Duran is clearly experienced. She is specific about the material she wants to know to make sure you pass the exams and ace the papers. She also has a witty and fun personality. Lectures do get repetitive and she does encourage class discussions because she likes her lectures to go as planned. She not very transparent about grading criteria.

Duran is a great professor and is very enthusiastic about the material. Skipping a few classes won't heavily impact you but I wouldn't recommend it as she often says little snippets that are interesting and won't remember them if you ask later. Great addition to the black studies department.

As an international student from France, I was scared about the grading and the difficulty of the class. However, Prof Duran integrated me so well, I loved the readings, I was passionated by her class, feedback. Amazing and talented teacher who knows what she's talking about. Bright and strong personality. Best teacher ever.

This lady should retire. She is WAY too old to be teaching. Her lectures were pretty stupid. All she did was talk about the books, so read them because it will be helpful. Overall, she wasn't too bad just liked to preach her feminist stuff.

Crazy liberal lady, very old, and thinks that berkeley grads are the smartest people in the world. First white person I met that really understands Black history. Recommended.

very good prof. exciting and most the books are cool too. fairly easy grader. def would reccommend.

DURAN IS GREAT!! SHE ALWAYS TEACHES INTERESTING MATERIAL. SHE EXPLAINS EVERYTHING IN CLASS AND GRADES FAIRLY. DEF. TAKE ANY OF HER CLASSES. I'VE ALREADY TAKEN TWO WITH DURAN.

Very liberal hippie type from Berkeley. Her weird hand gestures and movements can get annoying after a while. She knows her stuff though. The readings were interesting and she expects a lot of class participation in a room of 90+ students. If you sit near the front and raise your hand and speak/ask questions, she'll love you. Recommended

annoyingly liberal as is every professor at UCSB, but it was an interesting class. She does have an extremely long rat tail, and the front of the class reeks like B.O. Its a good ethnicity GE!

Older, hippie lady from Berkeley, so very liberal. Awesome literature selections. All were very interesting and easy to read. Really encourages participation in lecture, so get ready to talk.

Very interesting class and the material was complex and difficult at times but since I've taken her before I knew what to expect. She is extremely and unapologetically liberal but she does allow for differing opinions. All in all one of the better professors in the Black Studies departments.

She is a very easy teacher. The readings are all easy to read and enjoyable. I recommend taking your papers to Professor Duran for prior editing, becuase she is the easiest grader. If you miss lecture its ok, but try to make it as much as you can. There is no midterm.