Fall 2026

Cultural Cross Currents: West African Dance/music in the Americas

Examines the influence of West African dance and music heritage on the development of hybrid cultural forms in the Americas through historical and social contexts.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Fall 2026 Christopher Walker3.0/5

Summary

1 / 6

Reviewers report a heavy weekly workload involving approximately 15 assignments and 50-100 pages of reading, with strict requirements for using quotes in written work.

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Sophomore standing

  • Sophomore standing
AFROAMER/DANCE/MUSIC 318

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Sophomore standing

Professors

Fall 2026
/5Adjusted rating
/5RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 1.29/5 from 7 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

For this course: 1.5/5 raw quality · 4.0/5 difficulty · 4 reviews

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Christopher Walker assigns heavy weekly workloads, including numerous assignments and extensive reading, which reviewers describe as overwhelming and poorly organized. He is characterized as a hard grader who requires specific formatting like quotes.

One reviewer reports that Walker is personally degrading and treats students poorly, describing him as an awful person who expects excessive deference. This review strongly advises against taking the course due to his behavior.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.94 GPA, 94.0% A/AB (n=50 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.89 GPA, 94.7% A/AB (n=95 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.87 GPA, 91.8% A/AB (n=97 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

CHRISTOPHER A WALKER is recorded teaching in Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Fall 2024, Fall 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

Fall 2026

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Online Only24 / 6520
LEC 001Online Only26 / 300
LEC 001Online Only50 / 10030

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records

No records available.

Student experience

the class

Reviews of Christopher Walker’s course are sharply divided, with some calling it a dreaded, poorly organized experience while others find the content engaging and the professor accessible.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.89 GPA, 92.5% A/AB (n=40 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.87 GPA, 91.8% A/AB (n=97 letter grades); Spring 2026: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=40 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Reviewers report a heavy weekly workload involving approximately 15 assignments and 50-100 pages of reading, with strict requirements for using quotes in written work.

Experiences vary significantly; one student found Walker accessible and the content interesting, while another described him as degrading and personally awful, advising against the course.

Topics

  • West African dance and music heritage
  • Cultural cross-pollination in the New World
  • Hybrid music and dance forms

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Fall 2026.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1283 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

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.

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Selected offering source records
AFROAMER/DANCE/MUSIC 318 · Fall 2026

Cultural Cross Currents: West African Dance/Music in the Americas

Recorded 2026-09-07
AFROAMER/DANCE/MUSIC 318 · Fall 2026

Cultural Cross Currents: West African Dance/Music in the Americas

Recorded 2026-09-07
AFROAMER/DANCE/MUSIC 318 · Fall 2026

Cultural Cross Currents: West African Dance/Music in the Americas

Recorded 2026-09-07
Raw records
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    "semester": "1272",
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    "offering_id": "1272:106:021816",
    "course_id": "AFROAMER/DANCE/MUSIC 318",
    "course_uid": "course_16f2b8f08b3f515a4415f815",
    "term_id": "1272",
    "source_course_id": "021816",
    "source_subject_id": "106",
    "title": "Cultural Cross Currents: West African Dance/Music in the Americas",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Occasionally"
  },
  {
    "run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
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    "term_id": "1272",
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    "source_subject_id": "660",
    "title": "Cultural Cross Currents: West African Dance/Music in the Americas",
    "credits_min": 3,
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    "typically_offered": "Occasionally"
  },
  {
    "run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
    "semester": "1272",
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1272:741:021816",
    "course_id": "AFROAMER/DANCE/MUSIC 318",
    "course_uid": "course_16f2b8f08b3f515a4415f815",
    "term_id": "1272",
    "source_course_id": "021816",
    "source_subject_id": "741",
    "title": "Cultural Cross Currents: West African Dance/Music in the Americas",
    "credits_min": 3,
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    "typically_offered": "Occasionally"
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]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-09-07

Download the original dataset
Model outputs & technical records
nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance
{
  "model": "nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4",
  "model_revision": "1355db6a052410cfd62085d94b58866fd0f2c3c5",
  "task_version": "14",
  "output_id": "c52216860e0964c28026e3f3ed2b4814bc650ac480a3ac365372e2908977784b",
  "requirements_status": "needs_review",
  "dataset_revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
  "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00"
}