Africana Studies Major

Requirements for the Major in Africana Studies

Major requirements ensure that students are thoroughly exposed to the broad range of research and scholarship in the discipline. Africana studies majors must complete 11 courses from the following list, including a senior exercise (thesis, project or comprehensive examination).  While six of these courses are expected to be at the upper-division level, credit will be given, where appropriate, to courses numbered lower than 100. Students elect to focus on one of the following areas of concentration: arts, humanities or social sciences, while also fulfilling breadth courses as outlined in 2-5 below.

1. Africana Studies: AFRI 010A AF , and AFRI 010B AF . This two-semester sequence should be completed by the end of the student’s sophomore year.
2. Literature: one course
3. History: one course
4. Social science (e.g. economics, politics, psychology or sociology): one course
5. Art, music or religion: one course
6. Four courses in the student’s area of concentration, e.g. arts, humanities or social sciences. Students may count one of the breadth courses as part of their concentration.
7. AFRI 190 AF  (seminar); and AFRI 191 AF  (thesis), AFRI 192 AF  (project), or AFRI 193 AF  (comprehensive exam).

Upon approval by the department chair, substitutions in the major requirements can be made to respond to an individual student’s interests and needs.

Students majoring in Africana studies are strongly encouraged to spend a semester or a year abroad, preferably in Brazil or countries in Africa or the Caribbean. In addition, the department strongly recommends that students take four semesters of a language spoken in the African Diaspora, e.g. Arabic, French, Portuguese, Spanish or an African language.