Introduction to African Studies

Dec 09, 2025 0

African Studies is an interdisciplinary field that examines the histories, societies, and cultures of the peoples of Africa. It encompasses a broad range of topics, including history, literature, art, politics, economics, and sociology.

Core Concepts and Themes

The scholarly study of the Africana experience focuses on patterns of resistance, adaptation, diversity, and transnational connections.

The study of the African American experience in America from arrival through the era of Reconstruction, focusing on slavery, resistance movements, and African American culture.

Exploration of the political, social, and economic history of precolonial African civilizations, using a variety of interdisciplinary approaches and materials.

Exploration of the political, social, and economic history of colonial and independent African countries, using a variety of interdisciplinary approaches and material.

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This course introduces students to the history and present of the Black World, encompassing both the African continent and its diasporas. Students will explore the historical events and the racial ideologies that shaped global Blackness and examine political, cultural, social, and religious expressions among a variety of communities within the global African diaspora.

It considers the ways people of African descent in the Americas have used cultural productions--literature, poetry, film, music, visual art, and performance--to construct identities; agitate for equality; and understand aesthetics as political and beautiful.

Course Offerings

A wide variety of courses are available to students interested in African Studies, covering various aspects of the continent and its diaspora.

Introductory Courses (1000 Level)

AFAMAST 1101 - Introduction to African American and African Studies
AFAMAST 1111 - Introduction to Africa: A multidisciplinary introduction to the history, peoples, and cultures of Sub-Saharan Africa.
AFAMAST 1112 - Introduction to the Black World
AFAMAST 1121 - African Civilizations to 1870
AFAMAST 1122 - African Civilizations, 1870 to the Present

Intermediate Courses (2000 Level)

AFAMAST 2080 - African American History to 1877
AFAMAST 2081 - African American History from 1877
AFAMAST 2101 - Introduction to African Art and Archaeology: The Art and Archaeology of Africa with emphasis on the historic cultures of Rock Art (8,000 B.C.), Egypt (3,000 B.C.), Nok (900 B.C.), Igbo-Ukwu (695 A.D.), Ife (1200 A.D.), and Benin (1400-1900 A.D.).
AFAMAST 2201 - Major Readings in African American and African Studies: An introduction to major authors and texts contributing to the discourses that have shaped and defined African American and African Studies from its inception to the present.
AFAMAST 2218 - Black Urban Experience: Examination of contemporary black urban experience focused on the impact of persistent residential segregation, increasing class polarization, and the global force of hip hop culture.
AFAMAST 2251 - Introduction to African Literature: An assessment of the oral prose traditions and written prose of African Literature; specific emphasis placed on student readings from primary sources.
AFAMAST 2253 - Introduction to Caribbean Literature: An introduction to Caribbean literature with a focus on prose, poetry, and drama.
AFAMAST 2270 - Introduction to Black Popular Culture: A critical analysis of the commodity production and consumption of black popular culture products, such as fashion, film, urban fiction, music, vernacular expression, television and advertising.
AFAMAST 2275 - Blackness and the Politics of Sports: This interdisciplinary course considers the role of Black athletes in society and culture, the racial politics involved, and the global implications of race on courts, playing fields, tracks, and other athletic arenas.
AFAMAST 2281 - Introduction to African-American Literature: A study of representative literary works by African-American writers from 1760 to the present.
AFAMAST 2285 - Afropop: Popular Music and Culture in Contemporary Africa: This course focuses on the rich variety, aesthetic beauty, and political significance of popular music in modern African cities.
AFAMAST 2288 - Bebop to Doowop to Hiphop: The Rhythm and Blues Tradition: Examines the aesthetic and historical evolution of rhythm and blues: black music tradition including bebop, rock and roll, and hip hop, redefining American popular culture post-WWII.
AFAMAST 2367.04 - Black Women Writers: Text and Context: Writing and analysis of black women's literary representations of issues in United States social history.
AFAMAST 2367.07S - Literacy Narratives of Black Columbus: This service-learning course focuses on collecting and preserving literacy narratives of Columbus-area Black communities.

Advanced Courses (3000 Level & Above)

