Majoring in the Department of African and African American Studies (DAAAS)

Foundation (37 units): 

• Introduction to Themes in Black Studies I & II (8 units): These two courses form the core of the major and minor and will contain an overview of the field of Black Studies broadly defined from various viewpoints, concepts, and methodologies. Combining humanistic and social scientific approaches to the study of African, African American, and Global Black life, culture and philosophy, these courses will also feature lectures by AAAS affiliates and leading scholars and public figures from beyond the University. By reading key African, African American, and Black thinkers from the era of Trans-Atlantic slavery to the present, these courses will introduce students to the historical formation of African, African American, and Global Black identities, intellectual cultures, and political struggles in the United States, Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, and beyond. Taking advantage of the University’s strengths in STEM and its location in Silicon Valley, these courses will also include an opportunity for critical reflection on issues pertaining to race and technology. 
• Foundations in African American Studies I & II (8 units): These two classes are at the heart of the African American Studies track. Students will be introduced to specific themes in the culture, politics, and history of African America, including slavery, the Civil Rights Movement, Black aesthetics, philosophy, and the range of Black expressions on social media, among other things. Students will be introduced to key thinkers and trends in Black thought, including W.E.B. DuBois, Cornel West, Toni Morrison, Angela Davis, and many others.
• Language (12 units): Majors will work closely with their advisors to select the course of language study appropriate to the students’ interests and aspirations. Faculty advisors will work with majors to form meaningful links between majors’ chosen language and all independent research, community engaged learning, and other independent projects. Majors will undertake one year’s study of an African or African diasporic language including Zulu, Yoruba, Amharic, Igbo, Twi, Swahili, Yoruba, Wolof, West African Pidgin English, or Haitian Creole. One quarter of their language study can also be fulfilled by enrollment in the Bing Overseas Program in Cape Town, where they will be able to continue with in-person instruction in the language of their choice and (with a South African language) have the valuable experience of linguistic immersion. Because this requirement is meant to facilitate cross-cultural communication and to open a window into the linguistic thought worlds of the African and African Diaspora, the Department will advise students on how to connect their language study with independent research, community engagement, study abroad, and other endeavors. 
• Senior Capstone Project/Honors Thesis Program (5 units/+10 additional units for honors): The capstone course is the culminating course of the DAAAS major degree, offered during the Autumn quarter of a major’s senior year. The Capstone course is a research and writing intensive course designed to help students reflect on DAAAS coursework and apply that knowledge to a specific, focused topic. Students may choose to take the course as part of a multi-quarter Honors Thesis experience (application to DAAAS Honors program required) culminating with a final Honors Thesis/Creative Honors Thesis in the Spring OR students may choose to do a Senior Capstone/Creative Capstone project, concluding with a final paper at the conclusion of the Autumn quarter. Though the time commitment and project scope for the Honors/Creative Honors Thesis versus Capstone/Creative Capstone students may differ, the intellectual rigor of the Capstone seminar and assignments in the Capstone course are the same. Students will synthesize all that they’ve learnt and identify their own unique contribution in a culminating project of their choice during the Autumn quarter. This could be a Senior Capstone paper, Creative Capstone paper with a detailed proposal for a creative project, Honors Thesis prospectus, or a Creative Honors Thesis prospectus with a detailed proposal for a creative project. Students admitted to the DAAAS Honors program will complete an addition 5 units in the Winter and 5 units in the Spring quarter to fulfill the Honors requirement. Capstone and honors projects can be developed in conjunction with the community engaged learning requirement, whereby majors design a public deliverable in relation to a specific community (e.g. a database or an art or photography exhibition, online or in-person). This course will be jointly taken with other DAAAS seniors pursuing different regional tracks, offering important opportunities for cross-regional collaboration. All senior majors will present their Capstone or Honors thesis projects at DAAAS Senior Presentations during the Spring quarter of their senior year.  
• Community Engaged Learning (4 units): The field of African and African American Studies has a rich history and tradition of being grounded in theory, practice, and community. The field was founded out of community demand and thus we have a social responsibility to engage in work that services Black, African, and/or African diasporic communities. The DAAAS community engaged learning requirement allows students to engage with communities to address a collective problem or societal need, critically examine public issues, and/or engage in a community-based project. This requirement allows students to either take a relevant class from one of these Community Engaged Learning course offerings via Cardinal courses (courses must have a focus on Black, African, and/or African Diasporic community/communities). Students can also choose to design their own community engaged learning experience in close collaboration with their faculty advisor and the DAAAS Director of Advanced Studies and Community Engaged Learning, Dr. Katie Dieter. This could involve an individualized and ethical strategy for engagement with an African diasporic community in the Bay Area (examples include the Congolese Community Center in Oakland; the Central African Dance Center in Richmond; the Eritrean Community Center in San Francisco, amongst many other possibilities). Students are also able to fulfill the requirement through participation in a one of Stanford’s Bing Overseas Study programs (BOSP). Either through BOSP’s Global Seminars or quarter-long Stanford-In programs, particularly the Cape Town program,  students are able to fulfill their community engaged learning requirement via participation in an overseas program that focuses on Black, African, and/or African diasporic communities. Note that a study abroad course must contain a community engaged learning component in the course to fulfill the requirement for the major.  DAAAS students must take a 2 credit “re-entry” directed readings course with their faculty advisor upon returning from an overseas study course. In connection with this community engaged requirement, students could design a public deliverable that could also become the basis for their final Capstone project or Honors thesis project.  

