Africana Studies
Major, Minor
Degree: Bachelor of Arts
The Africana Studies Program offers a major, an interdepartmental major and a minor that explore the history, culture, intellectual heritage and social development of people of African descent.
Through a variety of approaches that draw upon the arts, humanities, and the social and behavioral sciences, your studies will focus on key aspects of Black life in Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe and the United States.
You’ll learn in small classes with faculty from a variety of departments and programs, including Anthropology, Classics, English, Modern Languages and Literatures, Music, Political Science, Psychology, Religious Studies, Sociology and Visual Arts. As active scholars and researchers in their respective fields, your professors will guide you as you expand your worldview and gain a deeper understanding of people of African ancestry.
Courses
Students of Africana studies have more than 60 courses from which to choose. Courses cover a broad range of topics, including Black literary arts and women writers, the history of jazz, the civil rights movement, social and political movements in Latin America, Muslim culture, and the history and religion of ancient Egypt. For instance, you may explore the development of African- American poetic voices in North America – such as Amiri Baraka, Lucille Clifton and Yusef Komunyakaa – in an introductory course on Black poetry. A course called Race and Constitution examines the role of race in the legal, constitutional and political history of the U.S. The Anthropology of Sub-Saharan Africa is an ethnographic and ethnological survey of the diverse peoples and cultures of this vast region.
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Courses
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Major
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Interdepartmental Major
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Minor
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Terms abroad + away
We offer three unique mini-terms, each three weeks long. An interdisciplinary program in
Senegal focuses on the impact of globalization, poverty and AIDS, religion, women’s issues and
culture. The South Africa term in Cape Town looks at history from public, individual and
historical perspectives. Traveling through the American South on the Civil Rights Public History
mini-term, students visit iconic sites and meet with participants of the civil rights movement in
numerous cities, from Charleston, S.C., to New Orleans, La.
Student organizations
Students in the Africana Studies Program get involved in a number of clubs and organizations, including the African Student Association, African Dance Club, LatinX Dance Club, National Society of Black Engineers, Muslim Students Association and Portuguese Club.
After Union
- Assistant principal, KIPP Massachusetts
- J.D. candidate, Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University
- M.S. candidate in higher education administration, Syracuse University
- Paralegal, Children’s Protection Project, National Immigrant Justice Center
- Program and operations coordinator, Community Healthcare Network
- Public health associate, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention