AAS 267, African American Literature, is a survey course that will take us from the early days of enslavement to the present. We will read, analyze, and discuss literary texts written by African Americans, paying particular attention to the political, historical and social context that informs these texts.

Welcome to Africana Folklore. This course explores the oral, customary and material folklore of Africans and their descendants in the Americas and the Caribbean. We will use readings and films to examine various ways West African folklore was transmitted to and survived in the New World, and how Africans in the Americas created new oral, customary and material traditions. We will compare and contrast fictional and historical folk characters from Africa, the Northern and Southern American hemispheres, with a special focus on the English, Spanish and French-speaking Caribbean. We will examine some of the customs and practices that continue to exist in those regions and how all have contributed to global culture. In addition to required readings, there will also be weekly writing exercises. This course is designed to help prepare you for further academic study in general, and African, African-American and Caribbean studies, specifically. It will introduce you to the various disciplines that inform the study of people of African descent worldwide.

This collection of stories was written by Dakota Sioux author Zitkala-Sa, also known as Gertrude Bonnin. Helen Keller sent a testimonial letter to the author on August 25, 1919: "I thank you for your book on Indian legends. I have read them with exquisite pleasure. Like all folk tales they mirror the child life of the world. There is in them a note of wild, strange music." The text here presented was published in 1921 by Hayworth Publishing in Washington, D.C.

Interdisciplinary survey of people of African descent that draws on the overlapping approaches of history, literature, anthropology, legal studies, media studies, performance, linguistics, and creative writing. This course connects the experiences of African-Americans and of other American minorities, focusing on social, political, and cultural histories, and on linguistic patterns.

Welcome to the year 1969 at the City University of New York. Spring is in the air, and so are protests, sit-ins, occupations, and debates about the purpose of the public university. One question is on everyone’s mind: Whom is the public university meant to serve? You may think you know the answer, but be prepared to question what you know.

Examine critical research issues in Puerto Rican and Latinx studies. Introduce students to a variety of ways of thinking about “knowledge” and to specific ways of knowing and making arguments in Puerto Rican and Latinx studies using key humanistic, social science, and “interdisciplinary methodologies”.

What are some of the ways to study Latinx populations, cultures, and issues? The course seeks to develop in students an ability to apply interdisciplinary concepts, methodology, and theories in examining the issues and experiences of Latinx groups. The course will delve into the strategies/tools available for conducting research in Latinx Studies. The culmination of the course will result in each student identifying a research question, relevant methodologies, and an understanding of the scope of their research problem in relation to Latinx Studies.

In this course in addition to culture, we will learn about norms, values, systems of beliefs, social interaction, verbal and non-verbal communication, race and ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation and gender, technology and culture, cultural universalism and relativism, and how these affect our shared or distinct day to day cultural practices and social interaction in our various communities. Students will share their day-to-day social interactions, travels, and cross-cultural experiences in and around New York City. This resource is created for the CLDV 100, Fall 2022 in-class use only. Updates will be provided depending on the semester and course needs via: https://pressbooks.cuny.edu/oalapo

This course is designed to provide students with a broad overview of the major theories on the relationship between ethnicity and politics. The first section discusses ethnicity as a dependent variable. This section studies the forces that shape the development of ethnic identities and their motivating power. The second section addresses ethnicity as an independent variable. In other words, it focuses on how ethnicity operates to affect important political and economic outcomes. Graduate students from all subfields and methodological backgrounds are encouraged to take the course regardless of their previous level of acquaintance with ethnic politics.

Subject has three goals: introduces students to the classic works on ethnic politics, familiarizes students with new research and methodological innovations in the study of ethnic politics, and helps students design and execute original research projects related to ethnic politics. Readings drawn from across disciplines, including political science, anthropology, sociology, and economics. Students read across the four subfields within political science. Graduate students specializing in any subfield are encouraged to take this subject, regardless of their previous empirical or theoretical background. Subject designed as a year-long research workshop, but may also be taken in either semester. This course is designed mainly for political science graduate students conducting or considering conducting research on identity politics. While 17.504 Ethnic Politics I is designed as a primarily theoretical course, Ethnic Politics II switches the focus to methods. It aims to familiarize the student with the current conventional approaches as well as major challenges to them. The course discusses definition and measurement issues as well as briefly addressing survey techniques and modeling.

An introduction to the cross-cultural study of ethnic and national identity. We examine the concept of social identity, and consider the ways in which gendered, linguistic, religious, and ethno-racial identity components interact. We explore the history of nationalism, including the emergence of the idea of the nation-state, as well as ethnic conflict, globalization, identity politics, and human rights.

