Dr. Gloria H. Dickinson
Department Office KH 218 
African-American Studies  KH 215  Telephone 771-2138
Kendall Hall 215 
Office Hours M & W 3-5
E-Mail dickinsg@tcnj.edu
 

COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course chronicles the religious traditions of African, Caribbean, Latin American, and African-American people by exploring the links among indigenous African religious beliefs, values, rituals and worldview, the practices throughout the African diaspora.  The ways in which African religions have informed global preservations of an African worldview, and the worldview’s subsequent fusion with African, European and American Islam and Christianity will be emphasized.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS
1. General Requirements

Students are expected to:

Attend and participate in class meetings

Read materials for class when due

Be prepared to discuss reading assignments 

Adhere to college rules with regard to style, footnoting/attribution 

No makeup exams / late submissions without doctor’s note 

Speakeasy Café        http://speakeasy.wsu.edu/studio
This is a website where you will post online writing for this class. 
Step one is to submit a personal profile in the “café.”  You will then read profiles from other class members and respond to AT LEAST TWO submissions. Detailed instructions will be distributed in class.
You will answer questions at this site throughout the semester.

GRADE COMPILATIONS
Students’ final grades will be compiled based upon:

• the midterm Reel History Project (25%)   Due Week 9
• book critiques (20%),      Due Week 7 & Week 10
• Final Website Project (30%)    Due Week 14:1
• class participation (25%)  Includes : class discussion; online writing; e-mail assignments; group projects; bhm/whm  programs 
• E-Mail Assignments (10 %)

During the Spring semester, students will be required to attend programs scheduled as part of the college's AAHM and WHM observances. Papers of 1-2 pages will be required after each activity. Should field trips be assigned, students will be notified in advance. A written assignment will be attached to the trip. Assignments related to this category will be included in the “class participation” grade.

Students will be required to attend 3 programs as announced.
SPRING 2001 PROGRAM DATES:   1/31, 2&, , 2/14, 2/28,3/7, 3/26, 3/29
EXTRA CREDIT FOR ADDITIONAL PROGRAMS
THERE WILL BE A TRIP TO NEW YORK ON WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28. BUS DEPARTS HOLMAN HALL AT 9 AM.  RETURNS TO CAMPUS AT 6 PM.

A 1-2 page critique should be e-mailed to the professor (dickinsg@tcnj.edu) within 7 days after the program.  Grades for these activities will be counted in the class participation category.  Any written assignments associated with class trips will be added to the class participation category. 

ASSIGNMENTS
Due dates for all assignments are listed, and late assignments will lose one letter grade per day unless a valid excuse is provided by the Dean of Students’ Office College Health Services, and/or a physician.  All assignments are to be typewritten and double spaced.

1. The E-mail/discussion moderator assignment (10 % of participation grade): 
For each class meeting one student will prepare 2 questions based upon the assignments for that day. The student will forward the question to the class listserve AT LEAST 48 HOURS before the class. The instructor will put the questions on the SPEAKEASY online writing space. Each student will answer ONE OF the questions BEFORE coming to class.  Each student will also READ AND REPLY TO the person who posts after him/her.  (Note, if you are the last to post you will answer the first student who replied.  The creator of the question may be asked to  serve as moderator for a brief discussion at the beginning of each class.  Questions are to be based on the assigned readings.  The answers to the questions and the dialogue with other students will be graded as part of your participation grade.  The instructor will assign the date(s) and topics after the first class meeting.

2. GROUP  PRESENTATIONS (10 %)
IN CLASS Group Projects 
In addition to participation in class discussions that reflect a mastery of the assigned readings, students will be assigned to one of 5 groups that will be responsible for in-class presentations. Each group will prepare an interesting, enlightening session that fully explores the assigned book.  PowerPoint presentation software must be used. Your goal is to provide your classmates with a summary of the book, substantive and engaging discussion questions.  Students must complete a “peer review” form for the group project and turn it in on the day of your presentation.  Contact the instructor at least one week in advance if you need additional audiovisual equipment. 

THERE WILL BE ONE GRADE FOR THE GROUP.  Students who do not participate will be given a grade of "F" if the absence is not verified by a medical excuse.

3. BOOK CRITIQUES (20%)
Two to three page critiques of Of Water and Spirit and Mama Day are to be submitted by each student.  These papers should not be reviews of the plots/characterizations of the works.  Rather, they should provide an analysis of an element, or elements, of the work that you found to be particularly interesting/significant or disagreeable.

The Mama Day paper must compare/contrast the novel and Julie Dash’s film Daughters of The Dust.

• Of Water and Spirit  Due Week 5
• Mama Day   Due Week 12

Directions for this project can be found at http://www.lehigh.edu/~ineng/ejg/ejg-frames.html.
Note: this project may require work beyond the middle of the semester.

