What is the meaning of African studies?

African studies is the study of Africa, especially the continent's cultures and societies (as opposed to its geology, geography, zoology, etc.).

What is the study of Africa?

By African Studies we usually mean not just one discipline but the whole range of disciplines that take Africa as a subject of study. Among other such disciplines are often mentioned “African history,” “African sociology and anthropology,” “African linguistics,” “African politics,” “African philosophy,” etc.

What is the objective of Africa Studies?

The major in African and African American Studies aims to develop critical intellectual skills, an engagement with issues of social justice, and an awareness of how race, gender, sexuality and class operate in the lives of peoples of the African Diaspora.

What is taught in African Studies?

The program in African Studies enables students to undertake interdisciplinary study of the arts, history, cultures, politics, and development of Africa. As a foundation, students in the program gain cross-disciplinary exposure to Africa.

What is the purpose of African American Studies?

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 is the Africana Studies Major?

Is African American Studies meant for everyone?

AAS is a valuable pursuit for everyone. The department offers a unique perspective on American history, current politics, and social life that is important and informative for everyone. The critical thinking and systemic analysis skills that one learns in AAS classes are useful for life across the board.

What is the major African American Studies?

Description. The African American Studies major examines, from numerous disciplinary perspectives, the experiences of people of African descent in Black Atlantic societies, including the United States, the Caribbean, and Latin America.

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 ...

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.

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.

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 is the worldview of African Studies?

The main principles of the African-centred worldview are: the interconnectedness of all things; the spiritual nature of human beings; collective individual identity; the collective/inclusive nature of family structure; the oneness of mind, body and spirit; and the value of interpersonal relationships.

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.

Why is Africa called the Dark continent?

Africa was originally dubbed the “Dark Continent” by Welsh journalist and explorer Henry Morton Stanley, who saw Africa as mysterious. Its landscapes and cultures were largely unknown to many outsiders until the late nineteenth century.

What are 5 facts about Africa?

What was Africa original name?

The ancient name of Africa was Alkebulan. Alkebu-lan “mother of mankind” or “garden of Eden”.” Alkebulan is the oldest and the only word of indigenous origin. It was used by the Moors, Nubians, Numidians, Khart-Haddans (Carthagenians), and Ethiopians.

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.

What are the branches of African Studies?

Why is it called Africana studies?

Africana studies departments at many major universities grew out of the Black studies programs and departments formed in the late 1960s in the context of the US Civil Rights Movement, as black studies programs were reformed and renamed "Africana studies," with an aim to encompass the continent of Africa and all of the ...

What is African Studies in high school?

AP African American Studies is an interdisciplinary course that draws from a variety of fields—history, literature, the arts, geography, science—to explore the vital contributions and experiences of African Americans, from ancient African societies to the present.

Who is the father of Black Studies?

Nathan Hare, widely regarded as the father of Black Studies, was born in Slick, Oklahoma, on April 9, 1933. He was one of five siblings. As a child, he spent some years with his aunt in Oklahoma City before returning to his family farm where he worked as a sharecropper and tenant farmer.

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).

What college has the best African American Studies?

What is another name for African American Studies?

Black Studies, or Africana Studies more broadly, is an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approach to studying and understanding the experiences of African people and African-descended people across the Diaspora.

What type of class is African American Studies?

This course is interdisciplinary in nature and presents an overview of the cultural, economic, historic, social, and political issues in the life of African Americans in the United States.