The African/African-American Studies Program (AFA) is an interdisciplinary program that explores the histories, societies, and cultures of Africans and peoples of African descent throughout the Diaspora, including the United States, Caribbean, and Latin America. Courses are offered from a broad range of disciplines, including the arts and humanities, social sciences, law enforcement, and health sciences, spanning subjects from African literature to the black church and social justice. New features of the AFA program will include study abroad education, service- learning, and internship/co-op opportunities. A minor or certificate in AFA provides important employable skills to students of all ethnic backgrounds—especially as the US workforce grows more diverse and employers begin to recognize the measurable economic benefits of diversity in the workplace. Academic training in race, gender, class, and social justice helps to prepare graduates for entry into occupational fields like Education, Social Work, Law, Community Organization, Politics, Business, Counseling, Recreation, Management, Urban and Regional planning, Media, Government, and many more. The program also gives its participants the chance to expand their perspectives and become strong global citizens. Classes in AFA reveal histories and experiences that are often overlooked, and undermine the harmful narratives about Africans and African Americans that persist in our culture. These stereotypes are what Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie warns about in her TED talk, “The Danger of a Single Story.”
In the AFA program, we hope to move beyond the single story, and explore the complexity and diversity of the human experience.
