BA in Africana Studies

Professor Quito Swan listening to a student speak in a classroom seated at a shared table

GW’s interdisciplinary Bachelor of Arts in Africana Studies explores global Black experiences, thought and expression. Students study major themes in Black Studies, such as Pan-Africanism, Black women’s internationalism and the African Diaspora. The major's two course core introduces students to the theoretical frameworks, research methods and scholarship of the discipline of Africana Studies. It also grounds majors in the Black Radical Tradition (BRT), which is an exciting intellectual paradigm that threads together Black resistances to slavery, colonialism and racial capitalism across the African Diaspora’s Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Ocean worlds.

Students learn about the global intersections between race, gender, class and space by fulfilling African Diaspora and Women and Gender requirements. They also fulfill a culminating experience/capstone elective that will demonstrate their mastery of a key theme of Africana Studies. This can occur through a research paper, internship, independent study, study abroad or a project that engages the concepts and curricular goals of the major.

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Electives

The program’s electives span two distinct but overlapping concentrations: Black Epistemologies and Black Ontologies.

Black Epistemologies is centered on Black ways of knowing through culture, identity and expression.

Black Ontologies refers to Black material experiences and highlights Black narratives, structures and politics.

Students explore both concentrations by choosing courses drawn from an extensive list of offerings taught by Africana faculty affiliates across departments and programs like History, Anthropology, American Studies, Art, Sociology, English, Music and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. This allows students to benefit from the expanding list of classes on the Black experience that GW has to offer.

Program Pillars

The Black Radical Tradition

How do we study the collective consciousness of global Black freedom struggles?

Black Epistemologies

How have Black communities perceived themselves and the world?

Black Ontologies

How do Black communities materially experience the world?

Course Requirements

This Bulletin covers the degree requirements for students matriculating in the current academic year. Students who matriculated before the current year can find their requirements in the relevant archived Bulletin.

The following requirements must be fulfilled:

The general requirements stated under Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, Undergraduate Programs.

Major requirements: 39 credits, with 9 credits taken at the 2000 level or above. These include major core, African Diaspora, women/gender, major concentration, and general elective requirements. Students must take three courses from each major concentration of Black epistemologies: culture, identity, and expression and of Black ontologies: narratives, structures, and politics.

No course can be counted toward more than one requirement.

