Courses and Syllabi
The University Catalog is the authoritative source for information on courses. The Schedule of Classes is the authoritative source for information on classes scheduled for this semester. See the Schedule for the most up-to-date information and see Patriot web to register for classes.
Spring 2027
Undergraduate
DANC 118: Global Dance Perspectives I (3 Credits)
Introduces global dance form through presentation of fundamental techniques, music and culture. Area of concentration may vary to include an array of global perspectives. Offered by School of Dance. May be repeated within the term for a maximum 9 credits.
Specialized Designation: Topic Varies, Non-Western Culture
Schedule Type: Studio
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
1 Section Currently Scheduled
- DANC 118 - 001: Global Dance Perspectives I — 03:00 PM to 04:15 PM TR - de Laski Performing Arts Building 3009
MUSI 106: Fundamentals of Rock, Blues, and Jazz (3 Credits)
Fundamentals of Blues, Rock, and Jazz is designed for students without formal training in music theory. The course focuses on Afro-centric concepts in twentieth-century American musical culture including improvisation, emphasis on rhythm and groove, and use of multiple and integrated tonalities, such as major and minor in the blues. Offered by Dewberry School of Music. Limited to three attempts.
Mason Core: Mason Core, Arts
Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
1 Section Currently Scheduled
MUSI 107: Jazz and Blues in America (3 Credits)
Historical, analytical, and aural survey of jazz from inception to present day. Looks at trends resulting from synthesis of jazz with other musical idioms. Notes: Music majors may take as free elective or part of jazz studies concentration. Offered by Dewberry School of Music. Limited to three attempts.
Mason Core: Mason Core, Arts
Registration Restrictions:
Students with the terminated from MUSI major attribute may not enroll.
Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
1 Section Currently Scheduled
- MUSI 107 - 001: Jazz and Blues in America — 01:30 PM to 02:45 PM TR - de Laski Performing Arts Building A327C
AFAM 200: Introduction to African American Studies (3 Credits)
Interdisciplinary introduction to the field of African American studies. Includes comparative analysis of approaches, methodologies, and key concepts related to the study of people of African descent in the United States, continental Africa, and throughout the African diaspora. Lectures and discussion integrate attention to such issues as diversity and multiculturalism from national and global perspectives. Offered by African & Af-American Studies. Limited to three attempts.
Mason Core: Mason Core, Social/Behavioral Sciences
Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
1 Section Currently Scheduled
- AFAM 200 - 001: Intro African/American Studies — LaNitra M Berger — 10:30 AM to 11:45 AM MW - Innovation Hall 319
HIST 261: Survey of African History (3 Credits)
Focuses on the sub-Saharan region and examines evolving systems of kinship power, spirituality, and slavery. Explores the interactions between Africans and global influences from the religions of the book and colonialism to the politics of development and continuities and changes in production. HIST 261 surveys African history from the earliest times to 1800. HIST 262 surveys African history from 1800 to the present. Offered by History & Art History. Limited to three attempts.
Specialized Designation: Non-Western Culture
Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
1 Section Currently Scheduled
- HIST 261 - 001: Survey of African History — Jane Hooper — 01:30 PM to 02:45 PM TR - Horizon Hall 3008
AFAM 390: Special Topics in African and African American Studies (3 Credits)
Study of selected topics related to the study of people of African descent in Africa, the United States, the Caribbean, Latin Americas and throughout the African Diaspora. Notes: May be repeated when topic is different. Offered by African & Af-American Studies. May be repeated within the term for a maximum 18 credits.
Specialized Designation: Topic Varies
Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
ANTH 320: Global Africa (3 Credits)
Explores the complex and distance-defying connections shaping Africa and being shaped by Africans on the continent. Emphasizes the diversity and change characterizing peoples who are at the center of world processes. Topics include popular representations of Africa and Africans, colonial and postcolonial histories, gender, money, family, religion, environment, and health. Offered by Sociology & Anthropology. Limited to three attempts.
Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
1 Section Currently Scheduled
- ANTH 320 - 001: Global Africa — Christopher Morris — 12:00 PM to 01:15 PM R - David J. King Hall - Hybrid
CONF 302: Culture, Identity, and Conflict (3 Credits)
Covers deeply rooted, intractable, or protracted social conflicts around core issues of identity, including race, ethnicity, religion, and nationalism. Explores cultural, symbolic, and discursive approaches to identity conflict. Offered by Conflict Analysis & Resolution. Limited to three attempts.
Mason Core: Mason Core, Writing Intensive in Major
Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
1 Section Currently Scheduled
- CONF 302 - 002: Culture, Identity, & Conflict — 01:30 PM to 04:10 PM W - Thompson Hall 1017
ENGH 348: Beginnings of African American Literature Through 1865 (3 Credits)
Concentrating on such poets as Phillis Wheatley, Jupiter Hammon, Lucy Terry, and George Moses Horton, examines significant African American literary, social, and political texts produced through 1865. Special attention to narrative accounts of enslavement and freedom by Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, and Olaudah Equiano; political writings and orations of David Walker and Sojourner Truth; fiction of Harriet Wilson and William Wells Brown; and nonwritten cultural artifacts such as slave songs and spirituals. Offered by English. Limited to three attempts.
Recommended Prerequisite: Satisfaction of University requirements in 100-level English and in Mason Core literature.
Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
1 Section Currently Scheduled
- ENGH 348 - 001: Beg Afr-Amer Lit to 1865 — Stefan Wheelock — 04:30 PM to 07:10 PM T - Music Theater Building 1004 - Hybrid
GOVT 332: Politics of the Middle East and North Africa (3 Credits)
Examines political governance and socio-economic conditions of countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Topics include history and political systems; economic, social and political issues and challenges; and international relations of the countries in the MENA region.Offered by Schar Govt/International Affrs. Limited to three attempts.
Specialized Designation: Non-Western Culture
Recommended Prerequisite: GOVT 132, 133.
Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
1 Section Currently Scheduled
- GOVT 332 - DL1: Politics of Mid East/N Africa — Bassam S. Haddad - Online
HIST 344: Black Social Movements (3 Credits)
The course examines the underlying causes of the increased violence and oppression African Americans faced post-Reconstruction and the organizational responses of blacks to the drastic curtailment of their basic rights. During this period of Jim Crow ascendancy, African American life was circumscribed by race riots and lynching, police brutality, segregation, job exclusion, housing discrimination, unequal educational opportunities and disfranchisement. Race and gender ideology figured prominently in white justification for violence and the restrictions meted out against blacks. In addition to examining the changing political and economic conditions that gave rise to various protest and civil rights organizations and movements, the course analyzes the different personalities and ideologies of leaders in these organizations, explores the divisions that sometimes impeded a movement’s effectiveness, and investigates the gendered meanings of what it meant to be black and white in America. Offered by History & Art History. Limited to three attempts.
Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
1 Section Currently Scheduled
- HIST 344 - 001: Black Social Movements — Yevette Richards Jordan — 12:00 PM to 01:15 PM TR - Innovation Hall 222
SOCI 308: Race and Ethnicity in a Changing World (3 Credits)
Explores how race and ethnicity have been shaped by policies and practices in Western and non-Western societies. Explores the evolution of racial and ethnic attitudes from a global and historical perspective. Examines how changing demographic racial patterns may affect definitions of race and ethnicity and the ways in which people individually and collectively act to create new futures. Offered by Sociology & Anthropology. Limited to three attempts.
Mason Core: Mason Core, Social/Behavioral Sciences
Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
1 Section Currently Scheduled
- SOCI 308 - 001: Race/Ethnicity Changing World — Dae Young Kim — 12:00 PM to 01:15 PM TR - Planetary Hall 120
WMST 309: Black Social Movements: Gendering of Violence and Activism (3 Credits)
Examines racialized gendered conceptions of popular culture, violence, and the legal system and their role in structuring systems of segregation, discrimination and exclusion. Looks at the gendered strategies and conflicts of organizations that arose to combat racial violence and overturn legal and social barriers to equal opportunity and citizenship rights. Offered by Women & Gender Studies. Limited to three attempts.
Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
1 Section Currently Scheduled
- WMST 309 - 001: Black Social Mov Violnce/Activ — Yevette Richards Jordan — 12:00 PM to 01:15 PM TR - Innovation Hall 222
AFAM 490: Internship (1-6 Credits)
Approved work-study program in cooperation with specific organizations including area museums; NGOs; and local, state, and federal agencies. Students should arrange for an internship in the semester before they wish to enroll. Permission required from program director. Offered by African & Af-American Studies. Limited to three attempts.
Schedule Type: Internship
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
1 Section Currently Scheduled
- AFAM 490 - 001: Intern African Amer Studies — Juton L Myers
GOVT 464: Issues in Public Policy and Administration (1-3 Credits)
Analyzes select policy issues in administering public policies. Topics announced in advance and may include environmental policy, government regulation, federal mandates, state policy, and regional policy. May be repeated when topic is different with permission of department.Offered by Schar Govt/International Affrs. May be repeated within the term for a maximum 9 credits.
Specialized Designation: Topic Varies
Recommended Prerequisite: GOVT 103 plus 60 credits.
Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
1 Section Currently Scheduled
- GOVT 464 - DL1: Guns and Crime in America — Christopher Koper — 03:00 PM to 04:15 PM MW - Online
INTS 437: Critical Race Studies (3 Credits)
Engages students in an examination of the forms and impacts of racism, as well as movements for racial justice, in the United States. Draws on theoretical frameworks including critical race theory and intersectionality theory in order to examine the structural roots of racism and the implicit and explicit ways in which racism manifests today. Offered by School of Integrative Studies. Limited to three attempts.
Mason Core: Mason Core, Social/Behavioral Sciences
Schedule Type: Seminar
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
1 Section Currently Scheduled
- INTS 437 - DL1: Critical Race Studies — Wendi N. Manuel-Scott - Online
INTS 438: Representations of Race (4 Credits)
Investigates the social and cultural construction of racial categories that have led to inaccurate and stereotypical representations that persist and cause harm today. Offered by School of Integrative Studies. Limited to three attempts.
Schedule Type: Seminar
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
1 Section Currently Scheduled
- INTS 438 - DL1: Representations of Race — Wendi N. Manuel-Scott - Online
GOVT 464: Issues in Public Policy and Administration (1-3 Credits)
Analyzes select policy issues in administering public policies. Topics announced in advance and may include environmental policy, government regulation, federal mandates, state policy, and regional policy. May be repeated when topic is different with permission of department.Offered by Schar Govt/International Affrs. May be repeated within the term for a maximum 9 credits.
Specialized Designation: Topic Varies
Recommended Prerequisite: GOVT 103 plus 60 credits.
Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
1 Section Currently Scheduled
- GOVT 464 - DL1: Guns and Crime in America — Christopher Koper — 03:00 PM to 04:15 PM MW - Online