BA in African and African American Studies - Americas Focus

The major prepares students for graduate and professional training in law, medicine, psychology, sociology, anthropology, music criticism, journalism, art history, economics, political science, history and public policy, among other disciplines. Graduates in African and African American Studies will be equipped to function at the highest levels of professional life, with skill-sets consisting of critical analysis, mediation, creative and effective outcome design, and a sophisticated understanding of how diversity works in a globalized pluralistic world. The major in African and African American Studies aims to develop critical intellectual skills, an engagement with issues of social justice, and an awareness of how race, gender, sexuality and class operate in the lives of peoples of the African Diaspora. 1) Critical Intellectual Skills: We aim to have each of our majors leave the department with analytical and critical skills that enable a greater understanding of the lives and conditions of peoples of African descent in the Americas, Africa and beyond. Among these skills is knowledge of existing and emergent interdisciplinary scholarship about peoples of African descent throughout the globe. 2) Engagement with issues of social justice: Given the realities of racism, sexism and class-ism in the experiences of peoples of African descent, graduates of the Department in African and African American Studies are expected to be attuned to and critically reflect upon issues of social justice in African diasporic communities as well as in the larger society. 3) Awareness of the intersections of race, sex and gender and other identity traits: Majors will come away with a greater awareness of the critical ways in which race, gender, class, and sexual preference intersect within communities across the African Diaspora.