Out of Africa: The Making of the African Diaspora

Catalog description

The trans-Atlantic slave trade dispersed Africans in the New World and the Old, creating the African Diaspora. Generations of scholars have disputed whether descendants of enslaved Africans could have retained any of their African culture and/ or fully assimilated into New World societies. This course will combine a chronological, geographical, and a thematic approach to the creation of new Africa-inspired cultures in both Africa and the African Diaspora. It will explore societies in the Caribbean, the US South, Latin America, and Africa and address themes, such as Africanisms, African survivals, African retentions, Creole languages, and religion.