The Carter G. Woodson Institute

Commonwealth Professor (AAS)

Spring 2026

These course listings are subject to change. Courses with low enrollment may be canceled. The official system of record at the University of Virginia is the Student Information System (SIS). www.virginia.edu/sis. Make sure to discuss your curricular plan and academic progress report with your AAS major advisor.

AAS Courses

1000 Level

AAS 1020: Introduction to African American Studies

This introductory course builds upon the histories of people of African descent in Africa, the Americas, and the Caribbean surveyed in AAS 1010. Drawing on disciplines such as Anthropology, History, Religious Studies, Political Science and Sociology, the course focuses on the period from the late 19th century to the present and is comparative in perspective. It examines the links and disjunctions between communities of African descent in the United States and in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa. The course begins with an overview of AAS, its history, assumptions, boundaries, and topics of inquiry, and then proceeds to focus on a number of inter-related themes: patterns of cultural experience; community formation; comparative racial classification; language and society; family and kinship; religion; social and political movements; arts and aesthetics; and archaeology of the African Diaspora.

2000 Level

AAS 2500: Topic Courses in Africana Studies

Racial Passing in Lit & Culture
Black Hope, Black Despair
Race & Place in African American Life
The Souls of Black Folk
African Americans in Pop Culture

AAS 2710: Introduction to Afro-Latin America

This seminar examines the historical and contemporary trajectories and the cultural and intellectual contributions of Afro-descendant peoples in Latin America. Students explore the myriad ways in which Afro-Latin Americans have shaped their societies from the colonial period to the present day.

3000 Level

AAS 3113: Horror Noire: A History of Black Americans in Horror

The horror genre provides daring, unflinching lessons. It is a syllabus of our social, political, and racial world. Black horror, in particular, has established itself as a primer on the quest for social justice. What can such a boundary-pushing genre teach us about paths to solidarity and democracy? What can we learn about disrupting racism, misogyny, and anti-Blackness?

AAS 3157: Caribbean Perspectives

Breaking with popular constructions of the region as a timeless tropical paradise, this course will re-define the Caribbean as the birthplace of modern forms of capitalism, globalization, and trans-nationalism. We will survey the founding moments of Caribbean history, including the imposition of slavery, the rise of plantation economies, and the development of global networks of goods and peoples.

AAS 3160: African Americans in Sport

This course provides a historical and analytical understanding of the issues involving race, racism, race relations in American sport. This course provides an overview of the sporting events, activism, icons, and time periods that have been shaped by America's continued struggle to improve race relations.

AAS 3500: Intermediate Seminar in African American & African Studies

Black South in Pop Imagination
Race, Ethnicity & Health in US
Intro to Black Queer Film
Race, Class, Politics, & Environment
Global Environmental Justice
Africulture: Roots of US Agriculture
Race & Medicine in America
Black Power & Environmental Movements
Black&Trans Others Gothic LitFilm
Black Women, Slavery & Freedom
Education and Conflict
Tracing Your Genealogy

AAS 3760: Reading Black Digital Culture

Using a mix of scholarly and popular-press readings and an examination of digital artifacts, we will analyze the creations and contributions of Black digital culture from the mid-90s to the present. Covering topics including the early Black blogosphere; the creation of niche content sites like BlackPlanet.com; the emergence of Black Twitter; the circulation of memes, and the use of second-screening.

4000 Level

AAS 4570: Advanced Research Seminar in African-American & African Studies

Race, Power, and the Production of Knowledge
Black Feminist Theory

Courses in other Departments

American Studies:

AMST 2500: Commodify Race/Gender/Sexuality (David Coyoca)
AMST 3428: Race, Gender, Music (Fiona Ngo)

English Literature

ENGL 2572: Black Writers in America (Lisa Woolfork)
ENGL 2599: Landscapes of Black Education (K. Ian Grandison)
ENGL 4570: W.E.B Du Bois (Marlon Ross)
ENGL 4580: Race in American Places (K. Ian Grandison)

History - African History

HIAF 1559: Debating African History (James La Fleur)
HIAF 3051: West African History (James La Fleur)
HIAF 3501: Gender, Law, and Empire (Emily Burrill)
HIAF 4260: Disease, Medicine, and Health in African History (James La Fleur)

History - United States History

HIUS 2053: American Slavery (Justene Hill Edwards)
HIUS 3501: Race, Place, and the Schoolhouse (Erica Sterling)
HIUS 4051: Slavery, Freedom, and Founders (Christa Dierksheide)
HIUS 4051: Race, Nation, and Gender (Chloe Porche)

Media Studies

MDST 2727: African Americans in Popular Culture (Robin Means Coleman)
MDST 3113: Horror Noire: History of Black Americans in Horror (Robin Means Coleman)
MDST 3760: Reading Black Digital Culture (Asleigh Wade)