Africana Studies

Program Director
3070 Moore Hall
(269) 387-2668

Deborah H. Barnes
Amos J. Beyan
William F. Santiago-Valles

Africana Studies gathers faculty and students dedicated to the interdisciplinary study of the past and present experiences of African heritage. We engage in the critical study of the black Diasporic cultural traditions and race relations in Africa, the Caribbean basin, and especially North America, taking seriously the essential, organic role black peoples and their cultures have played in shaping the societies in which they live.

African Studies emphasizes both an interdisciplinary approach and a global perspective to the study of black history and culture. We ask students to draw on a wide range of disciplines to fulfill their concentration requirements, including literature, history, sociology, economics, anthropology, music, drama, film, and the visual arts.