Additional 27 units:

• Depth (15 units): Majors are invited to create their own individualized thematic concentration or to pursue one of four thematically structured concentrations within the Department: gender and sexuality; cultural production and aesthetics; technology; or political thought. Three classes (for a total of 9-15 units) are required within the thematic concentration. Through a dedicated course within the chosen thematic concentration, students will acquire proficiency in a methodology such as ethnography, quantitative analysis, literary criticism, or archival research. One or two classes can be an independent study with a faculty advisor of the student’s choosing. The Department will identify classes each year across the university that qualify for the four structural thematic concentrations.
• Breadth (12 units): Students must take 12 units of courses in the other two tracks in the Department (African Studies and Global Black Diaspora Studies) 

Foundation (37 units):

• Introduction to Themes in Black Studies I & II (8 units): These two courses form the core of the major and minor and will contain an overview of the field of Black Studies broadly defined from various viewpoints, concepts, and methodologies. Combining humanistic and social scientific approaches to the study of African, African American, and Global Black life, culture and philosophy, these courses will also feature lectures by AAAS affiliates and leading scholars and public figures from beyond the University. By reading key African, African American, and Black thinkers from the era of Trans-Atlantic slavery to the present, these courses will introduce students to the historical formation of African American identities, intellectual cultures, and political struggles in the United States, Caribbean, and beyond. Taking advantage of the University’s strengths in STEM and its location in Silicon Valley, these courses will also include an opportunity for critical reflection on issues pertaining to race and technology. 
• Foundations in African Studies I & II (8 units): These two classes are at the heart of the African Studies major track. Featuring a diverse cast of instructors – several high-profile African figures as guest lecturers; a wish list might include people such as former South African President, Thabo Mbeki; a core group of faculty teachers and mentors - these classes will provide students with an exciting introduction to the diverse and highly relevant field of modern African Studies. By reading key African, African American, and Black thinkers from the era of Trans-Atlantic slavery to the present day and focusing on both the past and the future of the continent, we will explore contested histories of knowledge production in and of Africa, situate Africa as a historic and present key global player, and prioritize African contributions to the study of the continent. Our approach will be explicitly interdisciplinary: We will explore the contributions to African Studies of humanities and social science disciplines (e.g. History and Anthropology) as well as of literature, visual arts, and performance. Themes covered will also include African Studies and STEM, including environmental and climate studies. We will seek funding for enhanced student engagement for all enrolled majors, including Summer travel study projects to the continent linked to the course and one-on-one research and mentoring opportunities with faculty in Stanford and beyond. 
• Language (12 units): Majors will work closely with their advisors to select the course of language study appropriate to the students’ interests and aspirations. Faculty advisors will work with majors to form meaningful links between majors’ chosen language and all independent research, community engaged learning, and other independent projects. Majors will undertake one year’s study of an African or African diasporic language including Zulu, Yoruba, Amharic, Igbo, Twi, Swahili, Yoruba, Wolof, West African Pidgin English, or Haitian Creole. One quarter of their language study can also be fulfilled by enrollment in the Bing Overseas Program in Cape Town, where they will be able to continue with in-person instruction in the language of their choice and (with a South African language) have the valuable experience of linguistic immersion. Because this requirement is meant to facilitate cross-cultural communication and to open a window into the linguistic thought worlds of the African and African Diaspora, the Department will advise students on how to connect their language study with independent research, community engagement, study abroad, and other endeavors. 
