African American/Africana Studies, Minor

This minor will enable students to develop a solid interdisciplinary understanding of African-American/Africana Studies; demonstrate familiarity with the interconnected histories of African and the Americas; explore the variety of African and African diasporic cultural productions in science, religion, politics, economics, culture, social life and the arts, and its vitality from ancient times to the present; and understand the invaluable roles Black Americans and other marginalized racial and ethnic groups have played in responding to and shaping this country’s national identity. Formally institutionalized in the American academy in the last half of the twentieth century, African-American/Africana Studies is an interdisciplniary field of study that explores the scholarship, history, political, social and cultural movements and institutions of Africa and the African diaspora with special emphasis on the African American community in the United States. Students will consistently explore the history and evolution of the discipline, key scholars, ideas, themes, concepts, central disciplinary questions and debates, and prominent theoretical and methodolgical frameworkes used by scholars of African-American Studies, Black Studies, Diasporic Studies, and African Studies. Students will also engage social and political thought and literary, cultural, and aesthetic forms and expressions. African American/Africana Studies enables the acquisition and utilization of the necessary skills for students to critically engage each other and broader audiences on interdisciplinary scholarship. This Minor strives to provide an intellectual setting in which students gain knowledge of Africa and the African diaspora that can assist them in confronting cultural diversity and in fostering their development as productive, lifelong learners and as citizens actively seeking to improve themselves, their communities, their nations, and their world. This Minor prepares students for a broad range of careers, including business, information technology, law, international affairs, social work, public policy, medicine, the arts, history, language study, and/or politics. The program also equips students with the necessary crtiical thinking skills to be successful in graduate school, medical school, law school, and numerous other professional schools.

Advisement Sheet