Introductory Topics in African Cultural Studies
Introductory course exploring various topics in African cultural studies and expressive cultures, covering cultural or political themes across media like literature, film, music, and performance.
Summary
Past student reviews · Reginold Royston
Grading relied on attendance, midterm, final, and weekly quizzes. Critics found the quizzes difficult and the reading load heavy, noting that lectures did not sufficiently prepare students for tests.
What you’ll be able to do
Recognize canonical authors and texts, historical forms, genres, and structures, and recognize aesthetic and cultural concerns in Africa and its diasporas.
Understand their own learning processes and possess the capacity to intentionally seek, evaluate, and learn from information, and recognize and reduce bias in their thinking.
Communicate effectively through essays, oral presentations, and discussion, so they may share their knowledge, wisdom, and values with others across social and professional settings.
Discuss cultural texts from various theoretical and critical perspectives, formulate ideas and make connections between literary/cultural concepts and themes.
Develop a level of proficiency in the different “ways of knowing” Africa and the diaspora through language, literatures, and cultures.
Effectively retrieve and comprehend primary sources in English and African languages, and secondary sources from a range of disciplines.
Show knowledge of conventional rhetorical strategies, and integrate research by other authors while distinguishing between their own ideas and those of others.
Source: UW Guide
Grade history
↗All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors
Prerequisites
Course mapNone
- None
This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.
Prerequisite text tree
- None
Professors
Spring 2027No instructors recorded for this selection.
Historical instructors & teaching patterns
REGINOLD ROYSTON is recorded teaching in Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Spring 2024, Spring 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
Calendar & sections
Spring 2027Schedule loads here as you scroll.
| Section | Mode | Enrolled / capacity | Waitlist |
|---|
Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections.
Meeting source records
Student experience
the class
Past student reviews · Reginold Royston
Students described the class as fascinating and discussion-based, with Professor Royston encouraging critical thinking. The course was noted for its interesting subject matter and engaging academic conversations.
Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.91 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=16 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.53 GPA, 81.2% A/AB (n=16 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.55 GPA, 70.0% A/AB (n=10 letter grades).
difficulty & workload
Past student reviews · Reginold Royston
Grading relied on attendance, midterm, final, and weekly quizzes. Critics found the quizzes difficult and the reading load heavy, noting that lectures did not sufficiently prepare students for tests.
Past student reviews · Reginold Royston
Several students reported feeling demeaned or condescendingly treated by Professor Royston and his TA. Complaints included blunt responses to questions and a lack of timely email communication from the instructor.
Topics
- Cultural and political themes in literature, film, media, music, performance, and language use
- Ways of knowing Africa and the diaspora through language, literatures, and cultures
Skills
- Recognizing canonical authors, texts, genres, and aesthetic concerns in Africa and the diaspora
- Discussing cultural texts from theoretical and critical perspectives
- Applying rhetorical strategies and integrating research
- Retrieving and comprehending primary and secondary sources
Grades
Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Spring 2027.
Grade distribution · % of letter grades
Grades over time
Through Spring 2026
More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data
Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.
Sources & history
Catalog & offerings
Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.
Catalog observation history
Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.
Selected offering source records
No offering records for the selected term.
Raw records
[]
Student reviews
Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.
Read original reviews
Grade history
Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.
Explore recorded gradesRecorded 2026-10-14
Model outputs & technical records
LLM outputs across runs
Full model traces
Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.
Model & dataset provenance
{
"model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
"model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
"task_version": "17",
"output_id": "360317abc074ff10b15c288156a282b8a13ac36723f0e817905fbfb69e59dbbc",
"requirements_status": "valid",
"dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
"observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}