• Senior Capstone Project/Honors Thesis Program (5 units/+10 additional units for honors): The capstone course is the culminating course of the DAAAS major degree, offered during the Autumn quarter of a major’s senior year. The Capstone course is a research and writing intensive course designed to help students reflect on DAAAS coursework and apply that knowledge to a specific, focused topic. Students may choose to take the course as part of a multi-quarter Honors Thesis experience (application to DAAAS Honors program required) culminating with a final Honors Thesis/Creative Honors Thesis in the Spring OR students may choose to do a Senior Capstone/Creative Capstone project, concluding with a final paper at the conclusion of the Autumn quarter. Though the time commitment and project scope for the Honors/Creative Honors Thesis versus Capstone/Creative Capstone students may differ, the intellectual rigor of the Capstone seminar and assignments in the Capstone course are the same. Students will synthesize all that they’ve learnt and identify their own unique contribution in a culminating project of their choice during the Autumn quarter. This could be a Senior Capstone paper, Creative Capstone paper with a detailed proposal for a creative project, Honors Thesis prospectus, or a Creative Honors Thesis prospectus with a detailed proposal for a creative project. Students admitted to the DAAAS Honors program will complete an addition 5 units in the Winter and 5 units in the Spring quarter to fulfill the Honors requirement. Capstone and honors projects can be developed in conjunction with the community engaged learning requirement, whereby majors design a public deliverable in relation to a specific community (e.g. a database or an art or photography exhibition, online or in-person). This course will be jointly taken with other DAAAS seniors pursuing different regional tracks, offering important opportunities for cross-regional collaboration. All senior majors will present their Capstone or Honors thesis projects at DAAAS Senior Presentations during the Spring quarter of their senior year. 
• Community Engaged Learning (4 units): The field of African and African American Studies has a rich history and tradition of being grounded in theory, practice, and community. The field was founded out of community demand and thus we have a social responsibility to engage in work that services Black, African, and/or African diasporic communities. The DAAAS community engaged learning requirement allows students to engage with communities to address a collective problem or societal need, critically examine public issues, and/or engage in a community-based project. This requirement allows students to either take a relevant class from one of these Community Engaged Learning course offerings via Cardinal courses (courses must have a focus on Black, African, and/or African Diasporic community/communities). Students can also choose to design their own community engaged learning experience in close collaboration with their faculty advisor and the DAAAS Director of Advanced Studies and Community Engaged Learning, Dr. Katie Dieter. This could involve an individualized and ethical strategy for engagement with an African diasporic community in the Bay Area (examples include the Congolese Community Center in Oakland; the Central African Dance Center in Richmond; the Eritrean Community Center in San Francisco, amongst many other possibilities). Students are also able to fulfill the requirement through participation in a one of Stanford’s Bing Overseas Study programs (BOSP). Either through BOSP’s Global Seminars or quarter-long Stanford-In programs, particularly the Cape Town program,  students are able to fulfill their community engaged learning requirement via participation in an overseas program that focuses on Black, African, and/or African diasporic communities. Note that a study abroad course must contain a community engaged learning component in the course to fulfill the requirement for the major. DAAAS students must take a 2 credit “re-entry” directed readings course with their faculty advisor upon returning from an overseas study course. In connection with this community engaged requirement, students could design a public deliverable that could also become the basis for their final Capstone project or Honors thesis project.  

