th 2:30-3:20 in Bailey 201
Black Studies is an urgent, exciting interdisciplinary field that allows students to gain knowledge in many different subject areas at Geneseo. This course allows students to learn from faculty in subject areas as diverse as Anthropology, Biology, Creative Writing, Dance, Education, English, Film Studies, History, Languages, Study Abroad, and more. Students will design individual projects that reflect their particular interests in Black Studies issues.
INTD 105-6: WS: Civil Rights Hist. & Movies Emilye Crosby Tu and Th 8:30-9:45 in Sturges 8
We will use the lens of bottom-up Civil Rights Movement history (based on reading) to analyze popular movies about the movement, with particular attention to Mississippi.
INTD 105-14: The Power of the Neo-Slave Narrative Genre Maria Helena Lima M & W 10-11:15 in Welles 119
Since the last decades of the twentieth century, writers across the African Diaspora have attempted to recover elements of the narrative structure and thematic configuration of slave narratives. We'll focus on reading two neo-slave narratives very closely: Fred D'Aguiar's The Longest Memory (1994) and Andrea Levy's The Long Song (2010). Our writing seminar will give you many opportunities to practice critical reading and writing, with a focus on developing persuasive skills. Gerald Graff 's and Cathy Birkenstein's "They Say/I Say": The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing is our textbook.
INTD 288: The Art of Steve Prince Beth McCoy (and others) M & F 2.30-4.10 Welles 216
Explore Steve Prince's art and build the foundation for a student co-authored book on his work! We'll participate in the artist's January residency & community art project. We'll also engage in cross-disciplinary thinking and creating with Profs. David Levy (Philosophy), Olympia Nicodemi (Mathematics), Mark Broomfield (Theatre & Dance), Cynthia Hawkins-Owen (Director of Galleries), Lytton Smith (English/Center for Integrative Learning) Michael Masci (Music), Cathy Adams (History), Garth Freeman (Center for Community), Joe Cope (Int. Assoc. Provost for Student Success), Dan DeZarn (Dir. Sustainability), & RPO trumpeter Herb Smith. All disciplines welcome; no previous art experience required.
ENGL 337-01: African-American Literature Beth A. McCoy M & F 10:30-12:10 in Welles 216
A study of works by representative African-American writers from the mid-19th century to the present in their cultural and social contexts. The course will cover a variety of genres. Prerequisites: ENGL 203. Offered every spring
ENGL 344-01: Black Atlantic Writing Maria H. Lima M & F 12:30-1:40 in Welles 119
The course brings together Caribbean, African, Black British, and U.S. texts for a detailed exploration of historical memory and representation, focusing on the role of genre in such texts. According to Paul Gilroy, Black Atlantic themes and techniques in a way? transcend ethnicity and nationality to produce something new.? Prerequisites: ENGL 203 or instructor permission. 4 (4-0) credits. Offered at least once every four semesters.
FRN 474-01: Francophone Lit, Africa & Caribbean Kodjo Adabra M 4-6:30 in Welles 133
This course is a survey of Francophone literature from North and Sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean. It covers issues related to tradition, immigration and exile, religion, cultural identity, generation, and gender while thoroughly exploring the literary aesthetics embedded in the chosen works. Prerequisites: FREN 302. Offered in the spring; odd years.
GEOG 263-01: M/Geography of Sub-Saharan Africa Jennifer L. Rogalsky M & F 10-11:15 in Bailey 204
This course provides a systematic analysis of Sub-Saharan Africa’s changing landscape, including the study of culture, social well-being, population, urbanization, environment, politics, and economics. The course will also focus on post-colonial development issues associated with globalization and regional integration, with special attention to issues of equality and culture change. Current events will be placed into a locational context in an attempt to understand the interrelationships among people, cultures, economies, and the environment within Africa, and between Africa and the rest of the world. Prerequisites: GEOG 102 or GEOG 111 and GEOG 112 or GEOG 123 or permission of instructor. Not offered on a regular basis
HIST 162-01: S/U/Hist. Matters US: Black Lives Matter Emilye J. Crosby Tu & Th 10-11:15 in Sturges 109
This course will introduce students to the field of U.S. history through a focus on historians' approaches to broad themes, problems, or questions. Specific topics will be selected by the instructor, but generally, engage with historians' approaches to "real world" problems and issues. How does understanding history help us understand contemporary issues? All courses will include seminar-style discussion, a mix of primary and secondary source readings, short analytical papers, and essay exams. Credits: 3 (3-0) Offered every fall.
