The courses listed below are provided by the JHU Public Course Search. This listing provides a snapshot of immediately available courses and may not be complete.
Course registration information can be found on the Student Information Services (SIS) website.
How has haunting, marked by presence and absence, shaped famed Haitian author Edwidge Danticat’s worldmaking? As we investigate texts including The Farming of Bones (1998), The Dew Breaker (2004), and Claire of the Sea Light (2013), we will dissect multivalent iterations of hauntings and their connections to other critical themes in Danticat’s oeuvre, including nation-building, diaspora, colonization and migration.
This summer institute is a week long opportunity that takes place abroad with a theme focused on the healing arts. Grounding this theme is the pursuit of reparatory justice in the Rastafari faith. The summer school will integrate learning activities with existing community projects, for instance, the School of Vision and Rastafari Indigenous Village. Students will study Rastafari as an African-centered ethos, inclusive of culture and economic sustainability.
Anthropologist Irma McLaurin explains that Black feminist anthropologists are “Black women (first) who do anthropology (second).” Broadly, Black feminism is based on the notion that Black women and their knowledge matter. Being Black and female within a patriarchal white supremacist society subjects Black women to unique experiences that give insight into the many forms that oppression can take. But Black feminisms and Black feminists are not homogenous. There are various political views and disciplinary approaches. Of course, not all Black feminists are academics—there are artists, organizers, and mothers. There are different gender identities and sexualities. What is shared among Black feminists is an emphasis on retrieving and (re)producing Black women’s knowledge, doing activist work, and a commitment to humanism. In this course, we focus on engagements with Black feminism in all subfields of anthropology.
From 1948-1994, South Africa was governed under the system of apartheid, which denied political and civil rights to non-white citizens. This class traces the rise of apartheid in South Africa as well as the liberation struggle that eventually defeated it.
From 1948-1994, South Africa was governed under the system of apartheid, which denied political and civil rights to non-white citizens. This class traces the rise of apartheid in South Africa as well as the liberation struggle that eventually defeated it.
We will explore key texts in the historiography of post-1939 North Africa as well as key recent publications, in French as well as in English.
Introduction to the grammar and writing system of the classical language of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom (ca. 2055-1650 B.C.). In the second semester, literary texts and royal inscriptions will be read. Course meets with AS.133.600.
How can we think about the interconnections between racism, theories of race and the practice of medicine? Living at a moment when racial disparities in health outcomes in the United States are still very stark, this course will provide a historically grounded approach to thinking about the roles that race and racism have played in healthcare, the production of health disparities as well as the role of medicine in the development of racist thought. While much of this course will focus geographically within the United States, this class will also explore global histories of medicine, encountering questions of race and medicine in Africa, the South Pacific and Asia. In addition to the analysis of primary source documents and historical texts, students will also be introduced to theoretical approaches to the study of race and racism from W.E.B. Dubois, Sylvia Wynter, Frantz Fanon and others.
Many sub-Saharan African countries are among the least developed countries in the world. In this course, we explore the economic development experiences of African countries, with more focus on sub-Saharan Africa. The course starts with a historical perspective, delves into development strategies, and examines evidence on successes and failures of some case study countries. We conclude by analyzing the many challenges that these countries continue to face in their development process. Elements of Microeconomics and Macroeconomics are required prerequisites. There would be group presentations on assigned readings.
Race has been and continues to be centrally important to American political life and development. In this course, we will engage with the major debates around racial politics in the United States, with a substantial focus on how policies and practices of citizenship, immigration law, social provision, and criminal justice policy shaped and continue to shape racial formation, group-based identities, and group position; debates around the content and meaning of political representation and the responsiveness of the political system to American minority groups; debates about how racial prejudice has shifted and its importance in understanding American political behavior; the prospects for contestation or coalitions among groups; the “struggle with difference” within groups as they deal with the interplay of race and class, citizenship status, and issues that disproportionately affect a subset of their members; and debates about how new groups and issues are reshaping the meaning and practice of race in the United States.
Designed to sharpen students’ abilities in contemporary spoken and written Portuguese. This third-year course fosters the development of complex language skills that enhance fluency, accuracy and general proficiency in Portuguese and its appropriate use in professional and informal contexts. Students will briefly review previous grammar structures and concentrate on new complex grammar concepts. Using a variety of cultural items such as current news, short stories, plays, films, videos, newspaper articles, and popular music, students discuss diverse topics followed by intense writing and oral discussion with the aim of developing critical thinking and solid communication skills. Successful completion of Advanced Portuguese I will prepare students for the next level, Advanced Portuguese II, AS.210.372. May not be taken on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis. Prereq: AS.210.272 or (old AS.210.278) or placement test. THERE IS NO FINAL EXAM.
