Undergraduate Major
Director of Undergraduate Studies:
Edward Rugemer
203.432.1170
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. Courses explore the innovative, complex, and distinctively African American social structures and cultural traditions that Africans in the Diaspora have created. Students in the department explore the historical, cultural, political, economic, and social development of Black Atlantic societies. Emphasizing a diasporic framework of analysis, the major demands that students acquire both an analytic ability rooted in a traditional discipline and interdisciplinary skills of investigation and research.
African American Studies offers training of special interest to those considering admission to graduate or professional schools and careers in education, journalism, law, business management, city planning, international relations, politics, psychology, publishing, or social work. The department's interdisciplinary structure offers students an opportunity to satisfy the increasingly rigorous expectations of admissions committees and prospective employers for a broad liberal arts perspective that complements specialized knowledge of a field.
African American Studies can be taken either as a primary major or as one of two majors, in consultation with the director of undergraduate studies. Appropriate majors to combine with African American Studies might include, but are not limited to, American Studies, Anthropology, Economics, English, Ethnicity, Race, and Migration, Film Studies, History, History of Art, Music, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, Theater Studies, and foreign languages. Regulations concerning the completion of two majors can be found in chapter II, section K of the Yale College Programs of Study Bulletin.
Requirements of the Major*
The major in African American Studies requires twelve terms of course work including a year-long history sequence (African American Studies 160a, 162b), one course in the humanities relevant to African American Studies (e.g., African American Studies 167, 172, 191, 245, 277, 295, 304, 327, 369, 389, 403 0r 434), one course in the social sciences relevant to African American Studies (e.g., African American Studies 250, 282, 317, or 414), the junior seminar (African American Studies 410a), the senior colloquium (African American Studies 480a), and the senior essay (African American Studies 491a or b). These courses examine ideas and problems that may originate in many fields but that have a common concern - the black experience. The distribution of requirements is intended to provide students with a broad interdisciplinary learning experience. Students are strongly encouraged to complete the history sequence by the end of their sophomore year.
Prerequisite: None
Number of courses: Twelve term courses (including junior and senior requirements)
Specific courses required: AfAmSt 160a and 162b, 410a
Distribution of courses: At least five courses in area of concentration; one relevant humanities course and one relevant social science course, both approved by the Director of Undergraduate Studies.
Substitution permitted: Relevant course with permission of Director of Undergraduate Studies.
Junior requirement: AfAmSt 410a.
Senior requirement: Senior colloquium (AfAmSt 480a), senior essay (AfAmSt 491a or b).
* Official Yale College program information is found in the online version of the Yale College Programs of Study.
Area of Concentration
Students majoring in African American Studies are required to choose an area of concentration, comprised of five courses. This cluster of interrelated courses is intended to ground the student's learning experience in one area of investigation. Often students will choose an area of concentration in a traditional discipline such as political science, sociology, American studies, history, or English language and literature. (This strategy is especially helpful for students planning to fulfill the requirements of two majors.) Students can also construct interdisciplinary areas of concentration that span traditional departments and encompass broader theoretical frameworks such as race and ethnicity, cultural studies, or feminism and gender studies. All majors are encouraged to take upper-level courses as part of their concentration, especially those courses centering on research and methodology. None of the seven required courses in African American Studies may be counted among the five electives in the area of concentration.
Junior Requirement
In their junior year students take the junior seminar (African American Studies 410a, Interdisciplinary Approaches to African American Studies). This course provides majors with theoretical and methodological bases for the work they will do during their research-oriented senior year.
Senior Requirement
As seniors, students participate in a colloquium (African American Studies 480a) that gives them an opportunity to exchange ideas with each other and with more advanced scholars; students submit a prospectus, compile a working bibliography, begin or continue research, and write the first eight to ten pages of the senior essay. After completing the colloquium, each student carries out the remaining research and writing of a senior essay (African American Studies 491b or, in exceptional cases, 491a) under the guidance of a faculty member in the chosen discipline or area of concentration.
Students are strongly encouraged to use the summer between the junior and senior years for research directly related to the senior essay. For example, field or documentary research might be undertaken in urban or rural African American communities throughout the Black Atlantic diaspora. The particular research problem and design are to be worked out in each case with a faculty advisor.
Procedures: Students planning a program of study in African American Studies should download the Senior Essay Handbook and consult with the Director of Undergraduate Studies as early as possible. Areas of concentration and schedules for majors must be approved by the Director of Undergraduate Studies.
