The Minor in African and African American Studies

Professor Edda L. Fields-Black, Faculty Advisor, History Department
Location: Baker Hall 231B, 412-268-8012, fieldsblack@andrew.cmu.edu

Dr. Alexandra Garnhart-Bushakra, Academic Program Manager, History Department
Location: Baker Hall 240G, 412-268-1260, agarnhar@andrew.cmu.edu

Ms. Beth Jameson, M.A., Academic Advisor and Humanities Coordinator, History Department
Location: Baker Hall 240A, 412-268-5666, bjameson@andrew.cmu.edu

Mission

The African and African American Studies minor introduces students to several large regions of the world: sub-Saharan Africa, the Americas, and the Caribbean. Broad geographic coverage and a comparative framework encourage students to make connections between Africa and the African Diaspora, as well as among different Diasporan communities. The minor offers undergraduates the opportunity to undertake an empirical and theoretical examination of the cultural, political, social, and historical experiences of Africans and people of African descent.

This unique transnational minor brings together several departments and colleges within the university and allows students to develop analytical skills particular to the arts, humanities, social sciences, public policy, and management. The African and African American Studies minor allow students a considerable degree of freedom in their choice of electives and independent research projects, including opportunities to study and conduct research in a relevant foreign language.

The minor is composed of 54 units, broken down between two “Core Courses” and four elective courses. Students may take up to two additional “Core Courses” that can count toward the elective requirement. At least one of their elective courses must contain a research paper or project and in the course of the six courses, students must take courses in two of the following four geographic regions: Africa, African American, Latin American, and the Caribbean).

Curriculum

Minor in African and African American Studies54 units

Core Courses18 units

Choose two from the History and/or English Department courses listed below:

African		Units
79-226	African History: Earliest Times to 1780	9
79-227	Modern Africa: The Slave Trade to the End of Apartheid	9

African American
79-212	Jim Crow America	9
79-242	African American History: Reconstruction to the Present	9

Elective Courses36 units

African
79-225	West African History in Film	9
79-237	Comparative Slavery *	9
79-290	The Slave Passage: From West Africa to the Americas	9
79-385	Out of Africa: The Making of the African Diaspora *	9
82-260	Black Italy	9
82-303	French & Francophone Cultures	9
82-304	French & Francophone Sociolinguistics **	9

African American
57-480	History of Black American Music	6
76-407	Topics in Literary & Cultural Studies : There Are Black People in the Future	9
79-120	Introduction to African American History: Black Americans and the World	9
79-155	Introduction to African American Studies	9
79-237	Comparative Slavery *	9
79-247	African Americans, Imprisonment, and the Carceral State	9
79-252	"Harriet": Harriet Tubman, Slavery, and the Underground Railroad	6
79-333	African Americans, Race, and the Fight for Reparations	9
79-371	African American Urban History	9

Caribbean
79-237	Comparative Slavery *	9
79-385	Out of Africa: The Making of the African Diaspora *	9
82-303	French & Francophone Cultures	9
82-304	French & Francophone Sociolinguistics **	9

Latin American
79-317	Art, Anthropology, and Empire	9
82-343	Cultures of Latin America	9
82-451	Studies in Latin American Literature and Culture	9

*

Denotes courses that require a research paper/project. 

**

Denotes courses taught in a foreign language.