2008 Woodie Awards
Goucher to Add Africana Studies Minor
Shoshana Flax
Issue date: 4/7/04 Section: News
It incorporates dance, history, religion, music, and women's studies courses. It focuses on Africa, North America and the Caribbean. It may have its first graduates by Spring 2005.
Goucher recently approved a minor in Africana Studies. Principal advisors include Jonathan David Jackson, Mary Marchand, and Angelo Robinson, all members of the Department of English. The three, along with Peace Studies professor Seble Dawit and other faculty members, were instrumental in designing the minor. At this time, Africana Studies is a program and not a department, and offers a minor, not a major.
"The program stands alone, meaning, like Judaic Studies, it does not report to any existing department," Jackson explains.
According to the official program information, "The minor in Africana Studies aims to provide students with a broad yet selective exposure to the study of people of African descent on the continent of Africa and in the African Diaspora.
Goals of the minor include:
Students minoring in Africana Studies must complete eighteen credits, including "Introduction to Africana Studies" (AFR 200), one 300-level course, and one course from each of the four key interdisciplinary themes. One of these four classes may be on the 100-level; the rest must be on the 200-level. (Some aspects of the program of study are subject to change.)
Goucher recently approved a minor in Africana Studies. Principal advisors include Jonathan David Jackson, Mary Marchand, and Angelo Robinson, all members of the Department of English. The three, along with Peace Studies professor Seble Dawit and other faculty members, were instrumental in designing the minor. At this time, Africana Studies is a program and not a department, and offers a minor, not a major.
"The program stands alone, meaning, like Judaic Studies, it does not report to any existing department," Jackson explains.
According to the official program information, "The minor in Africana Studies aims to provide students with a broad yet selective exposure to the study of people of African descent on the continent of Africa and in the African Diaspora.
Goals of the minor include:
- An anti-essentialist - or diverse - perspective: students learn about many Black identities and world-views, rather than one "Black culture."
- A rigorous methodological perspective: students learn to interpret specific historical and cultural evidence.
- An interdisciplinary perspective: students learn from different scholarly viewpoints.
- An intercultural perspective: students learn about how different cultures mix in Africa and the African Diaspora.
Students minoring in Africana Studies must complete eighteen credits, including "Introduction to Africana Studies" (AFR 200), one 300-level course, and one course from each of the four key interdisciplinary themes. One of these four classes may be on the 100-level; the rest must be on the 200-level. (Some aspects of the program of study are subject to change.)
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