5 . WEBSITE  RESEARCH PROJECT (20%)  DUE WEEK 14 Class 1
This semester, the Honors AFAM220 class is being asked to update the Diaspora Religions site begun by your predecessors.  Since web design, web use, and pedagogy have changed considerably during the past 2 years, the format for your project will be very different from the first project. 

Your class is being asked to use the model at the site listed below as a guide for sites on all of the topics covered during the second half of the semester. The only exceptions are weeks 13 & 14, “The Performed Word,” and “The World Upside Down.”

Each of the 5 groups assigned to report on one of the books (Diouf, Collier- Thomas, Farris Thompson, Imbo, and Zahan ) will also prepare a web-based summary of the book with links to related topics, discussion questions, etc.

Each student will also be assigned to another group. There are 3 topics, and students will work in teams on each topic.

Group 1 - The African Methodist Episcopal and the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Churches and Father Divine
Group 2 - The Black Baptist and IMANI TEMPLE Catholic Churches 
Group 3- The Church of God In Christ (COGIC), Black Presbyterian Churches and the Nation of Islam

You will be doing 4 things:

• Writing an introductory overview essay ABOUT the topic/denomination
• Writing a second section of the paper that evaluates websites on your topic
• Selecting a set of appropriate Links for your topic
• Provide a bibliography on your topic

Designing a website (NOTE: this will require consensus. Try to use a format that
Is compatible with part 1 of the site OR, update/reconfigure part 1 to correspond with your new design.

Model Site: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Vista/7477/history2.html

ASSIGNED READINGS

REQUIRED READINGS- Bookstore
Collier-Thomas, Bettye, Daughters of Thunder
Diouf, Sylvianne A,  Servants of Allah: African Muslims Enslaved in the Americas
Finch, Charles, The Nile Valley Sources of The Old Testament
Thompson, Robert Farris, Flash of the Spirit
Zahan, Dominique, The Religion, Spirituality and Thought of Traditional Africa
Imbo, Samuel O, An Introduction to African Philosophy
Naylor, Gloria, Mama Day
Raboteau, Albert Jordy, African-American Religion 

REQUIRED READINGS- Reserve
Some, Malidoma Patrice, "Of Water and the Spirit" (Audiobook)
Coniff/Davis, Africans in The Americas
Supplementary Articles Packet  (ON RESERVE)

RECOMMENDED READINGS
Lincoln/Mamiiya, The Black Church in America (Reserve)

ONLINE RESOURCES
Course Website   http://dickinsg.intrasun.tcnj.edu/diaspora

WWW Search Strategies:
How to Choose the Search Tools You Need
A Selection of Search Engines
Comparing & Evaluating Websites
TCNJ  RL West Library- Africana Studies Resources
Citing Electronic Sources
Another site on Citing Electronic Sources

SCHEDULE
PART I  AFRICA AND ITS PAST
Week 1

Topics:  Africana Studies - An Overview
Course and Assignments Overview
Eurocentric and Afrocentric approaches to scholarships and research
African geo-economy
Defining Worldview

Video: Africa Continent of Contrasts

Resource:  The Afrocentric Debate Resource Homepage

Assignment # 1: 
Download and listen to NPR- Talk of The Nation “Afrocentrism”  program featuring Dr. Mary Lefkowitz and Dr. Maulana Ron Karenga 

Read An African Historical Framework

Assignment #2: Due at next class meeting
Using the World Wide Web/Internet- find sites that provide at least 3 examples each of:
(1) Eurocentric and Afrocentric worldviews about the same topic 
(2) The reinforcement of three common misconceptions about Egypt/Africa
 

Week 2
Topics:  The Word  ( 9:30-10:50) African Oral Traditions 
Research Skills and Technological Literacies
Powerpoint Workshop

Reading: “African Sources: An Introduction” from Asante and Abarry’s African Intellectual Heritage
Video:  The World Began at Ile Ife 

Resources:
Download and listen to the “Story of Osiris” and the “Story of “Isis” at:

Read the Creation stories at West African Cosmogony, Egyptian Creation Story and Gods

Assignment:     Use the audio and print creation stories listed above.  Find two more WWW  African creation stories.  Compare and Contrast the values,  mores, ethics and norms being espoused by each in a 2-3 page paper.
 

Week 3
Topics:  Kemet and The Ancient Kingdoms (9:30-10:50)
Dr. Cheik Anta Diop and the Nile Valley Scholars

Readings:  Imbo, Samuel O    An Introduction to African Philosophy
Report/Summary and discussion questions- Group 1

Resources: Egypt Worship and Mythology
The Mystery That Was Egypt 
The Afrocentric Debate Resource Homepage
Cheik Anta Diop (French)
Martin Bernal- Black Athena

Video:   SCETV Interview with Dr. Cheik Anta Diop 
Assignment:; View Diop interview and answer questions distributed in class
 

Week 4
Topic:  Indigenous African Religions Cosmology and Worldview (9:30-10:50)
Indigenous African Religions (11-12:20)
Case Studies: Judaism, Islam and Christianity