Did you know that Brazil is very similar to the United States? This course is intended as an introduction to the culture and civilization of Brazil. It is designed to provide students with basic information about Brazilian history, politics, economy, art, literature, popular culture, theater, cinema, and music. The course will focus on how Indigenous, Asian, African, and European cultural influences have interacted to create the new and unique civilization that is Brazil today. The course is taught in English. No Prereq. THERE IS NO FINAL EXAM.
In the 2015 New York Times article “A Language for Grieving,” the literary scholar Sonya Posmentier writes, “By making violence strange and unfamiliar, very different poets like [Gwendolyn] Brooks and [M. NourbeSe] Philip have gone beyond merely repeating its effects, like a viral video of a police shooting, and beyond the realm of the evidentiary to that of the imagination, where we might not only observe violence but mourn and counter it.” In this course, we will explore how 20th- and 21st-century African American and African diasporic poets have moved “beyond the realm of the evidentiary to that of the imagination” to write about, into, and through history. Readings may include work by Robert Hayden, Gwendolyn Brooks, M. NourbeSe Phillip, Amaud Jamaul Johnson, Patricia Smith, Tyehimba Jess, Cameron Awkward-Rich, and others, including a multigenerational selection of elegies for Emmett Till. Students should expect to engage with the readings both creatively and analytically and will have the opportunity to write their own historical poetry.
Race and ethnicity have played a prominent role in American society and continue to do so, as demonstrated by interracial and interethnic gaps in economic and educational achievement, residence, political power, family structure, crime, and health. Using a sociological framework, we will explore the historical significance of race and its development as a social construction, assess the causes and consequences of intergroup inequalities and explore potential solutions.
An introduction to Urban Health with Baltimore as a case study: wellbeing, nutrition, education, violence and city-wide geographic variation. Lectures by JH Faculty, local government/service providers and advocates.
An introduction to Urban Health with Baltimore as a case study: wellbeing, nutrition, education, violence and city-wide geographic variation. Lectures by JH Faculty, local government/service providers and advocates.
An introduction to Urban Health with Baltimore as a case study: wellbeing, nutrition, education, violence and city-wide geographic variation. Lectures by JH Faculty, local government/service providers and advocates.
An introduction to Urban Health with Baltimore as a case study: wellbeing, nutrition, education, violence and city-wide geographic variation. Lectures by JH Faculty, local government/service providers and advocates.
Introduction to Critical Diaspora Studies will explore the transnational, relational, and comparative approach to racism, migration, and colonialism at the heart of this major. It will introduce students to cutting-edge literature in the major’s four tracks: Migration and Borders; Global Indigeneities; Empires, Wars, and Carceralities; and Solidarities, Social Movements, and Citizenship. Topics covered will include diasporic and indigenous cultures and politics from Asia, Africa, and Latin America, as well as the United States. Students should expect to learn the value of interdisciplinary and transnational approaches to questions of social belonging, activism, justice, and politics. This course will also be useful to students in all humanities and social science majors who are interested in questions of racism, migration, and colonialism. This course may entail travel over fall break.
This course introduces students to the field of Africana Studies. It focuses on the historical experience, intellectual ideas, theories, and cultural production of African-descended people. We will consider how people of the black diaspora remember and encounter Africa. We will explore, too, how such people have lived, spoken, written, and produced art about colonialism and enslavement, gender and mobility, violence and pleasure. This course will be thematically organized and invite you to center your own stories about black people within your understanding of the modern world and its making.
This course will examine the lasting aesthetic impact of the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804) on Black fiction writers and playwrights, with an emphasis on issues related to culture wars, imaginary marronage, colonial language, slave memory, literary violence & trauma, sexual politics, beliefs, and the African diaspora.
This course explores Black social movements in the United States to better understand social inequality, social structures, oppression, agency, and power across time and space.
What role does resistance play in black political thought and action? How do black concepts of resistance shape broader political processes? How are these concepts essential in understanding political development past and present?