The "Flipping the Script: Challenging Our Perceptions about Race”  Lesson Plan provides a step by step plan on how to conduct this workshop. Also, the Lesson Plan provides a link to an After Event Toolbox that was designed to allow participants to continue the conversation after the workshop is completed. 

"What can we learn about science and technology--and what can we do with that knowledge? Who are "we" in these questions?--whose knowledge and expertise gets made into public policy, new medicines, topics of cultural and political discourse, science education, and so on? How can expertise and lay knowledge about science and technology be reconciled in a democratic society? How can we make sense of the interactions of living and non-living, humans and non-humans, individual and collectivities in the production of scientific knowledge and technologies? The course takes these questions as entry points into an ever-growing body of work to which feminist, anti-racist, and other critical analysts and activists have made significant contributions. The course also takes these questions as an invitation to practice challenging the barriers of expertise, gender, race, class, and place that restrict wider access to and understanding of the production of scientific knowledge and technologies. In that spirit, students participate in an innovative, problem-based learning (PBL) approach that allows them to shape their own directions of inquiry and develop their skills as investigators and prospective teachers. At the same time the PBL cases engage students' critical faculties as they learn about existing analyses of gender, race, and the complexities of science and technology, guided by individualized bibliographies co-constructed with the instructors and by the projects of the other students. Students from all fields and levels of preparation are encouraged to join the course."

The Heroic Slave is written by well-known author, publisher, and civil-rights activist, Frederick Douglass. The novella is Douglass' only published work of fiction, although the story borrows from the 1841 slave revolt aboard the brig Creole.
The work first appeared in 1852 as part of the anthology Autographs for Freedom, published by John P. Jewett and Co., in Boston, for the Rochester Ladies' Anti Slavery Society.This edition includes the full text of The Heroic Slave along with several documents to provide context for readers.

This course explores how identities, whether of individuals or groups, are produced, maintained, and transformed. Students will be introduced to various theoretical perspectives that deal with identity formation, including constructions of "the normal." We will explore the utility of these perspectives for understanding identity components such as gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, religion, language, social class, and bodily difference. By semester's end students will understand better how an individual can be at once cause and consequence of society, a unique agent of social action as well as a social product.

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is the autobiography of Harriet A. Jacobs, published in 1861 under the pen name Linda Brent. Well-known abolitionist Lydia Maria Child was invited by the publisher to write an introduction. Jacobs describes her life as a slave and how she gained freedom for herself and for her children.

This course provides an overview of Asian American history and its relevance for contemporary issues. It covers the first wave of Asian immigration in the 19th century, the rise of anti-Asian movements, the experiences of Asian Americans during WWII, the emergence of the Asian American movement in the 1960s, and the new wave of post–1965 Asian immigration. The class examines the role these experiences played in the formation of Asian American ethnicity. The course addresses key societal issues such as racial stereotyping, media racism, affirmative action, the glass ceiling, the "model minority" syndrome, and anti-Asian harassment or violence. The course is taught in English.

This course aims to familiarize students with Puerto Rican and Latino Studies by providing an interdisciplinary survey of the field’s theoretical foundations. The course overviews the important historical, political and economic context that has created and influenced the Puerto Rican and Latinx diaspora in the United States. It explores central themes within the discipline, including immigration, identity, gender and sexuality, education, activism, poetry, and literature. The course analyzes the influence of Puerto Rican and Latinx communities on urban centers, popular culture and politics.

An introduction to diverse musical traditions of the world. Music from a wide range of geographical areas are studied in terms of structure, performance practice, social use, aesthetics, and cross-cultural contact. Includes hands-on music making, live demonstrations by guest artists, and ethnographic research projects. This course explores the ways that music is both shaped by and gives shape to the cultural settings in which it is performed, through studying selected musical traditions from around the world. Specific case studies will be examined closely through listening, analysis, and hands-on instruction. The syllabus centers around weekly listening assignments and readings from a textbook with CDs, supplemented by hands-on workshops, lecture/demonstrations and concerts by master musicians from around the world.

The Italian American Studies Open Syllabus (IASOS) is a crowd-sourced digital collection of remixable resources to explore and teach the Italian diaspora in the United States. Organized by keyword, each entry offers an introductory curatorial overview alongside a selection of resources encompassing academic and non-academic texts, cultural artifacts, educational materials, and multimedia content. Aimed at both educators and individuals, it fills the gap in Open Educational Resources for Italian American Studies and caters to the community's desire to connect with their heritage. Launched in April 2024, the IASOS encourages contributions to expand its scope and represent diverse perspectives on and within the Italian American experience.