Africana Studies

Major Requirements

Major Requirements

• AFR 101 - Introduction to Africana Studies

• • One Africana Survey Course (see offerings under Courses below)

• •  One metholological course from any of the approved methodology course from the list of Methods Courses below.

• •  Six courses at the 300 and 400 levels (see Courses below)

  •  Capstone course in which Senior majors produce a substantial senior thesis.

Africana Studies Honors

Africana Studies Honors: Students who qualify during their junior year with a minimum GPA and an approved research proposal will be eligible to complete a year-long thesis (AS 498/499) by way of which honors in the major can be earned, and which serves as the capstone for those students. These courses will be taught as independent studies. To qualify for honors at graduation, candidates must earn an average of 3.5 or above in the major, and an overall average of 3.2 or above.

Methods Courses

 Majors must complete at least one course that involves training in methodology.  The purpose of this requirement is to prepare majors to engage in independent research projects later in the major and during the senior capstone.  This course should be completed by the end of the junior year.  The methods course will be selected in consultation with the student’s major adviser. 

• ANT 371 - Ethnographic Writing and Research
• ANT 372 - Visualizing Anthropology
• ENG 220 - Literary Analysis
• GSS 201 - Feminist and Queer Theories
• POL 201 - Methods and Statistics in Political Science (formerly POL 221)
• SOC 390 - Qualitative Research Methods
• SOC 391 - Survey Methodology
• SOC 392 - Quantitative Data Analysis

• History methods courses may count toward the metholology courses requirement with the Chair’s permission.

Breadth Requirement

Africana Studies majors must take the following from the list of courses below:

1. at least one course which primarily concerns the African American experience,
2. one course that primarily concerns the African experience,
3. and one course that concerns the broader African Diaspora or comparable ethnic, minority, or identity groups including LGBT.

Students must also take at least two courses in the Humanities and two courses in Social Science. Lists of courses that would satisfy each of these requirements listed below. A single course may satisfy more than one of the distribution requirements described above.

• 1.  African American Experience Courses

• ART 244 - African-American Art
• EDU 320 - Growing up Jim Crow
• EDU 340 - Education in African-American Society (=SOC 340)
• ENG 282 - African American Literature
• HIS 302 - African American History to 1877
• HIS 303 - African American Society & Culture since 1877
• HIS 357 - The Civil Rights Movement in the United States
• HIS 358 - Civil Rights Wars, Civil Rights Warriors
• HIS 440 - Slavery in the Americas
• HIS 451 - African American Cultural History
• MUS 232 - Jazz
• SOC 340 - Education in African American Society (=EDU 340)

• 2.  African Experience Courses

• ANT 222 - African Civilizations
• ANT 232 - Contemporary Ghanaian Society and Culture
• ART 238 - Introduction to African Art
• FRE 322 - North Africa in Novel and Film
• FRE 361 - Francophone Africa and the Caribbean
• FRE 362 - Maghreb: Francophone Authors
• FRE 366 - Francophone Cinema: Africa Shoots Back
• HIS 168 - African Civilizations Through the Era of the Transatlantic Slave Trade
• HIS 368 - Apartheid and the New South Africa
• POL 290 - Politics of Africa (formerly POL 240)
• POL 366 - Diplomacy in Africa (formerly POL 341)

• 3.  African Diaspora or comparable ethnic, minority, or identity groups including LGBT Courses

• ANT 206 - Contemporary Asian-American Communities
• ANT 253 - Latin American Society and Culture Today
• ANT 257 - The African Continuum
• ANT 323 - Human Rights in Latin America
• ANT 335 - Biocultural Perspectives on Race
• ANT 386 - Seminars in Anthropology

• Check with AFS chair to determine if the seminar will count.

• ENG 262 - Fictions of Empire
• ENG 284 - Ethnic American Literatures
• ENG 286 - Native American Literature
• ENG 287 - Indian Literature in English
• ENG 290 - World Literatures
• ENG 373 - Transatlantic Poetries
• ENG 392 - Southern Stories
• FRE 368 - France and Métissage
• HIS 162 - Latin America to 1825
• HIS 163 - Latin America, 1825 to Present
• HIS 225 - Women and Work: Gender and Society in Britain, 1700-1918
• HIS 364 - Gender and History in Latin America
• HIS 365 - Issues in Latin American History
• HIS 464 - Religion and Social Change in Latin America
• HIS 465 - Colonialism and Imagination in Early Latin America
• HIS 466 - Migrations and Immigration in Latin America
• LAS 101 - Introduction to Latin American Studies
• LAS 342 - The Latin American City (= SPA 342)
• POL 347 - Politics of Development (formerly POL 337)
• REL 395 - Independent Study, REL 395 and 396

• Needs AFS chair approval of the topic.

Course Description and Offerings

Africana Studies 101 : This course introduces students to the fundamental issues, basic debates, and different methodological approaches to Africana Studies. Students will read a selected group of important texts drawn from a variety of fields and which cover different geographical parts of the African diaspora. Faculty from different disciplines and with different area focuses and methodological approaches will deliver guest lectures and discussion sessions. Students will do short written projects and prepare a final research paper or other suitable assignment. The course will advance students’ analytic skills by requiring them to engage with different perspectives and different approaches to Africana Studies. The final research project will enhance students’ skills at assembling evidence, forming a sound argument and analysis, and engaging other scholars who have addressed similar issues. It will also enhance students’ written communication skills.