Fall 202521 |
Summer 20252 |
| Course # (Section) | Title | Day/Times | Instructor | Location | Term | Course Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AS.070.497 (01) | Black Feminist Anthropology | T 4:00PM - 6:30PM | Lans, Aja Marie | Mergenthaler 439 | Fall 2025 | Anthropologist Irma McLaurin explains that Black feminist anthropologists are “Black women (first) who do anthropology (second).” Broadly, Black feminism is based on the notion that Black women and their knowledge matter. Being Black and female within a patriarchal white supremacist society subjects Black women to unique experiences that give insight into the many forms that oppression can take. But Black feminisms and Black feminists are not homogenous. There are various political views and disciplinary approaches. Of course, not all Black feminists are academics—there are artists, organizers, and mothers. There are different gender identities and sexualities. What is shared among Black feminists is an emphasis on retrieving and (re)producing Black women’s knowledge, doing activist work, and a commitment to humanism. In this course, we focus on engagements with Black feminism in all subfields of anthropology. |
| AS.100.282 (01) | Race & Power in Modern South Africa | MW 12:00PM - 12:50PM, F 12:00PM - 12:50PM | Thornberry, Elizabeth | Gilman 17 | Fall 2025 | From 1948-1994, South Africa was governed under the system of apartheid, which denied political and civil rights to non-white citizens. This class traces the rise of apartheid in South Africa as well as the liberation struggle that eventually defeated it. |
| AS.100.282 (02) | Race & Power in Modern South Africa | MW 12:00PM - 12:50PM, F 1:30PM - 2:20PM | Thornberry, Elizabeth | Gilman 17 | Fall 2025 | From 1948-1994, South Africa was governed under the system of apartheid, which denied political and civil rights to non-white citizens. This class traces the rise of apartheid in South Africa as well as the liberation struggle that eventually defeated it. |
| AS.100.444 (01) | Historiography of the Maghreb, 1939 to the Present | T 1:30PM - 4:00PM | Shepard, Todd | Fall 2025 | We will explore key texts in the historiography of post-1939 North Africa as well as key recent publications, in French as well as in English. | |
| AS.130.314 (01) | Introduction To Middle Egyptian | TTh 4:30PM - 5:45PM | Wilkinson, Alison Michelle | Gilman 238 | Fall 2025 | Introduction to the grammar and writing system of the classical language of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom (ca. 2055-1650 B.C.). In the second semester, literary texts and royal inscriptions will be read. Course meets with AS.133.600. |
| AS.140.308 (01) | Race, Racism and Medicine | T 1:30PM - 4:00PM | White, Alexandre Ilani Rein | Gilman 300 | Fall 2025 | How can we think about the interconnections between racism, theories of race and the practice of medicine? Living at a moment when racial disparities in health outcomes in the United States are still very stark, this course will provide a historically grounded approach to thinking about the roles that race and racism have played in healthcare, the production of health disparities as well as the role of medicine in the development of racist thought. While much of this course will focus geographically within the United States, this class will also explore global histories of medicine, encountering questions of race and medicine in Africa, the South Pacific and Asia. In addition to the analysis of primary source documents and historical texts, students will also be introduced to theoretical approaches to the study of race and racism from W.E.B. Dubois, Sylvia Wynter, Frantz Fanon and others. |
| AS.180.223 (01) | Economic Development in Sub-Saharan Africa | WF 1:30PM - 2:45PM | Seshie-Nasser, Hellen | Fall 2025 | Many sub-Saharan African countries are among the least developed countries in the world. In this course, we explore the economic development experiences of African countries, with more focus on sub-Saharan Africa. The course starts with a historical perspective, delves into development strategies, and examines evidence on successes and failures of some case study countries. We conclude by analyzing the many challenges that these countries continue to face in their development process. Elements of Microeconomics and Macroeconomics are required prerequisites. There would be group presentations on assigned readings. | |
| AS.190.437 (01) | Race and Ethnic Politics in the United States | Th 1:30PM - 4:00PM | Weaver, Vesla Mae | Fall 2025 | Race has been and continues to be centrally important to American political life and development. In this course, we will engage with the major debates around racial politics in the United States, with a substantial focus on how policies and practices of citizenship, immigration law, social provision, and criminal justice policy shaped and continue to shape racial formation, group-based identities, and group position; debates around the content and meaning of political representation and the responsiveness of the political system to American minority groups; debates about how racial prejudice has shifted and its importance in understanding American political behavior; the prospects for contestation or coalitions among groups; the “struggle with difference” within groups as they deal with the interplay of race and class, citizenship status, and issues that disproportionately affect a subset of their members; and debates about how new groups and issues are reshaping the meaning and practice of race in the United States. | |