Readings:   Zahan, Dominique, The Religion, Spirituality and Thought of Traditional Africa
Report/Summary and discussion questions- Group 2

“Race, Racism and the Biblical Narratives” by Cain Hope Felder in Stony The Road We Trod
Edward Wilmont Blyden

Lecture:  The African Origins of Judaism, Islam and Christianity

Resources: Sites on African Philosophy
Israel/Judaism
African Americans in Israel
Yoruba Cosmology
Ethiopian Christianity

Videos: Falashas (Off air broadcast)
 

Week 5

Topic:  Indigenous African Religions and Their Arts
Case Studies: Yoruba, Dogon, Ashanti
Lecture: The Arts of Africa

Readings: “Myths and Practices of Sacrifice Among the Dogon”
“Yoruba Myths and Religion”
“Astronomy and Calendars in West Africa”
“Masks in West African Traditional Societies”
"The King’s Crown”  (Answer questions at this site)

Videos: Understanding African Art; The Art of the Dogon or Dance of the Spirits

Resources:  Vodun
Akan Goldweights and Proverbs
Yoruba and Akan Art in Wood and Metal
Kennedy Center: Arts Interactive African Visual and Performing Arts.

OF WATER AND SPIRIT PAPER DUE TODAY
 

Week 6
Topics:  Web Design Workshop
 

Week 7
Topics:  Magic and Conjuration
Research Skills and Technological Literacies

Library Orientation (11:-12:20)
Mr. Marc Meola, Reader’s Advisor - Africana Studies

Readings: “The Magic Power of Witchcraft” (NY Times Reprint) 
Chapter 7 – “Medicine and Healing Practices of Traditional Medicine”. from Boamah - Waife’s Africa Today

Videos:   Witchcraft Among the Azande ;Healers of Ghana ( off air week 6)
African and African American Religions (In Class)

MIDTERM PROJECT DUE TODAY
 

PART TWO: NEW WORLD RELIGIONS
Week 8
Topic:  Africans in The New World-----Brazil

Reading: Diouf, Sylvianne A., Servants of Allah: African Muslims Enslaved in the Americas
Report/Summary and discussion questions- Group 3

Flash of The Spirit  Chapters 1 and 2

Video:   Bahia:  Africa in The Americas
 

Week 9
Topic:  Africans in The New World
The Caribbean

Reading:
Africans in The Americas   pages 71-88, 175-188
Flash of the Spirit - all

Report/Summary and discussion questions- Group 4

List of African Mythological figures
Chart of the Seven African Powers
Characteristics of the Selected Loas in Northern Haiti
African Religions in Colonial Jamaica

Websites:  Caribbean Communities in Europe
Caribbean Religion Center
Afro-Caribbean Faiths
Internet Guide to African-Caribbean Music
Rasafarianism
Women
Vodoun
http://www.vmedia.com/shannon/voodoo/voodoo.html
http://www.nando.net/prof/caribe/origins.html

Video:    A History of Vodoo
 

Week 10

Topic:  Africans in The New World------North America

Readings: Flash of The Spirit - all
Raboteau, Albert Jordy         African-American Religion 
Diouf, Sylvianne A. , Servants of Allah: African Muslims Enslaved in the Americas 

Reading Packet: (Reserve) Nat Turner: Religion and Slave Insurrection
“The Black Church Grows”
Richard Allen
Black Catholics: A Capsule History

Resources: African American Religion in the 19th Century
African American Spirituals- Brief History

Videos:  Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright’s lecture to the McKnight Doctoral Fellows.  Answer questions distributed in class.

Resources:   Raboteau, Albert Jordy         African-American Religion 

MAMA DAY PAPER DUE TODAY
Resource: The Unofficial Gloria Naylor Homepage
 

Week 11
Topic:  Women and the Church------North America

Readings: Daughters of Thunder (Collier-Thomas) -All 
Report/Summary and discussion questions- Group 5

“The Pulpit and the Pew: The Black Church and Women” in The Black Church   p. 274; pages 231-242 (Reserve)

Video:  Say Amen Somebody
 

Week 12
Topic:    The Black Church in 20th Century--- North America

Readings:  Raboteau, Albert Jordy         African-American Religion 

Video:  Fire in The Pews

Resources: Discussion of Father Divine- 1930's
 

Week 13
Topic:  North America:  “The Performed Word”

Assignment:  Watch Bobby Jones Gospel and Video Gospel on BET on Sunday morning or evening
Watch at least 2 African American preachers on BET (weekday mornings or Sunday)
Watch at least 1 mainstream protestant televangelist during the same week

Video:  Music as Metaphor  or The Songs Are Free

Assignment: Answer Questions on The Songs Are Free

Resources: African American Spirituals- Brief History
 

Week 14
Topic:  The World Upside Down

Reading:  Website

Video:  The Gospel at Colonus
 

Week 15 FINAL EXAM AS SCHEDULED