Majors and Minors (<<Back to Majors and Minors list)

Africana Studies

Major and Minor
An interdisciplinary field that spans the humanities, the social sciences, and science-based fields such as public health and environmental studies, Africana Studies draws upon literature, music, anthropology, medical history, political and social movements, and disease prevention. Africana studies encourages comparative inquiry into the achievements and experiences of African peoples in Africa, the African Americas, and African Diasporas around the world.

Highlights of the Hopkins Program
Working with faculty advisers to select courses that reflect their individual interests, students may elect to focus on a particular area, such as Africa or African America, or to combine areas of interest. Students are encouraged to complement and enrich their course work by exploring opportunities for study and research in Africa, or in African American or African diasporic communities in or beyond the Baltimore/Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, as well as outside the U.S. Through research, course work, and public programs, the Center for Africana Studies seeks to promote fundamental inquiry into the commonalities and contrasts between contemporary and historical experiences of Africans and African Americans and the place of African Diasporas in both local and global contexts, historically and in the present.

Departmental Homepage
Direct access to the department’s undergraduate information.
http://web.jhu.edu/africana/undergrad.html

Scheduling

Sample First Semester Schedule

  • An introductory course or two in African, African-American or African Diaspora studies
  • Begin appropriate level of a foreign language
  • Consider an elective N, Q or E course to begin distribution requirements.
  • A humanities or social sciences course
  • Elective course
  • Total 12-16 credits

Major and Minor Checklists
A checklist which can be used for exploring the requirements of a potential major or minor and monitoring your own degree progress.

Major:
http://www.jhu.edu/~advising/images/checklists_pdf/AfricanaStudiesMajor.doc 
Minor:
http://www.jhu.edu/~advising/images/checklists_pdf/AfricanaStudiesMinor.doc

Career Exploration

Skill Set
The “real world” skills you’ll develop with a major in Africana Studies:

  • Sensitivity to people and problems
  • Interfacing with community areas
  • Developing appreciation for racial and class differences and perspectives
  • Working with competing notions and ideas
  • Ability to gather and synthesize information from many sources

Career Center
What have alumni done with their major in Africana Studies?
http://www.jhu.edu/careers/students/explore/majors/africanastudies.html

Looking for information about majors, careers, and finding jobs and internships?
Visit the Career Center’s website: http://www.jhu.edu/careers/

 

 


Last modified: December 9, 2008