Courses Offerings

Dr. Riley teaches Politics and African and African American Studies at The University of the South.

AFST 100 Intro to African and African American Studies
POLS 323 Race and Ethnicity in American Politics 
POLS 101 Intro to American Government
POLS 316 Legislative Process  
AFST 197 Black Lives Matter
UNFL1 38 Race in South Africa  

Course Overview

AFST 100 Intro to Africana Studies

Fannie Lou Hammer, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey, Ella Baker, Barack Obama, Anna Julia Cooper, and so many others blacks have contributed so much to the advancement of justice and equality in this world.  This course will attempt to develop an understanding of the complexities of the emergence of Africana Studies in the Academy. It will introduce students to the various disciplines that are a part of the interdisciplinary curriculum, which characterizes Africana Studies. This course will attempt to examine, in part, the experience of Black people in the United States from a variety of viewpoints, to study the impact of modern American society on the Black community, and to introduce students to the discipline of Africana Studies. This course examines the role of Black people in the development of this society, and introduce students to a different, but nonetheless, legitimate, perspective than that of the dominant culture to which they have been exposed. The course reflects the interdisciplinary nature of Africana Studies. In keeping with the goals of the Africana Studies curriculum, the goals of this course are: 

1)  To develop a sense of Africana Studies as a discipline, and to introduce the student to the concepts, theory, vocabulary, and perspective which characterize that discipline. 


2)  To familiarize the student with the body of literature and the methods of research that characterize the discipline of Africana Studies. 


3)  To celebrate, deliberately, the Black experience for its own sake, as an integral part of our culture. From this perspective, there may develop an understanding of the richness and diversity of the Black experience. 


4)  To expose the cultural and institutional biases wrought by racism in our society, and to create a theoretical framework within which I may reexamine the facts and circumstances. 

Required Text(s):

• Anderson, Talmadge, and James Stewart, 2006. Introduction to African American Studies. 

•  Walters, Ronald, 2003. White Nationalism, Black Interests: Conservative Public Policy and the Black Community.


• Franklin, John. 1999. Three Negro Classics.

• Woodson, Carter, G., 1933. The Miseducation of the Negro. 

• Slavery to Liberation: The African American Experience edited by Joshua Farrington, Gwendolyn Graham, Lisa Day, and Ogechi E. Anyanwu. The book can be found here: https://encompass.eku.edu/ekuopen/1/

POLS 110 Intro to American Government: Race & Power

This course will serve as an introduction to the American political system.  In this course we will explore the foundations of American democracy by specifically examining the institutions, electoral processes, public opinions and the political behavior of citizens within the United States.  We will focus specifically on the degree to which American democracy is representative. We will also place a significant amount of attention on the struggle for equality and justice among marginalized groups with in the United States e.g. (race, gender, convicted felons, immigrants, and other marginalized groups). We will examine how the institutions and systems work and we will also examine problems within the system. 

REQUIRED TEXT (S): 

• Anderson, Carol. White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide.

• Ginsberg, Benjamin, Lowi, Theodore, Weir, Margaret, and Tolbert, Caroline. We the People: An Introduction to American Politics 11th Edition.  W.W. Norton & Company, 2015. 

• Walton, Smith, and Wallace. African American Politics and the African American Quest for Universal Freedom.

POLS 323 Race Politics

This course will explore the centrality and significance of race in the modern American political system.  Race continues to endure as a factor of powerful divisiveness, having unfortunate and persistent influence upon American politics and society.  Its relevance and role in shaping contemporary American politics are apparent in Presidential electoral politics, in urban politics, in the political and social attitudes of Americans, and in the contemporary debates about the welfare system and the scope and function of the federal government.  We will investigate the role that race has played in each of these areas so that you can better understand the current context of race in America. 

GOALS AND EFFECTIVENESS:  

This course is writing and research intensive.  Writing is an essential skill for success in the work force and post-undergraduate studies.  We will work to develop and improve argumentative and analytical writing.  At the end of this course you will be able to construct, defend, and refute arguments using the academic literature. All writing assignments and discussions must be predicated on a logical argument.  This requires careful reading and digestion of the assigned literature.  

• McClain, Paula and Joseph Stewart Jr. 2014. Can We All Get Along? Racial and Ethnic Minorities in American Politics. Sixth Edition. 

• Brown, Michael. Martin Carnoy, Elliott Currie, Troy Duster, David Oppenheimer, Marjorie Shultz and David Wellman. 2003. White Washing Race: The Myth of a Color Blind Society.  University of California Press. 

•  Tate, Katherine. 2003. Black Faces in the Mirror: African Americans and Their Representatives in the U.S. Congress. University of Princeton Press. 

•  Zoltan L. Hajnal. 2007. Changing White Attitudes toward Black Political Leadership. Cambridge University Press. 

• Tesler, Michael 2016. Post Racial or Most Racial? Race and Politics in the Obama Era. University of Chicago Press.