Courses Archive

Four hours of recitation and one hour of laboratory per week. Prerequisites: 8A. This course reviews and expands students' knowledge of fundamental structures from Elementary Wolof, and appropriate cultural contexts of these structures in oral and written communication. More grammar and vocabulary in a culturally and socially appropriate context is developed. Speaking ability is expanded through oral exercises, individual reports, class discussions, and recordings available at the Berkeley Language Center. Writing and reading are expanded through compositions, written exercises, and independent reading projects with texts available through Berkeley's African Library Collection and supplemented by the instructor's materials.

Three hours of lecture per week. The purpose of this course is to examine the many forms that the struggle of minorities can assume. The focus is on individual struggle and its outcome as reported and perceived by the individuals themselves. Members of three minority aggregates are considered: African Americans, Asian Americans (so called), and Chicano/Latino Americans. The choice of these three has to do with the different histories of members of these aggregrates. Such differences have produced somewhat different approaches to struggle. This course satisfies the American cultures requirement.

Three hours of lecture per week. This is an upper division course dealing with the relevance of language to social issues in African societies. It will focus on political developments in Africa and the use of language in fostering national identity; attaining cultural emancipation; and as a tool of oppression, of maintenance of social relations, and of addressing issues of education and childhood development, etc. The course will examine such issues as the roots of national language policies as influenced by Africa's reaction to colonialism; the role of western languages in African society and the attitudes towards African languages and cultures; the challenges of nation-building in modern African states; the use of African languages in government, education, and technology; the role of language in dealing with the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and other health issues; minority languages, endangered languages, and language preservation; cultural responses to migration and African diaspora: the use of African languages in the age of globalization and information technology.

Course may be repeated for credit. One to four hours of lecture per week per unit. Prerequisites: Determined by offering. Topics will vary each semester.

Course may be repeated for credit. One to four hours of lecture per week per unit. Prerequisites: Reading and composition requirement, plus those set by instructor. Special topics in African American literature.

Three hours of seminar per week. This seminar analyzes the social construction and reproduction of diasporic communities in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. It examines the relations of the diaspora to the homeland in the context of the globalization process. The role of transnational migration and deterritorialization in the production of bipolar, fragmented, and multiple identities will be analyzed. Postnational models of citizenship--differentiated, transnational, and multicultural--will be assessed in light of poststructuralist theories.

Four hours of recitation and one hour of laboratory per week. This course reviews and expands students' knowledge from Intermediate Wolof. Oral and written communication will be presented in appropriate cultural contexts. Developing oral language skills will be strongly emphasized as part of this course and will be expanded through individual presentations, class discussions, and recordings available at the Berkeley Language Center. Writing, grammar, vocabulary, and reading are expanded through compositions, written exercises, and independent reading projects with texts available through Berkeley's African Library Collection and supplemented by the instructor's materials.

Four hours of lecture and one hour of laboratory per week. This course introduces students to speaking, listening, reading, and writing in Chichewa. Instruction is mixed English and Chichewa. Emphasis is placed on developing student ability to create and to communicate with basic Chichewa structures and vocabulary in a culturally and socially appropriate context. Speaking and listening abilities are developed through oral exercises, class discussions, and recordings available from Berkeley Language Center. Reading and writing are developed through in-class exercises, independent reading projects, and compositions. This course is not open to native or heritage speakers of Chichewa.

Three hours of lecture and one hour of discussion per week. This course will examine the origins of the African slave trade, and explore political, economic, demographic and cultural factors shaping African American life and culture prior to 1865

Course may be repeated for credit. One to four hours of lecture per week. Prerequisites: Determined by offering. Topics will vary each semester.