Black Studies Minor
Director: Assistant Professor Brenton Boyd
Steering Committee: Professor Hollist; Associate Professors Curry, McGraw Grow, Pompeian; Assistant Professor C. Anderson, Apiyo, Malone, Menzies, Modder, Reyes Asili; Assistant Teaching Professor W. Johnson; Associate Teaching Professor D. Johnson
The Black Studies Program is dedicated to promoting interdisciplinary research and scholarship that addresses the histories, politics, and cultures of the African Diaspora - including the Americas, Africa, Europe, and beyond. Drawing upon Literature, Communication and Media Studies, History, Philosophy, Art, Psychology, and Sociology, our curriculum exposes students to seminal debates in Black Studies. Courses engage many viewpoints and approaches to the field. These include, but are not limited to, theories of race, the evolution of black musical traditions, conceptions of language and authority, histories of colonialism, and frameworks of justice. We also center transnational exchanges across the Diaspora to deepen understandings of the impact black people have on local and global communities.
Students enrolled in Black Studies courses will:
- Develop a broad understanding of how black life shapes and is shaped by a wide array of social phenomena, including popular culture, immigration, public health, technology, and politics.
- Foster a comparative and interdisciplinary framework for understanding the African Diaspora in relation to scholarly inquiry, artistic expression, community engagement, and social advocacy.
- Explore the ways in which race intersects with gender, sexuality, class, nationality, language, and disability, among other intersections.