Africana Studies

Africana Studies at Barnard

The Africana Studies major offers an interdisciplinary, comparative approach to the study of the history, politics, cultures, literatures, and experiences of peoples in Africa and the African Diaspora. Through this course of study, students come to see the centrality of Africa and the black Diaspora in the modern world and develop a critical understanding of the political, social and ideological forces that shape their place in the world. Our introductory courses encourage students to understand the world from multidisciplinary and transnational perspectives, to critically engage with primary and secondary materials, to develop key geographical knowledge and to engage in comparative analysis. In consultation with their Africana advisor, majors determine a course of study that draws from a range of disciplinary and/or theoretical perspectives. This coursework includes a required colloquium which grounds students in key theories and methodologies of the black Diaspora, a Harlem course that asks students to think about our historic location in relation to the larger Diaspora and a senior seminar that requires students to conduct groundbreaking research.

This multidisciplinary training not only involves a questioning of disciplinary boundaries, but also provides students with the intellectual tools necessary to think critically about the production and dissemination of knowledge. Our home in a premier college for women means that Africana Studies majors at Barnard develop a particular understanding of how gender and sexuality, as well as race, class, religion and region interact with and transform each other in individual and group experiences.