| AS.210.371 (01) | Advanced Portuguese I | MWF 9:00AM - 9:50AM | De Azeredo Cerqueira, Flavia Christina; Nagasawa, Ellen | Shriver Hall 001 | Fall 2025 | Designed to sharpen students’ abilities in contemporary spoken and written Portuguese. This third-year course fosters the development of complex language skills that enhance fluency, accuracy and general proficiency in Portuguese and its appropriate use in professional and informal contexts. Students will briefly review previous grammar structures and concentrate on new complex grammar concepts. Using a variety of cultural items such as current news, short stories, plays, films, videos, newspaper articles, and popular music, students discuss diverse topics followed by intense writing and oral discussion with the aim of developing critical thinking and solid communication skills. Successful completion of Advanced Portuguese I will prepare students for the next level, Advanced Portuguese II, AS.210.372. May not be taken on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis. Prereq: AS.210.272 or (old AS.210.278) or placement test. THERE IS NO FINAL EXAM. |
| AS.211.171 (01) | Brazilian Culture & Civilization: Colonial Times to the Present | MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM | De Azeredo Cerqueira, Flavia Christina | Fall 2025 | Did you know that Brazil is very similar to the United States? This course is intended as an introduction to the culture and civilization of Brazil. It is designed to provide students with basic information about Brazilian history, politics, economy, art, literature, popular culture, theater, cinema, and music. The course will focus on how Indigenous, Asian, African, and European cultural influences have interacted to create the new and unique civilization that is Brazil today. The course is taught in English. No Prereq. THERE IS NO FINAL EXAM. | |
| AS.220.232 (01) | Readings in Poetry: Black Poets Write History | W 3:00PM - 5:30PM | Russell, Lauren M | Gilman 79 | Fall 2025 | In the 2015 New York Times article “A Language for Grieving,” the literary scholar Sonya Posmentier writes, “By making violence strange and unfamiliar, very different poets like [Gwendolyn] Brooks and [M. NourbeSe] Philip have gone beyond merely repeating its effects, like a viral video of a police shooting, and beyond the realm of the evidentiary to that of the imagination, where we might not only observe violence but mourn and counter it.” In this course, we will explore how 20th- and 21st-century African American and African diasporic poets have moved “beyond the realm of the evidentiary to that of the imagination” to write about, into, and through history. Readings may include work by Robert Hayden, Gwendolyn Brooks, M. NourbeSe Phillip, Amaud Jamaul Johnson, Patricia Smith, Tyehimba Jess, Cameron Awkward-Rich, and others, including a multigenerational selection of elegies for Emmett Till. Students should expect to engage with the readings both creatively and analytically and will have the opportunity to write their own historical poetry. |
| AS.230.244 (01) | Race and Ethnicity in American Society | TTh 4:30PM - 5:45PM | Greif, Meredith | Krieger Laverty | Fall 2025 | Race and ethnicity have played a prominent role in American society and continue to do so, as demonstrated by interracial and interethnic gaps in economic and educational achievement, residence, political power, family structure, crime, and health. Using a sociological framework, we will explore the historical significance of race and its development as a social construction, assess the causes and consequences of intergroup inequalities and explore potential solutions. |
| AS.280.120 (01) | Lectures on Public Health and Wellbeing in Baltimore | T 4:30PM - 5:45PM | Leaf, Philip | Gilman 50 | Fall 2025 | An introduction to Urban Health with Baltimore as a case study: wellbeing, nutrition, education, violence and city-wide geographic variation. Lectures by JH Faculty, local government/service providers and advocates. |
| AS.280.120 (02) | Lectures on Public Health and Wellbeing in Baltimore | T 4:30PM - 5:45PM | Leaf, Philip | Gilman 50 | Fall 2025 | An introduction to Urban Health with Baltimore as a case study: wellbeing, nutrition, education, violence and city-wide geographic variation. Lectures by JH Faculty, local government/service providers and advocates. |
| AS.280.120 (03) | Lectures on Public Health and Wellbeing in Baltimore | T 4:30PM - 5:45PM | Leaf, Philip | Gilman 50 | Fall 2025 | An introduction to Urban Health with Baltimore as a case study: wellbeing, nutrition, education, violence and city-wide geographic variation. Lectures by JH Faculty, local government/service providers and advocates. |