Code	Title	Credits
Required for the major
Core courses
AFST 1001	Introduction to Africana Studies
AFST 2001	The Black Radical Tradition
African Diaspora requirements
A total of three courses (9 credits), with one 3-credit course centered on the history, culture, and politics in each of three geographic areas of the Black world―Africa America, Africa, and Caribbean/Latin American/wider diasporas.
Africa America
One 3-credit course selected from the following:
AMST 2011	Modern American Cultural History
AMST 3950W	Special Topics ^*
AMST 4702W	Race, Medicine, and Public Health
CMUS 2110	History, Culture, and Aesthetics of Hip Hop Music
CMUS 2123	Musical Cultures of African Americans
ENGL 2610W	Introduction to Black Literature of America I
ENGL 2611W	Introduction to Black Literature of America II
HIST 3360	African American History to 1865
HIST 3361	African American History Since 1865
HIST 3362W	African American Women's History
PSC 2221	African American Politics (Africa)
Africa
One 3-credit course selected from the following:
ANTH 3708	Anthropology of Africa
ANTH 3801W	African Roots from Australopithecus to Zimbabwe
CAH 2193	Introduction to the Arts and Material Culture of Africa
CAH 3191	Resistance and Protest in Modern and Contemporary African Art
CAH 3192	Aesthetics and Politics of Waste in African Art
CAH 4151	Seminar in African Art ^*
GEOG 3154	Geography of the Middle East and North Africa
GEOG 3164	The Geography of Africa
IAFF 3189	Special Topics in African Studies ^*
IAFF 3904	The Middle East Since 1945: A History of the Present
PSC 2482	African International Politics
WGSS 3530W	Women in Africa
Caribbean/Latin America/wider diaspora
One 3-credit course selected from the following:
AFST 2002	Black Internationalism
ANTH 2750W	Latinos in the United States
ANTH 3702	Anthropology of Latin America
ANTH 3791	Topics in Regional Anthropology (Anthropology of the Caribbean) ^*
ANTH 3891	Special Topics in Archaeology (The Black Atlantic) ^*
ENGL 2711	Postcolonialism and Migration in Global Anglophone Literature and Film
ENGL 3570	Nineteenth-Century Black Literature
HIST 2520	Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World
IAFF 3210W	Migration, Gender, and International Development
SPAN 3430	Afro-Latin America in the Diaspora
WGSS 3890W	Black Women in the Twenty-First Century
Women and gender course requirement
One 3-credit course selected from the following:
AMST 1160	Race, Gender, and Law
ENGL 3940	Topics in African American Literary Studies ^*
HIST 3362W	African American Women's History
IAFF 3210W	Migration, Gender, and International Development
SOC 1000	Dean's Seminar (Sociology of Race, Class, and Gender) ^*
SOC 2189	Special Topics in Criminal Justice (Black Feminist Perspectives) ^*
WGSS 3170	Topics in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies ^*
WGSS 3481	Women in Islam
WGSS 3890W	Black Women in the Twenty-First Century
Electives
6 courses (18 credits) total in elective coursrs.
Three courses (9 credits) in Black epistemologies electives selected from the following:
AFST 3003	Topics in Africana Studies ^*
AMST 3950W	Special Topics (US Black Radicalism) ^*
ANTH 3702	Anthropology of Latin America
ANTH 3708	Anthropology of Africa
ANTH 3791	Topics in Regional Anthropology (Anthropology of the Caribbean) ^*
ANTH 3801W	African Roots from Australopithecus to Zimbabwe
CAH 2193	Introduction to the Arts and Material Culture of Africa (Introduction to the Arts and Material Culture of Africa)
CAH 2194	History of Modern African Art
CAH 3191	Resistance and Protest in Modern and Contemporary African Art
CAH 3192	Aesthetics and Politics of Waste in African Art
CAH 4151	Seminar in African Art ^*
CAH 4169	Seminar in Contemporary Art (Restitution, African Art, and Museum)
CMUS 2110	History, Culture, and Aesthetics of Hip Hop Music
CMUS 2123	Musical Cultures of African Americans
CTAD 4592	Special Topics in Theatre Studies (History of African American Theatre) ^*
ENGL 2610W	Introduction to Black Literature of America I
ENGL 2611W	Introduction to Black Literature of America II
ENGL 2711	Postcolonialism and Migration in Global Anglophone Literature and Film
ENGL 3570	Nineteenth-Century Black Literature
ENGL 3940	Topics in African American Literary Studies ^*
ENGL 3950	Cultural Theory and Black Studies
FILM 2153	History of World Cinema I
FILM 2154	History of World Cinema II
FREN 3560	Topics in Contemporary Francophone Literature and Cinema ^*
IAFF 2093	Africa: Problems and Prospects
IAFF 3189	Special Topics in African Studies ^*
SOC 1000	Dean's Seminar (Sociology of Race, Class, and Gender) ^*
SOC 2152	Media, Power, and Politics
SOC 2173	Social Movements
SOC 2189	Special Topics in Criminal Justice (Black Feminist Perspectives) ^*
WGSS 3170	Topics in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies ^*
WGSS 3481	Women in Islam
WGSS 3890W	Black Women in the Twenty-First Century
Three courses (9 credits) in Black ontologies electives selected from the following:
AFST 2002	Black Internationalism
AFST 3003	Topics in Africana Studies ^*
AMST 1000	Dean's Seminar (Zombie Capitalism)
AMST 1160	Race, Gender, and Law
AMST 2020W	Washington, DC: History, Culture, and Politics
AMST 4702W	Race, Medicine, and Public Health
AMST 2011	Modern American Cultural History
ANTH 2750W	Latinos in the United States
ANTH 3891	Special Topics in Archaeology (The Black Atlantic) ^*
ANTH 3991	Special Topics (Race and Policing) ^*
GEOG 3154	Geography of the Middle East and North Africa
GEOG 3161	Geography of Latin America
GEOG 3164	The Geography of Africa
HIST 3360	African American History to 1865
HIST 3361	African American History Since 1865
HIST 3362W	African American Women's History
HIST 3520	Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World
HIST 3710	History of Latin America I
HIST 3711	History of Latin America II
HSCI 2050	Foundations of Health Equity
IAFF 3210W	Migration, Gender, and International Development
IAFF 3904	The Middle East Since 1945: A History of the Present
PSC 2221	African American Politics
PSC 2482	African International Politics
SOC 2169	Urban Sociology
SOC 2170	Class and Inequality in American Society
SOC 2172	Institutional Racism: Policies and Prescriptions
SOC 2179	Race and Minority Relations
SPAN 3430	Afro-Latin America in the Diaspora
WGSS 3530W	Women in Africa
Culminating experience/capstone
One course (3 credits) in a culminating experience/capstone:
AFST 3001	Documenting Black Lives
AFST 3002	Capstone Project in Africana Studies
AFST 4001	Independent Study in Africana Studies
CCAS 2154	Elective Internship

*Specific topics can count toward degree requirements with departmental approval. Consult the Schedule of Classes for each semester's offerings.