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Central Themes

To get the most out of an AADS minor, students are encouraged to organize their courses around the central themes of globalization, intersectionality, or social justice.

Globalization

Globalization is as old as the trade in African slaves. Patterns of resource extraction, labor, trade, commerce, and travel have shaped the experiences of African-descended peoples and the peoples they have encountered. Selected courses explore the connections between various geographic regions, cultural traditions, and historical developments that have defined globalization.

Intersectionality

Race is defined by various identity categories and social locations such as gender, class, color, ethnicity, region, nation, age, sexuality, political ideals, and spiritual beliefs. Intersectionality reminds us that race is not a monolithic or homogenous category of human experience.

Social Justice

The history of African and African-descended peoples has been defined by the struggle for social justice: the fight for human equality and the fight against racism, sexism, homophobia, and class exploitation. In resisting enslavement, segregation, patriarchy, imperialism, and colonialism, and by striving to overturn discrimination in education, housing, healthcare, employment, and religious institutions, African and African Diasporic peoples have undertaken drives for social emancipation that have expanded the meaning of democratic ideals.

Major Requirements—31 Credits (or More)

The African and African Diaspora Studies (AADS) major consists of a minimum of 31 credits, equivalent to at least 10 full-semester courses. AADS majors can have a second major as long as the student stays in compliance with the University’s regulation that, in order to earn a major, a student must have at least 27 credits in the major program that are not used to fulfill requirements for another major or minor. In addition to taking AADS1110 Introduction to African Diaspora Studies (3 credits) and AADS6600 Senior Seminar (4 credits), students pursuing an AADS major need to take 8 additional elective courses, and only two of which can be a 1000-level course. Four of those elective courses must be Black Atlantic courses. Black Atlantic courses are those that have a global framework that puts different geographical regions of the world in conversation with one another within the African Diaspora.

There are two tracks in which AADS majors can concentrate: (1) Intellectual Traditions and Cultural Production or (2) Politics and Social Inquiry. Students in the Intellectual Traditions and Cultural Production track examine Black intellectual traditions, expressive forms, and modes of cultural analysis and cultural criticism primarily (but not exclusively) based on textual analyses. In the Politics and Social Inquiry track students examine the development of institutions, measure inequality, and identify societal patterns utilizing primarily (but not exclusively) historical and social science techniques. While both tracks are rooted in the interdisciplinary study of the African Diaspora, the Intellectual Traditions and Cultural Production track will be for those students most interested in pursuing careers and graduate studies typically associated with the humanities, while the Politics and Social Inquiry track will attract students with more social science interests.

AADS majors must take six of their eight elective courses in one track and their remaining two in the other. Students’ elective courses may not fall exclusively in Social Science (Communication, History, Political Science, or Sociology) or Humanities (Art History, English, Music, Philosophy, Romance Languages and Literatures, Theatre, or Theology) departments.

Sample Schedule for Intellectual Traditions and Cultural Production

First Year

• AADS1110 Introduction to African Diaspora Studies (3 credits)
• AADS2204 Musi