Program in Africana Studies (BA)

Faculty

Dawna Thomas, Chair of the Department of Critical Race & Gender Studies, Professor of Sociology / Women’s & Gender Studies
Tatiana Cruz, Assistant Professor & Interdisciplinary Program Director of Africana Studies

Affiliated Faculty:

Abel Amado, Associate Professor of Political Science & International Relations
Sheldon George, Chair & Professor of the Department of Literature and Writing
Daren Graves, Professor of Education & Social Work
Marda Messay, Associate Professor of Modern Languages & Literature
Frances Sullivan, Assistant Professor & Interdisciplinary Program Director of Migration Studies
Patrick Sylvain, Assistant Professor of Literature and Writing
Becky Thompson, Professor of Sociology
Lynn Perry Wooten, Simmons University President
Lena Zuckerwise, Associate Professor of Political Science & International Relations

Program Overview:

The Africana Studies program offers opportunities to critically examine the historical, political, social, economic, and cultural processes and institutions of people across the African diaspora, including the experiences of Black people in the United States and across the globe. The program has a long history at Simmons University. The program was established as Black Studies in 1972 in response to Black student activism on campus.

The Africana Studies program offers both a major and a minor. It is an interdisciplinary and transnational program situated primarily in the humanities and social sciences that provides opportunities for the intersectional study of race, ethnicity, class, gender, and sexuality. It provides a solid foundation in critical thinking, research, writing, and technology, equipping students with marketable, transferable skills that translate into living and working in a diverse world as well as demonstrate cultural competency to future employers in fields such as education, social work and nonprofit sectors, medicine, law, and business. Students with degrees in Africana Studies develop the tools to become global citizens and participate effectively to shape a more inclusive, equitable, socially just world.

The Africana Studies major and minor both pair well with any fields of study across the university. With a wide array of electives across many different departments, students have the freedom to choose a course of study that reflects their interests. Students interested in dual degree programs or self-designed majors should consult with program faculty to design an individualized program that best suits their interests. The program also offers internships and opportunities for advanced study in independent studies or a senior thesis for interested students as well as supports study abroad.

Program Learning Outcomes: 

Students in Africana Studies will...

I. Content: Analyze major historical, political, social, economic, and cultural developments and institutions of people of African descent, including diverse communities of Black people in the United States and abroad.

II. Knowledge of the Field: Demonstrate a broad understanding of the field, its intellectual and institutional history, its multidisciplinary / interdisciplinary nature, its core
concepts and theoretical frameworks, as well as its body of literature and key historiographical debates.

III. Analytical Framework: Identify the foundations and workings of racism, colonialism, classism, heteropatriarchy, and other systems of oppression, as well as the ability to effectively employ the theoretical concept of intersectionality.

IV. Skills & Methods: Demonstrate critical thinking and analysis, research, and writing skills, as well as evaluate and employ the field’s major methodological approaches and schools of thought.

V. Relevance & Applicability in a Diverse World: Develop cultural competence and debate current sociopolitical issues and initiatives that are relevant to people of African descent.

VI. Global Citizenship & Community Engagement: Apply knowledge to research and develop solutions to challenge systemic oppressions and take action to create social change in local communities and the world at large.

Program Requirements

The Africana Studies major consists of 9 courses (36 semester hours) of coursework. Students in the major are required to complete the following program of study:

Three Required Core Courses (12 semester hours) that include:

 

AST 101	Introduction to Africana Studies	4
AST 202	Introduction to Black Popular Culture	4
	AND
AST 350	Independent Study	4
	OR
AST 355	Senior Thesis	4
	OR
AST 365/SOCI 365/WGST 365	Intimate Family Violence	4
	OR
AST 370	Internship	Variable
	OR
AST 375/AST 575	Behind the Veil: Simmons Oral History Project	4
	OR
CRGCS 355	Critical Race, Gender and Cultural Studies Capstone Project

• Two Additional Africana Studies Courses (8 semester hours) in the program each with an AST prefix.
• Four Elective Courses (16 semester hours) chosen from the list of approved classes. At least one of the elective courses needs to be at the advanced 300-level. No more than two elective courses can be situated in the same department and have the same prefix.

Africana Studies Course Offerings:

AST 101	Introduction to Africana Studies	4
AST 170/ LTWR 170	Introduction to 21st Century Global Literature	4
AST 175	African American Fiction
AST 202	Introduction to Black Popular Culture	4
AST 210/WGST 210	Black Women, Gender, and Feminism(s)	4
AST 232/SOCI 232/WGST 232	Race, Gender & Health	4
AST 240	Black Intellectuals and Entrepreneurs	4
AST 245	Tweeting Into the Future: Race, Technology & Social Media	4
AST 249/SOCI 249	Inequality: Race, Class, and Gender in Comparative Settings	4
AST 274/ LTWR 274	Literature of the Jazz Age	4
AST 275	The Black Freedom Movement: From Civil Rights to Black Lives Matter	4
AST 307	Black History at the Movies	4
AST 313	The Black Struggle for Schooling in the The United States	4
AST 317	Toni Morrison Seminar	4
AST 350	Independent Study	4
AST 355	Senior Thesis	4
AST 365/SOCI 365/WGST 365	Intimate Family Violence	4
AST 370	Internship	Variable
AST 375/AST 575	Behind the Veil: Simmons Oral History Project	4

Approved Elective Course offerings

ART 251	African Art: 3000 BC to the Present	4
ART 255	African American Art	4
COMM 268	Human Rights in South Africa	4
CRGCS 101	Identity and Power	4
CRGCS 102	Introduction to Migration Studies	4
CRGCS 355	Critical Race, Gender and Cultural Studies Capstone Project
FREN 235	The Francophone Caribbean: Literature and Culture	4
FREN 265	Francophone Short Stories	4
HIST 118	Topics in Latin American History	4
HIST 210	African American Experience	4
HIST 211	Medicine and the African American Experience	4
HIST 213	Race and Ethnicity in U.S. History	4
HIST 214	African Diaspora	4
HIST 217	Caribbean History	4
HIST 240	The Atlantic World 1500-1800	4
LTWR 230	Postcolonial Film	4
LTWR 235	Identity and Race in 19th Century American Literature	4
LTWR 274/ AST 274	Literature of the Jazz Age	4
LTWR 327/LTWR 527	Psychoanalysis, Race and Sexuality	4
POLS 215	The Politics of Exclusion	4
POLS 226	State and Local Politics	4
POLS 228	The War on Drugs	3
POLS 234	African American Political Theory	4
POLS 242	Colonial & Postcolonial Politics of Africa	4
SOCI 300/SOCI 500	Special Topics: Race Theory	4
SOCI 344	Sociology of Poetry & Prose	4
SOCI 347	Antiracism and Social Justice	4
SOCI 348	Re-envisioning the Third World	4

 

Any AST course numbered 350 and above will satisfy half of the College’s Independent Learning requirement. Two such courses will satisfy the entire Independent Learning requirement. Students may also satisfy the College’s Independent Learning requirement by taking appropriate courses or completing approved projects in an area other than Africana Studies.