Africana Survey Course: As a pre-requisite or co-requisite to Africana Studies 101, students will take a survey-type course in one of a variety of fields, drawn from a list of courses, that gives them a substantive grounding in a particular field or topic in African Studies. A student may take AS 101 and the Africana Survey Course during the same semester. A list of approved survey courses is attached hereto. The survey course may also satisfy one or more of the distribution requirements described below.

Upper Level Courses: Africana Studies majors will take six additional elective courses, with at least four at the 300 or 400 level. Students may take no more than four courses in a single department.

Senior Capstone: Majors will complete a senior research project as part of the capstone experience. This senior project will require students to demonstrate their familiarity with the theories, methods, and foundational debates of Africana Studies, and call upon their knowledge of different academic disciplines in order to conduct research on a self-designed topic from an interdisciplinary perspective. Until Africana Studies has at least three senior majors, the capstones will be taught as independent studies with the close guidance of an Africana Studies-affiliated faculty member.

Africana Studies Courses

The courses below with satisfy either a survey requirement or an elective requirement. 

• Anthropology (Survey courses:  222, 232, 257)

• ANT 205 - Ethnic Relations
• ANT 222 - African Civilizations
• ANT 232 - Contemporary Ghanaian Society and Culture
• ANT 257 - The African Continuum

• Africana Studies

• AFR 395 - Seminar in Africana Studies
• AFR 495 - Seminar in Africana Studies

• Art History (Survey courses: 238, 240, 242, 244)

• ART 238 - Introduction to African Art
• ART 240 - Art of the African Diaspora
• ART 242 - Performance Art in the Black Atlantic
• ART 244 - African-American Art

• Communication Studies

• COM 280 - Intercultural Communication

• Economics

• ECO 221 - Economic History of the United States
• ECO 229 - Urban Economics
• ECO 233 - Economic Development
• ECO 324 - Labor Economics

• Educational Studies (Survey courses: 250, 260, 320, 340)

• EDU 221 - Schools and Society
• EDU 250 - Multicultural Education
• EDU 260 - Social Diversity and Inequality in Education (=SOC 261)
• EDU 320 - Growing up Jim Crow
• EDU 330 - Sociology of Education (=SOC 330)
• EDU 340 - Education in African-American Society (=SOC 340)

• English (Survey courses: 282, 297, 262, 288, 382)

• ENG 262 - Fictions of Empire
• ENG 282 - African American Literature
• ENG 288 - A Contemporary American Multicultural Drama or B 20th Century World Theatre Drama
• ENG 294 - The Harlem Renaissance
• ENG 297 - Caribbean Literature
• ENG 382 - African American Literature Since 1950
• ENG 394 - Studies in Modern Literature

• Francophone Studies (Survey courses: 322, 361, 362, 366, 368)

• FRE 322 - North Africa in Novel and Film
• FRE 361 - Francophone Africa and the Caribbean
• FRE 362 - Maghreb: Francophone Authors
• FRE 366 - Francophone Cinema: Africa Shoots Back
• FRE 368 - France and Métissage

• Hispanic Studies

• SPA 344 - Latino Culture in the U.S.

• History (Survey courses: 168, 302, 303, 357, 368)

• HIS 168 - African Civilizations Through the Era of the Transatlantic Slave Trade
• HIS 169 - The Making of Modern Africa
• HIS 302 - African American History to 1877
• HIS 303 - African American Society & Culture since 1877
• HIS 343 - The Old South
• HIS 344 - The South since 1865
• HIS 346 - The Civil War and Reconstruction
• HIS 357 - The Civil Rights Movement in the United States
• HIS 359 - Latinos in the United States
• HIS 367 - Comparative Slavery: Africa, America, and the Caribbean
• HIS 368 - Apartheid and the New South Africa
• HIS 440 - Slavery in the Americas
• HIS 444 - Southern Women, or How to Explain Scarlett and Mammy
• HIS 449 - Age of Revolution: The United States in the 1960s
• HIS 451 - African American Cultural History
• HIS 469 - Emergence and Independence in Kenya

• Latin American Studies

• LAS 220 - Politics and Economics of Brazil (= POL 344)

• Music

• MUS 122 - Music of the United States
• MUS 232 - Jazz
• MUS 241 - Music of Latin America
• MUS 246 - Music of Brazil

• Political Science (Survey courses: 290, 347, 366)

• POL 226 - Racial and Ethnic Politics
• POL 290 - Politics of Africa (formerly POL 240)
• POL 347 - Politics of Development (formerly POL 337)
• POL 366 - Diplomacy in Africa (formerly POL 341)

• Religion (Survey courses: 261)

• REL 261 - African American Religious Traditions

• Sociology (Survey courses: 105, 205, 250, 261, 271, 310, 312, 340)

• SOC 105 - Topics in Race and Religion
• SOC 205 - Racial and Ethnic Relations
• SOC 228 - Sociology of Cities and Urban Life
• SOC 250 - Inequality in America
• SOC 261 - Social Diversity & Inequality in Education (=EDU 260)
• SOC 271 - Urban Ethnography
• SOC 310 - Gender, Race, and Sports
• SOC 312 - Gender, Race and Class in Media
• SOC 387 - Political Economy of African Development
• SOC 340 - Education in African American Society (=EDU 340)
• SOC 430 - Race and Religious Faith