Africana Studies

Africana Studies at Western Michigan University is an interdisciplinary and comparative program leading to a baccalaureate degree (major) in Africana Studies with a choice in one of two emphases/tracks: (1) Black Studies or (2) African Studies. Africana Studies also offers the “minor” as an academic option. Using methodologies from humanities, fine arts, and social science disciplines, our courses introduce students to examine the structure, organization, problems, and perspectives of Blacks in North America and throughout the African diaspora. They learn how to read texts that demand deep critical assessment. Their critical faculty is developed with demanding writing assignments that test their ability to analyze arguments and to define with care basic terms, complex theories, and central concepts. The pedagogy of the Africana Studies Program curriculum engages students in theoretical, practical, and applied learning through classroom, experiential/cultural, and field experience.

Africana Studies is first and foremost concerned with quality instruction that leads to a better understanding of the historical and contemporary dynamics of the African world. The Program exists:

to provide an excellent university education while challenging and stimulating students to contribute to the development of their communities’ cultural, aesthetic, and economic environments;
to generate new knowledge and research opportunities within the discipline of Africana Studies;
to serve the university’s external community with programming that contributes to life long education.

Africana Studies works collaboratively on research, policy, diversity, and programming with the Lewis Walker Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnic Relations, the Division of Multicultural Affairs, other academic units at WMU as well as local, state, and regional constituents.