University of Connecticut

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Degree Overview

Taking as its central mission the study of peoples of African descent on the continent and in the diaspora, the Africana Studies major seeks a nuanced and interdisciplinary understanding of the human experience. The Africana Studies major does so through the humanities, arts, and social sciences, with particular emphasis on continuities and discontinuities across geography and time. Its broad educational objectives are to engender among all students an intellectual appreciation of black lives and their saliency for all human experience; to deepen students’ critical analytic skills; and to value social equality, democracy, and humanitarianism. The Africana Studies major strives to provide students with substantive knowledge of the black world and its linkages to national as well as pre-, sub-, supra-, and transnational processes. Students play an active role in the Africana Studies Institute’s mission to facilitate respect and positive intersocial relationships within the university community. Completion of the B.A. in Africana Studies prepares the student for work in government, community agencies, international organizations, business, journalism and communications, or for graduate studies that lead to careers in research and teaching.