Academic Programs
Educational Objectives
The Department's multidisciplinary approach allows students to develop analytical skills particular to the arts, humanities and social sciences. As they encounter cross-regional and cross-cultural perspectives, students of Africana Studies are taught to perform their own comparative analyses of diverse groups that comprise the African Diaspora. Students learn of the connections between culture, race, gender, class, religion, nationality, and other categories of identity and experience. A variety of teaching and research methods allow students to expand their capacities as critical thinkers and scholars. Our students thus graduate with both a liberal arts background and a heightened appreciation for the diverse communities that make up America and the world.
Current Degree Options for Undergraduate Students
Africana Studies degree options for Notre Dame undergraduates consist of a Supplementary Major (24 credit hours of required coursework, including a Senior Project or Thesis "capstone" experience), an Interdisciplinary Minor (15 credit hours of required coursework, with a sub-specialty in Literature, History, or Social Science), and an African Area Studies Minor (15 credit hours of required courses—four courses in three departments—with a Senior thesis as a capstone experience).
Future Degree Options for UG
The members of the Department's Advisory Committee will participate in the design of an interdisciplinary curriculum that provides our majors and minors with opportunities to explore the historical evolution, social dynamics, political life, economic development, philosophy, theological and theoretical perspectives, literatures, arts, music, and cultures of the peoples of Africa and the African Diaspora. The new curriculum will more fully explore cross-regional and cross-cultural perspectives through comparative analysis of and between different Diasporan groups in America and globally. A comprehensive curricula with thematic foci on the African American, African, and African Diasporan Studies will continue to examine the connections between culture, race, gender, class, religion, nationality, and other categories of identity and experience. Africana Studies majors will also be expected to complete a senior capstone project as an internship or thesis as the final requirement to complete the degree.
The proposed curricular modification for AFAM would be phased in over a two-year period. The curriculum will be designed in a manner that would allow students to select tracks focused on the African American, African, and African Diasporan Studies. All tracks for the major would require at least 30 hours of course work. This would represent an expansion of the current AFAM supplementary major, which requires 24 credit hours of coursework. This new curriculum would build on AFAM's current course offerings that support supplementary major.
The Africana Studies Minor will continue to require five courses and a minimum of 15 credit hours. Students would complete two of the department's core courses and choose a focus of the African American, African, or African Diasporan Studies to complete the minor.
Graduate Education
Although our Department awards neither master's nor doctoral degrees, it serves as an important resource for graduate and professional students throughout the University whose research deals, in whole or part, with African American, African, and African Diasporan Studies.
Africana Studies Mentoring Fellowship
This fellowship program, administered by both the Graduate School and the Department of Africana Studies, invites applications from graduate students at the University of Notre Dame in the arts, humanities, social sciences, and theological disciplines who have completed all degree requirements with the exception of the dissertation.
Research Initiatives
The Initiative for the Study of Religion and Culture in Africa and the African Diaspora is the research "arm" of our program. Its slate of projected activities (e.g., an annual lecture series, research annual, and visiting scholars program) will further enhance the intellectual climate for advanced research on a range of pivotal issues.