African-American Studies

Tobin Miller Shearer, Program Director

African-American Studies at the University of Montana connects African and African-American (including Latin America and the Caribbean) history, experiences, and perspectives with the 21st century. The goal of the African-American Studies curriculum is to develop basic knowledge of, and appreciation for, the diverse experiences of the African Diaspora, and their contributions to the nations into which they were incorporated. Through this study students will recognize that the African-American narrative connects to the core issues of nation formation, identity politics, social movements, and the liberal state. Those who take this minor will likewise be equipped to talk alongside, through, and in the midst of the racial fracture lines that mark this nation as a country where the color of one's skin is socially significant. In all these efforts, we promote scholarship that is driven first and foremost by an interest in creating knowledge and furthering our understanding of the African-American experience. The interdisciplinary curriculum of African-American Studies includes course offerings from the following academic disciplines: anthropology, economics, English, geography, history, music, political science, and sociology. Some topics of study include: African heritage and cultural continuity among African-Americans; African-American identity issues and cultural variation; the history of African-American protest and resistance, including the abolitionist, anti-lynching, and civil rights movements; the Harlem Renaissance; the social dynamics of integration and segregation; and the various circumstances of, and prospects for, African Americans in the 21st century.

Undergraduate Degrees Available

Subject Type Option Track
African-American Studies Minor

Department Faculty

Affiliates

  • Jill Bergman, Professor
  • Benedicte Boisseron, Associate Professor
  • Gregory Campbell, Professor
  • Johan Eriksson, Assistant Professor of Saxophone and Jazz Studies
  • Jeffrey Gritzner, Emeritus Professor
  • Quan Manh Ha, Associate Professor
  • Anya Jabour, Professor of History; Co-Director, Women & Gender Studies
  • Michael Mayer, Professor of History
  • George Price, Lecturer
  • Daisy Rooks, Associate Professor
  • Tobin Miller Shearer, Associate Professor of History; Director of African-American Studies
  • Kyle G. Volk, Associate Professor of History; Director of Graduate Studies
  • Celia Winkler, Professor

Course Descriptions

African-American Studies

  • AAS 415 - The Black Radical Tradition

    Credits: 3. (AM) Offered autumn, odd years. From slave revolts through to the Move rebellion in Philadelphia, this course examines how the African-American community has engaged in radical efforts to change the status quo in the name of seeking justice.
    Course Attributes:
    • Writing Course-Advanced

African-American Studies

  • AAST 141H - Black: From Africa to Hip-Hop

    Credits: 3. Offered autumn. Same as HIST 141H. This course introduces students to the primary questions, themes, and approaches to African-American Studies. In addition to examining key historical periods such as Reconstruction, the Harlem Renaissance, and the Civil Rights era, students will encounter Hip-Hop, African-American film, African-American religion, and contemporary identity politics. This course concludes by discussing the reasons for and new directions in African-American studies, including diaspora studies, Pan-Africanism, and post-colonial studies. Overall students will gain new insight into the social, cultural, political, and intellectual, experiences of a diverse people and into the history and contemporary experience of the United States.
    Course Attributes:
    • Historical & Cultural Course
    • Indigenous and Global

  • AAST 208H - Discovering Africa

    Credits: 3. Offered intermittently. Same as HIST 208H. Interdisciplinary study of the history of pre-colonial Africa, focusing on social, economic, political and cultural institutions and traditions including the wealth, diversity and complexity of ancient and classical African civilizations and cultures.
    Course Attributes:
    • Historical & Cultural Course

  • AAST 260 - African Americans and Native Americans

    Credits: 3. Offered Fall, even years. A study of the broad scope of relations between African Americans and Native Americans in colonial and United States history. Topics explored through history, sociology, and cultural anthropology.

  • AAST 262 - Abolitionism: The First Civil Rights Movement

    Credits: 3. Offered spring. Same as HIST 262. Interdisciplinary, historical perspective on the early 19th century movement to abolish slavery and racial discrimination in the United States.

  • AAST 342H - African American History to 1865

    Credits: 3. Offered intermittently. Same as HIST 378H. Survey of the African-American experience from the African background to the end of the Civil War. Focus on Black American quest for the American Dream, and how Blacks attempted to deal with the challenges of enslavement and racism.
    Course Attributes:
    • Historical & Cultural Course