Department Curriculum

Department Overview

The mission and goal of the undergraduate degree in the department of African and African American Studies is to provide students with an interdisciplinary introduction to the study of African, African American, and of African descended people all over the world as a central component of American and world culture. Courses in the major will promote research across disciplinary and departmental boundaries in the arts and humanities and will provide students with research training and community service-learning opportunities. Courses of study will be drawn from art, art history, cultural anthropology, economics, education, film, dance, performance studies and theatre, literature and literary studies, history, languages, linguistics, music, philosophy, political science, psychology, religion, and gender & sexuality studies, among others. The department of African & African American Studies' curriculum will provide a robust intellectual foundation for all students, whether they are considering graduate school or professional careers.

Learning Outcomes

The department expects undergraduates in DAAAS to be able to demonstrate the following learning outcomes, which will be used to evaluate students. Students are expected to demonstrate:

1. an interdisciplinary understanding of scholarship related to Africa, African America and the worldwide Black diaspora, drawing on interdisciplinary course work and each student's individualized concentration.
2. the ability to identify and critically assess different disciplinary, methodological, and interpretive approaches to the study of African Americans, Africans, and/or people of the worldwide African diaspora.
3. the ability to understand comparative approaches to race.
4. the ability to develop skills in the appropriate disciplinary methods necessary for their study.
5. the ability to express their interpretive and analytical arguments in clear and effective prose.