Beginning in the fall of 2023, we began offering a nine-course major in Africana Studies.
Candidates for a major in Africana Studies must complete at least nine courses. The following three are required:
- AFR 200: Introduction to Africana Studies, normally taken in the first and second years;
- a 300-level seminar or tutorial designated as a “Core Elective”
- and a 400–level senior seminar designated as a “Capstone”.
Africana Studies majors must take six electives. Three (3) of the six electives must be “Core Electives” and must be equally distributed among the three routes so that all majors will take a minimum of one course in each area. Core Electives should be taken with core, affiliated, and visiting professors. No more than two of these three Core Electives can be at the same course level.
The routes are:
- theories, methods, and poetics engage theoretical and philosophical concerns within the field, the methodologies that inform our studies, and the discourses that shape how we understand Black diasporic experiences;
- culture, performance, and popular technologies explore music, the visual arts, and performance, and technologies that give rise to cultural expressions; and
- Black landscapes examine how conceptualizations of space, geography, literature, and history inform racial subjugation, Black community-making, identity, colonialism, and embodiment.
The three remaining courses can be core electives or electives (cross-listed courses). We encourage students to take at least one course in a program /department other than Africana Studies and to consider an experiential learning Winter Study session.
Students are required to meet with the Chair and/or an Africana core faculty member to plan their major.
To declare an Africana Studies major, fill out and submit this form. Please indicate which requirements are met by which courses.