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ETHS 270 Global Blackness

This global, cross-cultural survey course introduces students to a range of texts produced by and about black subjects that link transnational black communities. Students will learn about the legacy of European expansion and empire-building, the impact of the transatlantic slave trade in the New World, and the contemporary diversity of black cultural identities, politics, and expressions born from these conditions. Students will also analyze the lived experiences of immigrants as they negotiate citizenship, belonging, conflict, and representation as new blacks in societies where systems of domination and oppression exist as part of everyday life.
4 Undergraduate credits

Effective May 5, 2015 to present

Meets graduation requirements for

Learning outcomes

General

  • Demonstrate geographic familiarity with the African continent and its relation to African descended populations around the world.
  • Identify the purpose and impact of the transatlantic slave trade and European colonialism and how these projects shape black contemporary identities in the Africa and the Americas.
  • Evaluate the similarities and differences among global black populations with special attention paid to recent immigration, cultural production, and resistance to anti-black racism.
  • Analyze the migration patterns of black popular culture and the related implications of various cultural forms being appropriated by nonblack people and adopted into nonblack spaces throughout the world.
  • Formulate ideas related to black diaspora experiences and global black representations into a final reflective paper.

Minnesota Transfer Curriculum

Goal 5: History and the Social and Behavioral Sciences

  • Employ the methods and data that historians and social and behavioral scientists use to investigate the human condition.
  • Examine social institutions and processes across a range of historical periods and cultures.
  • Use and critique alternative explanatory systems or theories.
  • Develop and communicate alternative explanations or solutions for contemporary social issues.

Goal 8: Global Perspective

  • Describe and analyze political, economic, and cultural elements which influence relations of states and societies in their historical and contemporary dimensions.
  • Demonstrate knowledge of cultural, social, religious and linguistic differences.
  • Analyze specific international problems, illustrating the cultural, economic, and political differences that affect their solution.
  • Understand the role of a world citizen and the responsibility world citizens share for their common global future.

Spring 2026

Section Title Instructor books eservices
50 Global Blackness Robinson, James Alexander Books for ETHS-270-50 Spring 2026 Course details for ETHS-270-50 Spring 2026