Black Studies

Black studies courses compare Black experiences in various parts of the world, allowing students to learn to analyze Blackness as a dynamic formation across time and within local, global, and historical contexts.

Curriculum

Our program draws on diverse disciplinary perspectives and pedagogical methods, allowing students to link coursework across the curriculum. We are committed to producing and advancing knowledge about Black people in Africa and the communities of African descent in the Americas, the Caribbean, and Europe, and our learning goals support that commitment.

Students explore diverse theoretical and methodological perspectives to deepen their understanding of local, national, transnational, diasporic, and global processes. Of necessity, the debates that ensue will engage the voices and lived experiences of Black people past and present.

For faculty: If you have a course that you would like to be cross-listed with Black studies, please use this form to let us know.

Major Themes

• The rich heritage of Black intellectual, cultural, and scientific inquiry and activity.
• Black politics and social movements in comparative perspective.
• The importance of language, performance, and other forms of expression in experiences of Blackness.
• The development and influence of Black music, literatures, visual arts, and religious expressions.
• The analysis of race and the ways it intersects with gender, class, sexuality, and disability.
• The advent, implications, and legacies of colonialism and trans-Atlantic enslavement.
• Racism and its effects on societies as well as on knowledge production.