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African and African-American Studies

Program Adviser: Andrew H. Apter, H 318, 702-7735
Program Coordinating Committee: Ralph Austen, Chairman, P 214, 702-8344; Andrew H. Apter, H 318, 702-7735; Edgar G. Epps, J 328, 702-1578; Kenneth Warren, G-B 429, 702-9761
Program Office: P 226, 702-0902

Go to: Program Requirements
Go to: Summary of Requirements
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Program of Study

The Bachelor of Arts concentration in African and African-American Studies provides a context in which College students might examine African and African-American cultures and communities from a rigorous, interdisciplinary perspective. Its intellectual justification lies in the direction taken by African and African-American studies over the past few years, which has been characterized by a growing insistence on the integrity and coherence of the links--historical, sociocultural, and experiential--between Africa and its diasporas.

Program Requirements

The concentration requires a B.A. thesis and eleven courses distributed according to the following guidelines:

1. Six basic courses dealing with African and African-American materials. These must include the three-quarter African civilization sequence and a combination of three courses in African or African-American subjects approved by the Program Coordinating Committee. Since the African civilization sequence will be used to fulfill a program requirement, students should take another civilization sequence to satisfy their Common Core requirement. The remaining three courses are to be selected from other offerings listed by the committee in any year.

2. Three courses in the social sciences and/or the humanities relevant to African and African-American studies. The courses require approval by the Program Coordinating Committee and should contribute to the overall coherence and integrity of a student's program of study. Courses in a language such as Portuguese, Arabic, French, or Swahili may be used to satisfy this requirement. Students may also learn an African language such as Zulu under the auspices of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, through which the necessary arrangements can be made. The College Common Core language requirement must still be satisfied.

3. Two reading courses, taken during the student's final year, to prepare a B.A. thesis. Students will be required to write the B.A. thesis under the supervision of a faculty member approved by the Program Coordinating Committee. The committee must approve the proposed paper topic by the end of the autumn quarter of the final year.

It is expected that the Common Core requirements in the social sciences will be completed before a student enters the program. A student who has not done so should complete them during the first year of the program.

Each student in the program will have an adviser who is a member of the program faculty, listed below, or a lecturer appointed for his or her special knowledge of African or African-American subjects.

Summary of Requirements

Concentration	3	SocSci 225-226-227 (Introduction to African Civilization I, II, III)

			  3	approved African or African-American courses

			  3	relevant courses in the social sciences and/or
					humanities

			  2	reading courses

			  -B.A. thesis

			  11 (total)

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Faculty

ELIZABETH ALEXANDER, Assistant Professor, Department of English

ANDREW H. APTER, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology and the College

RALPH A. AUSTEN, Professor, Department of History and the College; Chairman, African & African-American Studies

LAUREN BERLANT, Associate Professor, Department of English

JAMES E. BOWMAN, M.D., Professor Emeritus, Departments of Pathology and Medicine, Committees on Genetics and African & African-American Studies, and the College

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JEAN COMAROFF, Professor, Department of Anthropology; Committee on Human Nutrition & Nutritional Biology, Morris Fishbein Center for the History of Science & Medicine, and the College; Cochairman, African & African-American Studies

JOHN L. COMAROFF, Professor, Departments of Anthropology and Sociology and the College; Chairman, Department of Anthropology

T. BENTLEY DUNCAN, Associate Professor, Department of History

EDGAR G. EPPS, Marshall Field Professor, Department of Education; Cochairman, Committee on African & African-American Studies

JOHN A. GOLDSMITH, Professor, Department of Linguistics

GENE B. GRAGG, Professor, Departments of Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations and Linguistics, Oriental Institute, and the College

WENDY GRISWOLD, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Committee on the History of Culture, and the College

THOMAS HOLT, Professor, Department of History and the College

LOREN KRUGER, Associate Professor, Department of English Language & Literature and the College

DAVID LAITIN, Professor, Department of Political Science and the College; Director, Center for the Study of Politics, History, and Culture

DONALD N. LEVINE, Peter B. Ritzma Professor, Department of Sociology and the College

INGRID MONSON, Assistant Professor, Department of Music

SALIKOKO S. MUFWENE, Professor, Department of Linguistics

DOLORES G. NORTON, Professor, School of Social Service Administration

JULIE SAVILLE, Associate Professor, Department of History and the College

DAVID SCOTT, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology and the College

RONALD SINGER, Robert R. Bensley Professor, Departments of Organismal Biology & Anatomy and Anthropology and Committees on Evolutionary Biology and African & African-American Studies

RAYMOND T. SMITH, Professor, Department of Anthropology

KENNETH WARREN, Associate Professor, Department of English Language & Literature and the College

WILLIAM JULIUS WILSON, Lucy Flower Distinguished Service Professor, Department of Sociology, Irving B. Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies, and the College.

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