HIST 267-01: S/U/Women & US Social Movements Catherine J. Adams W & F 10-11:15 in Sturges 109
This course will explore the role of women in selected social movements with particular attention to how women's involvements often lead to subsequent movements for women's rights. Possible areas of emphasis include the connections between the 19th-century abolitionist movement and the subsequent women's rights/woman suffrage movement or the connections between the modern Civil Rights Movement and the women's liberation movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Not offered on a regular basis
HIST 301-01: Interp. in Hist.: African Hist. to 1850 Amanda Lewis-Nang'ea M & W 12:30-02:10 in Sturges 109
In this class, we will examine Africa's centrality to world history in the pre-modern and early modern eras. The course will focus on the diversity of the African experience throughout the continent using themes such as the development of kingdoms and states, regional and local power dynamics, cultural change and continuity, gender, environmental impacts, and trade relationships between Africa and the rest of the world. The course will be a historiographic examination of how historians and scholars have written about the African past.
HIST 301-03: Interp. in Hist.: Reconstruction Justin J. Behrend M & W 10:30-12:10 in Sturges 14
This course serves as an introduction to historiography, or the study of the discipline of history. Our goal is to learn about historians and how they have interpreted the Reconstruction period, not just the facts of Reconstruction. We will do this by understanding historians' arguments and theories, and how these interpretations changed over time from the early 20th century through to the present. We will also examine recurring themes, such as citizenship, nationalism, race, political power, religion, violence, culture, gender, and memory.
HIST 407-01: Slave Rebellion & Resistance in the Atlantic World Justin J. Behrend M & W 8:30-9:45 in Sturges 8
This course examines slave rebellions and resistance in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in a wide variety of locales, including the United States, the Caribbean, and South America. Our goals will be to examine what constitutes a slave rebellion, how resistance differed from rebellion, how revolts were organized, how they impacted local communities as well as nation-states, and how various forms of resistance altered slaveholder power. This course will give you a sense of what slavery was like in the New World, and how historical events, such as the French and Haitian revolutions, altered slave regimes, and how slave rebels shaped the abolitionist movement. In addition, we will explore how historians have interpreted the fragmentary evidence on revolts and conspiracies. Prerequisite: HIST 302 (HIST 301 also recommended). Not offered on a regular basis.
HIST 413-01: Black Power & Structural Inequality Post-1945 Emilye J. Crosby Tu & Th 2:30-3:45 in Sturges 108
This course will focus on the post-World War II African-American experience, with particular attention to relevant national, state, and local policies and to northern and western urban centers. We will examine the basis for structural inequality, along with Black activism and alternative visions for Black communities and the country. Traditional narratives of the post-World War II era have focused on the southern Civil Rights Movement through the middle sixties, before moving North with a narrative that shifts to Black Power, white backlash, and urban de-industrialization and decline. In the past decade, historians have collectively challenged that framework and emphasis, illustrating, for example, those government policies that privileged whites and reinforced segregation pre-dated the southern movement and did not simply emerge in response to the angry and violent rhetoric of Black Power. Moreover, through northern-based local studies, historians have effectively illustrated that the dichotomies of South versus North and Civil Rights versus Black Power are far too simplistic, obscuring both long-term Black activism outside the South and the common roots and bases for Civil Rights and Black Power. We will explore these and other issues related to the post-World War II Black Freedom Struggle in the North and West and the interrelated themes of structural inequality and white privilege through our reading. Prerequisite: HIST 302 (HIST 301 also recommended). Not offered on a regular basis
HIST 491-02: Sr Sm: Race, Class, Gender, and Power in Ea. Amer. Catherine Adams W 4:-6:30 in Sturges 14
This is the department’s senior capstone seminar option. All sections will focus on a topic (or a related group of topics) chosen by the instructor. Seminars will incorporate in-class discussion of historiographic questions and independent research related to the selected topic(s). Students will produce a major work of independent research, including a 20-30 page paper and an oral presentation. Prerequisites: HIST 301 and HIST 302. At least one section offered every semester.
SOCL 201-01: Black Women in American Society Elaine R. Cleeton M & W 10:00-11:15 in Bailey 203
An examination of the status of black women, focusing on the themes of gender, race, and class. The experiences of black women will be explored from a historical and cross-cultural perspective, from slavery through the present. Prerequisites: Any 100-level Sociology course or permission of instructor. Offered every fall
SOCL 376: Sr. Sm: Sociology of Progress Michael Restivo Tu & Th 1:00-2:15 in Bailey 247
This course may be taken to meet the senior seminar requirement in Sociology. It is an intensive study of a topic in sociology not covered in depth in other courses, or alternatively, an attempt to integrate two or more paradigms or converging perspectives in the field to be studied. Students are expected to produce a research paper and present findings. Prerequisites: Senior standing.