What is taught in African Studies?

Africana Studies is an interdisciplinary field of study devoted to the critical and systematic examination of the cultural, political, social, economic, and historical experiences of African Americans, Africans, and peoples of African descent around the world.

What do you learn in African Studies?

Students explore topics, issues and research from cross-cultural, international, transnational and multidisciplinary perspectives. Through the lens of the African experience, Africana studies also examines the intersection of race, gender and class as it impacts on the broad issues of human development.

What is the concept of African Studies?

Africana Studies examines the problems, and perspectives of Blacks in Africa and the African Diaspora, which the African Union defined as the “people [and communities] of African origin living outside the [African] continent, irrespective of their citizenship and nationality”.

What is the difference between Black studies and African Studies?

Black studies and Africana studies differ primarily in that Africana studies focuses on Africanity and the historical and cultural issues of Africa and its descendants, while Black studies was designed to deal with the uplift and development of the black (African-American) community in relationship to education and its ...

What are the reasons for studying African Studies?

African Studies, in contemporary times, aims to generate but also question know- ledge about the full spectrum of diverse African conditions and realities, past and present, both within and beyond the con- tinent.

Inside the African American studies class praised by some and fiercely opposed by others

What are the challenges of African Studies?

This article delineates and reflects on 10 challenges confronting reconfiguring African Studies, namely genealogical, epistemic, linguistic, chronological, theoretical, spatial (area studies, country studies), androcentric, disciplinary, canonical issues and resilience of colonial library.

What are the problems associated with the study of African history?

Writing African history has been challenging and mostly difficult, due to the lack of comprehensive written records and holistic archaeological evidence covering all areas of Africa in the past.

What are the seven core subjects of Black Studies?

We engage students in the seven core areas of Black Studies: black history, black sociology, black religion, black economics, black politics, black psychology, and the humanities (black literature, art, and music).

Is African Studies a degree?

An undergraduate degree in Africana Studies prepares students for graduate work in the humanities, social sciences, and professional schools, as well as a range of careers in teaching, business, public service, and the arts, among others.

Do Black students learn differently?

Research based on the Dunn and Dunn LSI has found that African American students tend to focus on people rather than things, to prefer inferential reasoning, and to be more proficient in nonverbal communication (Heredia, 1999).

What are the three dimensions of African Studies?

The disciplinary, interdisciplinary and global dimensions of African studies.

What are the multidisciplinary components of African Studies?

Over time, African Studies has expanded to include a wide range of approaches to various disciplines, including history, anthropology, political science, sociology, economics, linguistics, religion and law, among others.

Why did Islam spread so quickly in Africa?

Islam spread through Africa on the backs of merchant trade routes and militaristic expansion. It began, however, in the small town of Mecca in what is now Saudi Arabia. The Prophet Muhammad began spreading the teachings of Islam in 610 CE.

Which African country is the most educated?

It's also the least populated country in Africa, with a bit more than 100,000 inhabitants. Despite that, Seychelles is the most educated country in Africa. But to be fair, the small population makes it easier for the government to provide a proper education for all of its citizens.

Is African Studies a discipline?

Africana Studies is a dynamic discipline characterized by intellectual dexterity, methodological rigor and an enduring connection to the community, both inside and outside of the academy.

Is African Studies a social science?

Significantly, Africana Studies also became a laboratory for multidisciplinary/interdisciplinary approaches combining humanities and social science literatures and methods, which most U.S. colleges and universities now actively promote as being key to higher education in the twenty-first century.

What does Black Studies focus on?

An African American studies major — also called an Africana studies or Black studies major — provides students with a nuanced understanding of African Americans' historical, political, and cultural impact, in addition to the unique challenges they continue to face today.

What are the three areas of focus of Black Studies?

Thus, the mission of Black Studies stressed three basic areas of focus: cultural grounding, academic excellence, and social responsibility”.

What are the three basic areas of focus of the Black Studies Mission?

These three areas of development are in keeping with and reflect the three areas of focus for the larger mission of the Black Studies discipline: cultural grounding, academic excellence, and social responsibility.

Why is it difficult to study the history of Africa?

As many African societies relied on oral traditions to mark the past, language barriers make it difficult for foreigners to correctly interpret our complex histories.

Why is African history so often overlooked by many scholars and historians?

Why is African history so often overlooked by many scholars and historians? Due to the fact that there is not much written accounts of African history. The majority of it is oral and societies are not usually considered to be civilized if they do not have a system of writing.

What are the methods of studying African history?

The difficulties of exploring African history, especially for earlier periods, have spurred the development of a wide range of methodologies and approaches, such that Wyatt McGaffey once termed it “the decathlon of the social sciences.” Historians have long utilized archaeology, ethnography, historical linguistics, and ...

What is African studies as an academic discipline?

Africana Studies is a multidisciplinary field that broadens the scope and range of traditional disciplines and offers a corrective to disciplines in which knowledge of the presence, roles, cultural contributions and experiences of African peoples and their descendants have been omitted or neglected.

What are two of the biggest problems facing African today?

Africa is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, with rising temperatures, changing rainfall patterns, and extreme weather events affecting various regions, impacting ecosystems and livelihoods, increasing water scarcity and contributing to desertification.

Which empire was the first in West Africa?

The Ghana empire. While there were many city-states and small kingdoms in West Africa for centuries, the Ghana Empire was the first major agrarian empire to arise in the region.