Additional 27 units:

• Depth (15 units): Majors are invited to design their own individualized thematic track, focusing one of five emphases represented in the Department’s course offerings and research interests: gender and sexuality; aesthetics, performance, and cultural production; technology; politics, security, and governance; health. Three classes (total 15 units) will have to be taken in one of these areas. At least one class should be Africa-specific; the other two classes could be comparative. One or more classes could be an independent study with a faculty advisor of the student’s choosing. 
• Breadth (12 units): Majors are required to demonstrate geographic breadth and proficiency in other areas of the Global Black world by taking two courses in two regions outside of their own area of thematic concentration. This could include classes in African American Studies, Global Black Diaspora Studies (including the Caribbean, Black Europe, Black Latinx, and Black Latin American Studies), or an independent study with a faculty advisor that focuses on another region of the Global Black World. 

Foundation (37 units) 

• Introduction to Themes in Black Studies I & II (8 units): These two courses form the core of the major and minor and will contain an overview of the field of Black Studies broadly defined from various viewpoints, concepts, and methodologies. Combining humanistic and social scientific approaches to the study of African, African American, and Global Black life, culture and philosophy, these courses will also feature lectures by AAAS affiliates and leading scholars and public figures from beyond the University. By reading key African, African American and Black thinkers from the era of Trans-Atlantic slavery and even beyond to the present, these courses will introduce students to the historical formation of African American identities, intellectual cultures, and political struggles in the United States, Caribbean, and beyond. Taking advantage of the University’s strengths in STEM and its location in Silicon Valley, these courses will also include an opportunity for critical reflection on issues pertaining to race and technology. 
• Foundations in Global Black Diaspora Studies I & II (8 units): Taking a plural and comparative hemispheric approach to understanding relations among historical and contemporary constructions of diasporas in the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, and the United States as well as Black experiences across different cultures and contexts, these courses sequence serves as a foundation work in AAAS. Through examinations of hemispheric and other Black histories, literatures, cultural practices, and philosophies, and societies, students will reconsider borders imposed upon geographies, the dynamics of migration and settlement, the reality of metissage and Third Culture Kids, languages, and demographics, as well as how, out of necessity, Afro-descendant populations have forged lives beyond these various contexts. Topics include comparative colonialisms and imperialisms, modernity and empire, migration and diaspora, feminist and queer movements, and political struggle and revolution. 
• Language (12 units): Majors will work closely with their advisors to select the course of language study appropriate to the students’ interests and aspirations. Faculty advisors will work with majors to form meaningful links between majors’ chosen language and all independent research, community engaged learning, and other independent projects. Majors will undertake one year’s study of an African or African diasporic language including Zulu, Yoruba, Amharic, Igbo, Twi, Swahili, Yoruba, Wolof, West African Pidgin English, or Haitian Creole. One quarter of their language study can also be fulfilled by enrollment in the Bing Overseas Program in Cape Town, where they will be able to continue with in-person instruction in the language of their choice and (with a South African language) have the valuable experience of linguistic immersion. Because this requirement is meant to facilitate cross-cultural communication and to open a window into the linguistic thought worlds of the African and African Diaspora, the Department will advise students on how to connect their language study with independent research, community engagement, study abroad, and other endeavors. 
