In the College of Arts and Sciences .
Course Offerings
The Africana Studies and Research Center (ASRC) is concerned with examining the history, culture, intellectual development, and social organization of Black people and cultures in the Americas, Africa, Caribbean, and the entire African Diaspora. Its program is structured from an interdisciplinary and comparative perspective and presents a variety of subjects in focal areas of history, literature, social sciences, and African languages. African languages are consistently offered fall and spring semesters and some are also taught during summer/winter session.
The Africana major offers a unique and specialized program of study that leads to an undergraduate degree through the College of Arts and Sciences. A student may also minor in Africana Studies. The Africana Studies minor program enables the student to complete a major in other disciplines while at the same time fulfilling requirements for the minor. Africana courses are open to the Cornell community and may be used to meet a number of college distribution requirements such as first-year writing seminars, languages, expressive arts, humanities, social sciences, and history.
Africana brings distinguished visitors to the campus, organizes a colloquium series, and houses the John Henrik Clarke Library. The ASRC supports faculty and student research, promotes intellectual pursuit, and sponsors vibrant and relevant academic programming.
Website: africana.cornell.edu
Faculty
A. Ademoyo, N. Assié-Lumumba, C. Boyce Davies, L. Edmondson, G. Farred, T. Gosa, R. Harris, S. Hassan, A. Mazrui, R. Richardson. Offices: 310 Triphammer Road, (607) 255-4625.
The Africana Major
The undergraduate major offers interdisciplinary study of the fundamental dimensions of the African American, African, Caribbean, and African Diaspora experiences. Because of the comprehensive nature of the program, it is to the students’ advantage to declare themselves Africana majors as early as possible. The following are prerequisites for admission to the major.
Students should submit:
- a statement of why they want to be an Africana Studies major;
- a tentative outline of the area of study they are considering (African, African American, Caribbean or African Diaspora) for the major; and
- a full transcript of courses taken and grades received.
The director of undergraduate studies will review the applications and notify students within two weeks of the status of their request.
The Africana major must complete 36 credits in courses offered with African American, African, Caribbean, and African Diaspora content of 50 percent or more and that meet the distribution requirements of the College of Arts and Sciences. The student must take 12 credits of courses numbered 2000 or above and 24 credits numbered 3000 or above. The program of an undergraduate major may have a specifically African American, African or Caribbean, or African Diaspora focus. Please visit africana.cornell.edu for up-to-date listings of courses and the requirements they meet.
The Africana Minor
Africana offers a minor in Africana Studies. The director of undergraduate studies will assist students in the design and coordination of minor programs. For the minor, students are required to take at least 16 credits of courses with at least 50 percent African American, African, Caribbean, and African Diaspora content.
Double Majors
In the case of double majors, students undertake to carry the full load of stipulated requirements for a major in each of the two departments they have selected.
Honors
The honors program offers students the opportunity to complete a library research thesis, a field project in conjunction with a report on the field experience, or a project or experiment designed by the student. The requirements for admission to the honors program for all students—regular majors, joint majors, and double majors—are a B- cumulative average in all courses and a B+ cumulative average in their Africana courses. Each student accepted into the honors program will have an honors faculty committee consisting of the student’s advisor and one additional faculty member, which is responsible for final evaluation of the student’s work. The honors thesis or project would ideally be developed by May of the student’s junior year. The thesis or project should be filed with the student’s faculty advisor by the end of the spring study break of their senior year.
Language Requirement
African language courses in Arabic, Kiswahili, and Yoruba may be used to satisfy the language requirements of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences and College of Arts and Sciences. Africana majors are required to take a language, and the study of an African language is recommended.
First-Year Writing Seminars
Consult the John S. Knight Institute for times, instructor, and descriptions of the ten courses offered each year by Africana.