AF AMER 1
Introduction to Black Studies
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Introduction of methods, theories, conceptual frameworks, and key debates in black studies. Interrogation of how race structures notions of identity and meaning of blackness in relation to class, gender, and sexuality; essential role of African people in development of capitalism, liberalism, and democracy; what various disciplinary lenses and epistemologies (history, literature, sociology, geography, cultural studies, political theory, philosophy, etc.) reveal about experiences of black people in modern world. Key thinkers and ideas from across humanities and social sciences are highlighted. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2023 - This class kind of sucks but it's so easy and the material was interesting. The workload was very manageable and the lectures were engaging, but they were primarily done by Jemima Pierre with a few from other AfAmer profs at UCLA. Basically nothing from Edu. Also, it is a week after the quarter ended and I still don't have a midterm grade. Students in all sections experienced this, and when we reached out to the professor, we never got a response. I personally emailed her several times and never received any correspondence back. My TA never introduced himself to the students (the class was fully async but one of the other TAs -- Nila Seelan was VERY on top of everything). The material was fascinating and I truly enjoyed completing assignments, but the professor was not good. I think it was worth taking purely due to the knowledge that I got from it, but none of that knowledge really came from the professor who was teaching it.
Fall 2023 - This class kind of sucks but it's so easy and the material was interesting. The workload was very manageable and the lectures were engaging, but they were primarily done by Jemima Pierre with a few from other AfAmer profs at UCLA. Basically nothing from Edu. Also, it is a week after the quarter ended and I still don't have a midterm grade. Students in all sections experienced this, and when we reached out to the professor, we never got a response. I personally emailed her several times and never received any correspondence back. My TA never introduced himself to the students (the class was fully async but one of the other TAs -- Nila Seelan was VERY on top of everything). The material was fascinating and I truly enjoyed completing assignments, but the professor was not good. I think it was worth taking purely due to the knowledge that I got from it, but none of that knowledge really came from the professor who was teaching it.
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Most Helpful Review
Summer 2022 - DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS IF YOUR TA IS NATALINA MONTEIRO!!! I read all of the reviews and thought this class would be an easy A in the summer with relatively interesting content but I was utterly fucked over by my TA. In the async format, the grading is split into 30% discussion board posts, 35% midterm, 35% final. The midterm is a take-home exam composed of short responses and two essays based on content from Weeks 1-3. It's a lot of writing and kinda time-consuming but mostly follows the content from the lectures. The final (I didn't take it because I dropped) is a similar format of being a take-home exam with essay questions on Weeks 4-6. Every week, you have to watch lectures, films, and do readings and write two discussion board posts and two replies. There are three "lessons" each week, each with its own set of readings and/or films as well as 1-2 30-60 min lecture videos. The discussion board questions align very closely to the lecture topics and aren't too difficult. This class would have been easy and stress-free but my TA graded unnecessarily harshly, giving out 2/3s and 2.5/3s on the discussion posts because she didn't think you "proved you read the material" even if you had. The only directions for the posts were that they had to be more than 5 sentences but her expectations were upwards of 400-500 words per post with time stamps and citations, even when the directions did not specify that. The 2s and 2.5s added up and made it basically impossible for me to get an A in the course before my midterm was even graded, which is why I dropped. She didn't grade anything until the end of Week 5 out of 6 so I couldn't even drop for a refund. She also never responded to my email asking about why she took off random points for my discussion posts. The class content is actually really interesting so it's a shame I had to drop because of a shitty TA :/ I'm sure the class is an easy A and well worth your time if you get another TA though
Summer 2022 - DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS IF YOUR TA IS NATALINA MONTEIRO!!! I read all of the reviews and thought this class would be an easy A in the summer with relatively interesting content but I was utterly fucked over by my TA. In the async format, the grading is split into 30% discussion board posts, 35% midterm, 35% final. The midterm is a take-home exam composed of short responses and two essays based on content from Weeks 1-3. It's a lot of writing and kinda time-consuming but mostly follows the content from the lectures. The final (I didn't take it because I dropped) is a similar format of being a take-home exam with essay questions on Weeks 4-6. Every week, you have to watch lectures, films, and do readings and write two discussion board posts and two replies. There are three "lessons" each week, each with its own set of readings and/or films as well as 1-2 30-60 min lecture videos. The discussion board questions align very closely to the lecture topics and aren't too difficult. This class would have been easy and stress-free but my TA graded unnecessarily harshly, giving out 2/3s and 2.5/3s on the discussion posts because she didn't think you "proved you read the material" even if you had. The only directions for the posts were that they had to be more than 5 sentences but her expectations were upwards of 400-500 words per post with time stamps and citations, even when the directions did not specify that. The 2s and 2.5s added up and made it basically impossible for me to get an A in the course before my midterm was even graded, which is why I dropped. She didn't grade anything until the end of Week 5 out of 6 so I couldn't even drop for a refund. She also never responded to my email asking about why she took off random points for my discussion posts. The class content is actually really interesting so it's a shame I had to drop because of a shitty TA :/ I'm sure the class is an easy A and well worth your time if you get another TA though
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2025 - This course has a fairly manageable workload but if you are taking this class asynchronous know that the workload does replace the class so there is more work to do at times. I rarely needed to contact my TA and was able to navigate the course primarily on my own. This class has 2 weekly discussion boards graded by the TA, so they will be harshly graded or not according to your TA's preference. Once I figured out my TA's preference I was able to easily receive an A each week. There are a lot of readings and recorded lectures for this course which guide your discussion posts with required citations. If you put your time and effort into the discussions it will help you with the midterm and final. The structure of both exams are short answers (citation required) and two essay responses (citations required). This class is not hard but I found it tedious at times and had a hard time finding motivation to complete the weekly assignments because there was no in person class to hold me accountable.
Fall 2025 - This course has a fairly manageable workload but if you are taking this class asynchronous know that the workload does replace the class so there is more work to do at times. I rarely needed to contact my TA and was able to navigate the course primarily on my own. This class has 2 weekly discussion boards graded by the TA, so they will be harshly graded or not according to your TA's preference. Once I figured out my TA's preference I was able to easily receive an A each week. There are a lot of readings and recorded lectures for this course which guide your discussion posts with required citations. If you put your time and effort into the discussions it will help you with the midterm and final. The structure of both exams are short answers (citation required) and two essay responses (citations required). This class is not hard but I found it tedious at times and had a hard time finding motivation to complete the weekly assignments because there was no in person class to hold me accountable.
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