• Senior Capstone Project/Honors Thesis Program (5 units/+10 additional units for honors): The capstone course is the culminating course of the DAAAS major degree, offered during the Autumn quarter of a major’s senior year. The Capstone course is a research and writing intensive course designed to help students reflect on DAAAS coursework and apply that knowledge to a specific, focused topic. Students may choose to take the course as part of a multi-quarter Honors Thesis experience (application to DAAAS Honors program required) culminating with a final Honors Thesis/Creative Honors Thesis in the Spring OR students may choose to do a Senior Capstone/Creative Capstone project, concluding with a final paper at the conclusion of the Autumn quarter. Though the time commitment and project scope for the Honors/Creative Honors Thesis versus Capstone/Creative Capstone students may differ, the intellectual rigor of the Capstone seminar and assignments in the Capstone course are the same. Students will synthesize all that they’ve learnt and identify their own unique contribution in a culminating project of their choice during the Autumn quarter. This could be a Senior Capstone paper, Creative Capstone paper with a detailed proposal for a creative project, Honors Thesis prospectus, or a Creative Honors Thesis prospectus with a detailed proposal for a creative project. Students admitted to the DAAAS Honors program will complete an addition 5 units in the Winter and 5 units in the Spring quarter to fulfill the Honors requirement. Capstone and honors projects can be developed in conjunction with the community engaged learning requirement, whereby majors design a public deliverable in relation to a specific community (e.g. a database or an art or photography exhibition, online or in-person). This course will be jointly taken with other DAAAS seniors pursuing different regional tracks, offering important opportunities for cross-regional collaboration. All senior majors will present their Capstone or Honors thesis projects at DAAAS Senior Presentations during the Spring quarter of their senior year.
• Community Engaged Learning (4 units): The field of African and African American Studies has a rich history and tradition of being grounded in theory, practice, and community. The field was founded out of community demand and thus we have a social responsibility to engage in work that services Black, African, and/or African diasporic communities. The DAAAS community engaged learning requirement allows students to engage with communities to address a collective problem or societal need, critically examine public issues, and/or engage in a community-based project. This requirement allows students to either take a relevant class from one of these Community Engaged Learning course offerings via Cardinal courses (courses must have a focus on Black, African, and/or African Diasporic community/communities). Students can also choose to design their own community engaged learning experience in close collaboration with their faculty advisor and the DAAAS Director of Advanced Studies and Community Engaged Learning, Dr. Katie Dieter. This could involve an individualized and ethical strategy for engagement with an African diasporic community in the Bay Area (examples include the Congolese Community Center in Oakland; the Central African Dance Center in Richmond; the Eritrean Community Center in San Francisco, amongst many other possibilities). Students are also able to fulfill the requirement through participation in a one of Stanford’s Bing Overseas Study programs (BOSP). Either through BOSP’s Global Seminars or quarter-long Stanford-In programs, particularly the Cape Town program,  students are able to fulfill their community engaged learning requirement via participation in an overseas program that focuses on Black, African, and/or African diasporic communities. Note that a study abroad course must contain a community engaged learning component in the course to fulfill the requirement for the major. DAAAS students must take a 2 credit “re-entry” directed readings course with their faculty advisor upon returning from an overseas study course. In connection with this community engaged requirement, students could design a public deliverable that could also become the basis for their final Capstone project or Honors thesis project.  

 Additional 27 units:

• Depth (15 units): Majors are invited to design their own individualized thematic track, focusing one of five emphases represented in the Department’s course offerings and research interests: gender and sexuality; aesthetics, performance, and cultural production; technology; politics, security, and governance; health. Three classes (total 15 units) will have to be taken in one of these areas. One or more classes could be an independent study with a faculty advisor of the student’s choosing. 
• Breadth (12 units): Majors are required to demonstrate geographic breadth and proficiency in other areas of the global Black world by taking two courses in two different regions outside of their own area of specialization. This could include classes in African American Studies, African Studies, or an independent study with a faculty advisor that focuses on different global regions of Black Studies.