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 1010: Introduction to African-American and African Studies I · Lecture
Kevin Gaines
TuTh · 12:30 PM - 1:45 PM
This introductory course surveys the histories of people of African descent in Africa, the Americas, and the Caribbean from approximately the Middle Ages to the 1880s. Emphases include the Atlantic slave trade and its complex relationship to Africa; the economic systems, cultures, and communities of Africans and African-Americans in the New World, in slavery and in freedom; the rise of anti-slavery movements; and the socio-economic systems that replaced slavery in the late 19th century.
2000 Level
AAS 2210: Introduction to African Literatures & Cultures
Anne Rotich
Mo/We/Fr · 1:00 PM - 1:50 PM
This course is a survey of literary texts in English by contemporary African writers. Students will read a variety of texts including novels, short stories, poetry, film and songs and critically analyze the cultural and aesthetics of the literary landscape. Particular attention will be on how authors engage themes such as identity, patriarchy, gender, class, and politics in post-colonial structures.
AAS 2220: Introduction to Race, Class, Politics & the Environment
Kimberly Fields
Tu · 6:00 PM - 8:30 PM
Students will be introduced to the evidence and debates surrounding the claims that racialized and poor communities disproportionately shoulder society's environmental burdens. Through a variety of analytical and contextual lenses, we examine fundamental environmental problems faced by individuals and communities of color and the policies and initiatives designed to address them.
AAS 2500: Introduction to Black Feminist Literature
Nasrin Olla
TuTh · 9:30 AM - 10:45 AM
AAS 2500: Race, Class & Gender
Liana Richardson
Tu · 3:30 PM - 6:00 PM
AAS 2500: Transnational Histories of US & South Africa
Robert Vinson
TuTh · 3:30 PM - 4:45 PM
AAS 2600: The Literatures & Cultures of the Black South
Alisha Gaines
MoWe · 2:00 PM - 3:15 PM
This course introduces African American literature through the cultural, historical, and imaginative landscapes of the Black South. We will read canonical texts alongside film and media to trace stories of resistance, survival, and creativity across generations. Each class begins with music (blues, spirituals, hip hop) foregrounding sonic traditions that shape Black Southern expression. Together, we will encounter profound visions of freedom.
AAS 2660: Music, Politics & Social Movements
Kevin Gaines
TuTh · 2:00 PM - 3:15 PM
The course introduces students to the history of the US over the 20th century through a focus on popular music. We will emphasize the social and cultural contexts for popular music, including Jim Crow segregation in the South, the Cold War, urbanization, the popular music industry, radio, television and other mass communications media, labor and class relations, the modern civil rights movement, the 1960s youth counterculture and its legacy, feminism and gay liberation movements.
AAS 2727: African Americans in Popular Culture
Robin Means Coleman
We · 4:00 PM - 6:30 PM
Which performances of Blackness do we find acceptable, and which do we scorn? How have Black Americans worked to assert their value in a media climate that seemingly relies on dichotomies of exceptionalism and deficiency? We will examine how African American culture, history, and experiences--"Blackness"--are presented in popular media. We will focus on representations of Blackness as offered up by Black people and how, intra-racially, concepts of racial uplift and good Black citizenship.
3000-Level
AAS 3113: Horror Noire: A History of Black Americans in Horror
Robin Means Coleman
Mo · 4:00 PM - 6:30 PM
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 3235: The Plantation
Alisha Gaines
MoWe · 3:30 PM - 4:45 PM
This course examines the plantation as both a historical site and persistent structure of power. We will study the plantation's afterlives in literature, history, and media, asking how writers and creatives grappled with its meanings across time. Here, at UVA, where enslaved labor built and sustained the institution, the study of the plantation is not abstract--it is local and lived.
AAS 3310: Environmental Justice in the Mid-Atlantic Region
Kimberly Fields
Tu · 3:30 PM - 6:00 PM
This course is dedicated to examining government responses to environmental injustice. Our readings and discussions will use an interdisciplinary social-science perspective to track the trajectory of environmental justice activism and official responses to it in the five states (DE, MD, PA, VA, WVA) the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) has designated as comprising the important but understudied mid-Atlantic region.
AAS 3500: Monsters, Mad Scientists and Black Trans Bodies
Jovon Moses
TuTh · 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM
AAS 3500: Race, Ethnicity, and Health in the US
Liana Richardson
Tu · 6:00 PM - 8:30 PM
AAS 3750: Women in African History
Nemata Blyden
TuTh · 2:00 PM - 3:15 PM
This course explores themes and issues in the lives of women in Africa. These include women in early African history, culture, and the role of gender in Africa, encounter with Islam and the West, womens search for autonomy, etc. Emphasis is placed, as much as is possible, on the perspectives of women, how they view their history and their ongoing struggle for self-determination.
AAS 3853: From Redlined to Subprime: Race and Real Estate in the US
Andrew Kahrl
MoWe · 9:00 AM - 9:50 AM
This course examines the history of housing and real estate and explores its role in shaping the meaning and lived experience of race in modern America. We will learn how and why real estate ownership, investment, and development came to play a critical role in the formation and endurance of racial segregation, modern capitalism, and the built environment.
4000-level
AAS 4070: Distinguished Major Thesis I
Kimberly Fields
AAS 4570: Black Social Media
Ashleigh Wade
TuTh · 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM
AAS 4570: Afro-Latin America through Memory, Body, and Space
Guilherme Lemos
We · 6:00 PM - 8:30 PM
Swahili
SWAH 1010: Introductory Swahili I
Anne Rotich
Mo/We/Fr · 11:00 AM - 11:50 AM
Prerequisite: limited or no previous knowledge of Swahili.
SWAH 1010: Introductory Swahili I
Leonora Anyango
Mo/We/Fr · 10:00 AM - 10:50 AM
Prerequisite: limited or no previous knowledge of Swahili.
SWAH 2010: Intermediate Swahili I
Anne Rotich
Mo/We/Fr · 12:00 PM - 12:50 PM
Develops skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing, and awareness of the cultural diversity of the Swahili-speaking areas of East Africa. Readings drawn from a range of literary and journalistic materials. Prerequisite: SWAH 1020