About the Program
The Africana Studies Program, housed in the Office of Interdisciplinary Studies in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at NC State University offers students the opportunity to study the Black experience in Africa, the Americas, and throughout the African Diaspora. Students explore topics, issues and research from cross-cultural, international, transnational and multidisciplinary perspectives. Through the lens of the African experience, Africana Studies also examines the intersection of race, gender and class as it impacts on the broad issues of human development.
A great and immediate need has been recognized at both national and local levels for more individuals with knowledge of cultures beyond those in the United States in order to improve our ability to function cooperatively in an increasingly interdependent world. As we approach the next century, NC State University must meet the educational and personal needs of a more varied student body and play a major role in limiting the growth of provincialism in our state.
Africana Studies provides tools students can use to better understand the global context of the modern world and to learn the national and international dimensions of their chosen fields of study. Students completing Africana Studies courses will:
- be cognizant of the major theories of the disciplines represented in Africana Studies
- know principal themes and issues in the history of Black people
- acquire an understanding of Black art and literature
- define and understand the role of key thinkers, movements, and ideas relevant to Africana Studies
- identify the principal physical, social and geographical features of Africa and the Diaspora
- analyze the internal and external factors affecting the development of peoples throughout the African Diaspora
- develop the ability to think critically and globally
