- Black Studies 4 Critical Intro to Race
- Black Studies 15 Psychology of Blacks
- Black Studies 38B African American Literature
- Black Studies 103 Politics of Black Liberation
- Black Studies 106 Women Politics of the Body
- Black Studies 133 Gender and Sexuality
Entering into the University of California Santa Barbara, I had a monolithic way of looking at the world. All I knew about Black History and racial politics were the mainstream basics: Slavery, Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and the Civil Rights Movement. Also, I had come to accept that although I knew that as an African American woman I had to work harder than my white counterpart I held the idea that racial equality had been achieved post-civil rights movement. UCSB’s Black Studies Department is exceptional, and has influenced my perspective significantly. The general Black Studies courses that I have taken examined the ways in which racism is constructed and embedded within systematic structures of oppression. Before taking Black Studies courses I was not aware of the impact of race in poverty, employment, education, media representation, public policies, and so on.
Being a double major in Black Studies and Sociology with a minor in Feminist Studies, I’ve gained a lot of perspective from Black Studies 133 Gender and Sexuality. Generally, Black Studies courses and racial politics have the tendency to center race in discussion of racial politics, without providing a critical gender critique. Thus, rendering the Black womens' experiences invisible. Black Studies 133 influenced my perspective by providing an intersectional analysis that examined different identities along with race, such as gender, class, and sexuality. The Black Studies courses that I have taken thus far, have provided me with a historical context to the plight of African Americans and exposed me different fields in which African Americans are examined. In addition, they have given me the tools to think and analyze critically.
Being a double major in Black Studies and Sociology with a minor in Feminist Studies, I’ve gained a lot of perspective from Black Studies 133 Gender and Sexuality. Generally, Black Studies courses and racial politics have the tendency to center race in discussion of racial politics, without providing a critical gender critique. Thus, rendering the Black womens' experiences invisible. Black Studies 133 influenced my perspective by providing an intersectional analysis that examined different identities along with race, such as gender, class, and sexuality. The Black Studies courses that I have taken thus far, have provided me with a historical context to the plight of African Americans and exposed me different fields in which African Americans are examined. In addition, they have given me the tools to think and analyze critically.
