Bachelor in Africana Studies

Africana Studies at Connecticut College employs an interdisciplinary and transnational approach to the study of peoples in Africa and throughout the African diaspora. The departments of Anthropology, Art History, Dance, Economics, Education, English, Film Studies, French, Government, History, Hispanic Studies, Human Development, Music, Philosophy, and Sociology contribute courses to this program covering Africa, North and South America, the Caribbean and Europe. Africana Studies critically engages the historic and contemporary life, thought and cultures of African peoples. Africana Studies seeks to explore the linkages among African peoples while also highlighting a multiplicity of experiences through the lenses of issues such as class, ethnicity, gender, nation, and sexuality.

As a discipline, Africana Studies represents a tradition of intellectual inquiry that grew out of the black freedom struggle and is therefore concerned with the issues of slavery, colonialism, racism and shifting notions of blackness. It is a dynamic and expansive field that interrogates the migration patterns and complex global realities of people of African descent.

The Africana Studies major and minor are interdisciplinary and transnational, and are designed for students to examine the universal and particular experiences of people of African descent. A major in Africana Studies can lead you to a wide array of career paths in areas such as the arts, business, law, media, health, politics or sports education.