Topic Courses

Description of Courses

International Model African Union (spring)

The African Union (AU) is a regional organization launched on 9 July 2002 as a successor organization of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), which was originally founded on 25 May 1963. The AU comprises fifty-five African member states, and is popularly referred to as “Africa’s European Union” or the “United States of Africa”. The AU is intended to articulate a vision of African unity and Pan-Africanism by liberating Africa from the legacies of slave trade, colonialism, foreign oppression and exploitation, and promote issues around democracy, human rights and development on the African continent. This course will simulate the politics, processes and procedures of the AU. It is intended to prepare students who will act as “African diplomats” from a specific state to “pick the brains” of diplomats in a bid to understand how they define and pursue their different national interests in the context of the AU. Furthermore, students are expected to develop an understanding of the foreign policy of a specific state, internalize the essence of the state’s foreign policy, perceive the world through the eyes of that state, and finally, articulate and present the state’s position. Students will learn about a specific country in Africa's history, socioeconomic and political development, and contemporary challenges; and they will write papers and resolutions that reflect the IMAU’s assigned topics in several committees: (1) committee on democracy, governance, and human rights; (2) committee on economic matters; (3) committee on social matters; (4) committee on pan-Africanism and continental unity; and (5) committee on peace and security. Students will also study the role, structure, and activities of the African Union as well as the economic, social, environmental, and political-security issues facing African countries. The high point of the semester is the three-day conference in Washington, D.C., a required course component. This course is primarily open to all students majoring or minoring in a discipline or interdisciplinary program within the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. However, it is also open to students in other colleges, particularly the College of Engineering, the College of Business, and the College of Education.

Black Hair and Tangled Politics (fall) 

Black Hair & Tangled Politics is a highly interactive class where you will spend a considerable amount of time exploring Black women, laws, culture norms and media that have shaped how their Natural Hair has been perceived and received in the United States. The negative and positive cultural and social connotations of Natural Hair will be looked at from slavery to present day with a visual analysis of hair care advertisements. The class will reflect on what Black women have done to move past laws, policies and perceptions that suppressed their hair in its natural state and the ways they fought back to reshape their hair history.

Black Lives Matter: An Ethnographic Perspective of the Movement (fall) 

This course will cover topics related to the socio-cultural, political, legal, and education foundational aspects of the Black Lives Matter Movement. Students will gain real-life perspectives on the impact of the BLM Movement on America’s current social justice narrative as well as their own personal assumptions. Students will engage in critical reflection, in-class discussion and debates, as well as an analysis of the social constructs of culture, race, and class in order to gain a better understanding of their identity in the country’s established systems