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Explore the centrality of Africa and the African Diaspora to the modern world

Academics

In Africana studies, you’ll have the chance to explore the centrality of Africa and the African Diaspora to the modern world and previous eras in the fields of literature, history, philosophy, international relations, cultural studies, music and the visual arts.

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Featured Courses

ASRC 3507 African American Literature Through the 1930's

One way to think of African American literature is to recognize that certain themes and motifs recur and tell a story that one can study across time from slavery to freedom. Solid literacies in this field not only provide valuable interpretive contexts for analyzing various aspects of African American and diasporan life and culture, but can reinforce work in a range of other fields, from Africana studies to American literature. Additionally, they reinforce skills in reading and analysis of literature, as well as writing, that will pay off now and as time goes on.

We will examine selections from authors in African American literary history from the 18th century into the 1930s. Authors who will be examined include Phillis Wheatley, Olaudah Equiano, Frederick Douglass, David Walker, Harriet Jacobs, Harriet Wilson, Charles Chesnutt, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois, James Weldon Johnson, Jean Toomer, Nella Larsen, and Langston Hughes.

Instructor: Riche Richardson (rdr83)

ASRC 4602 Women and Gender Issues in Africa

There are two contrasting views of the status and role of women in Africa. One view portrays African women as controlled by men in all social institutions. Another view projects women as having a relatively favorable position in indigenous societies they were active with an identity independent of men's and no concentration of women in a private sphere while men controlled the public sphere. This course examines critical gender theories and women in historical and contemporary periods. The topics covered include: non-westernized/pre-colonial societies; the impact and legacy of colonial policies; access to education and knowledge; women in politics and the economy in local and global contexts; women's organizations; armed conflicts and peace; same gender love and evolving family values; the law and health challenges; the United Nations and World Conferences on Women: Mexico 1975, Copenhagen 1980, Nairobi 1985, Beijing 1995 and post-Beijing meetings, and the 2010 superstructure of UN Women, and Beijing +20 in 2015 with the UN Women's slogan "Empowering Women, Empowering Humanity: Picture it!"

Instructor: N'Dri Assie-Lumumba (na12)

Africana Studies News

Person sitting near a window, reading a book. There is snow outside

Your December 2024 reads

This month’s featured titles include a history Harlem by a government alum and a prof’s memoir about his education under Apartheid.

Sophomore's organization fosters conversations on racial justice, mental health

"Poetry and artwork were my ways of processing the world around me."

Farred analyzes his apartheid education in ‘philosophical memoir’

In “The Perversity of Gratitude: An Apartheid Education," Grant Farred describes his experience of flourishing intellectually, despite and even thanks to being educated under apartheid, while also analyzing concepts that made such an education possible.