Africana Studies Minor

FACULTY:

Courtney Thompson, Chair
Omar Dieng
Miriam Kilimo
Lee McBride
                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Africana Studies is an academic discipline rooted in a political, social, historical, and cultural context that seeks to introduce students to knowledge and perspectives about people of African descent and the African Diaspora that are often overlooked in traditional disciplines. As a corrective, Africana Studies challenges the long-standing epistemic and paradigmatic approaches of traditional disciplines to the study of people of African descent and emphasizes Black agency and struggles for equality and freedom.

Our interdisciplinary trained faculty help students investigate, analyze, and develop multidisciplinary competencies to better understand the historical and contemporary experiences of Black people in the global world. Since its inception in 1968, the Department of Africana Studies (formerly the Black Studies Program) has prepared College of Wooster graduates to succeed and become leaders in a multicultural world.

By the end of the senior year, an Africana Studies graduate should be able to: describe the intellectual history, evolution, purposes, and challenges of Africana Studies within the academy; explain the connections between Africana Studies and historic Africa and the contemporary experiences of people of African descent around the world; recognize major historical events crucial to Africana people and their experiences in Africa, North America, the Caribbean, Europe, and other parts of the world; apply relevant African-centered theories and methodologies to the investigation of topics, texts, artistic productions, events, and/or phenomena related to the African diaspora; and conceptualize, research, and write an independent study project that meets the learning outcomes of the department.