AFAMAST 3080 - Slavery in the United States: The African American experience in slavery, focusing on the rise of the slave trade, slavery in the colonial and antebellum eras, the Civil War, and abolition.
AFAMAST 3082 - Black Americans During the Progressive Era: History and experiences of black Americans during the period best known in American History as the Progressive Era.
AFAMAST 3083 - Civil Rights and Black Power Movements: Examines the origins, evolution, and outcomes of the African American freedom struggle, focusing on the Civil Rights and Black Power movements.
AFAMAST 3084 - Citizens Behind Bars Black Leadership and the Politics of Liberation in African American History
AFAMAST 3086 - Black Women in Slavery and Freedom: Traces the experiences and struggles of African American women from slavery through the Civil Rights/Black Power era.
AFAMAST 3089 - Studies in African American History: Selected topics in African American history from the origins of slavery to the presentS.
AFAMAST 3110 - Social (In)Justice and the Black Experience: This course will provide an historical grounding/foundation of Black social justice movements in America to help students understand some of the most pressing issues facing African Americans today.
AFAMAST 3230 - Black Women: Culture and Politics: Examination of the social, cultural, political, economic, and historical forces, dynamics, and processes affecting women throughout the Africana world.
AFAMAST 3260 - Global Black Cultural Movements: This course focuses on hemispheric studies in the Americas, examining black cultural movements emerging after emancipation through the present.
AFAMAST 3304 - History of Islam in Africa: Africa from the emergence of Islam in the 600s to the Present. African contributions to Islam and the impact of Islam on African societies.
AFAMAST 3310 - Global Perspectives on the African Diaspora: Study of historical processes, key figures and ideas, and cultural expressions of the worldwide dispersion of people of African descent from different times and places.
AFAMAST 3320 - History of African Cinema: Emergence and development of African cinema as a film genre and part of material culture. European colonial and ethnographic to modern African cinema.
AFAMAST 3370 - Being African in America: We examine the particular experiences of first- and second-generation Africans in America, for whom today's amplified "us vs. them" rhetoric threatens to fracture what W.E.B. Du Bois called an African American sense of "two-ness."
AFAMAST 3376 - Arts and Cultures of Africa and the Diaspora: An overview of African and African diaspora cultures from a historical perspective.
AFAMAST 3440 - Theorizing Race: Introduction to issues of "race," consideration of the historical emergence and development of ideas of "race" and of racist practices, along with their contemporary formations.
AFAMAST 3450 - The Art and Politics of Hip-Hop: Explores the world of Hip-Hop, from its birth in the Bronx to its infiltration of music, fashion, television, film, dance, print culture, and politics.
AFAMAST 3956 - Black Cultures and Classical Education: Study the role of classics in African and the African Diaspora (US, Caribbean, Brazil).
AFAMAST 4250 - African Politics: An introductory survey of Sub-Saharan African politics from the pre-colonial period to the contemporary era.
AFAMAST 4342 - Religion, Meaning, and Knowledge in Africa and its Diaspora: While the practice of religion in Africa is as diverse as its people, three major belief systems define the practice: African Traditional Religion, Islam, and Christianity.
AFAMAST 4504 - Black Politics: Economic, political, and social constraints on the development of black political power, the efforts made by black people in recent times to organize for effective political action.
AFAMAST 4535 - Topics in Black Masculinity: A theoretical analysis of constructions, perceptions, and performances of black masculinity locally and globally.
AFAMAST 4551 - Topics in Africana Literature: Topics selected will relate to varying issues in the literatures of the Africa and the African Diaspora.
AFAMAST 4565 - Topics in African Diaspora Studies: Selected topics which examine the origins, dimensions, and dynamics of the African Diaspora; topics vary each term.
AFAMAST 4571 - Black Visual Culture and Popular Media: An examination of African Americans in visual culture and the theories of representation in popular media.
AFAMAST 4582 - Special Topics in African-American Literature: Focuses on themes in African-American Literature.
AFAMAST 4610 - African Americans and the Law: This is an interdisciplinary course that puts major legal cases affecting African Americans into conversation with their historical underpinnings, as well as the social contexts and how those contexts manifest in African American cultural productions.
AFAMAST 4921 - Intersections: Approaches to Theorizing Difference: Examines intersections of race, gender, class, and sexuality in various sites within American culture (e.g., legal system, civil rights discourse, social justice movements).
AFAMAST 5240 - Race and Public Policy in the United States: This course explores Race and Public Policy in the United States from Reconstruction to the present.

Additional Courses

The Institute of African Studies offers an interdisciplinary major and minor focusing on the histories, societies, and cultures of the peoples of Africa.

AFS 200-Level Courses Explores the intricacies and interactions of indigenous, Islamic, and Christian traditions in sub-Saharan Africa.

AFS 300-Level Courses This course primarily examines literary and cinematographic artistic productions of the five African countries whose official language is Portuguese.

The varied experience of women in Africa, with attention to the impact of colonization and decolonization on women's lives and cultures.

Traditional genres of African art with a focus on masks and figure sculpture in West and Central African city-states and chiefdoms from 1500 to European colonization.

Political, social, economic, and cultural history of sub-Saharan African civilizations, from the rise of the Sudanic empires through the impact of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

Slavery is not an unchanging systems rooted in the past. We will examine the nature and diversity of slavery in Africa, from 1300s to 1900s, and interrogate the significant role slavery, slave trades, racism, colonialism, and forced labor have played in shaping the African past and present.

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This course is designed to provide students the opportunity to explore issues in economic development viewed from the perspective of sub-Saharan Africa from the impact of slavery and colonialism to the modern era of globalization.

Evolution of South Africa from a society based on the principle of systematic racial segregation to a multiracial democracy. Origins of racial segregation and apartheid, nationalist struggles, challenges of post-apartheid development.

The course explores human trafficking from the era of the trans- Atlantic slave trade to present-day instances of trafficking in productive and reproductive labor. Through primary and secondary sources, the students learn about the racial and gender ideologies undergirding this phenomenon.

This course is an interdisciplinary survey and analysis of the formation of Atlantic African identities, cultures, and societies in the Western Hemisphere since the 16th century.

Treatment of the major issues raised by the new genres of art that have resulted from the African experience of European colonization.

Analysis of economic behavior in low income countries, with attention to factors that promote or inhibit sustainable development, such as local cultural practices, migratory patterns, and foreign investment.

Study of particular subjects pertaining to African Studies.

Open to students approved by the department to write an honors thesis.

A course of readings decided in consultation with a member of the faculty.

The Untold Stories of the Great African Empires | A Journey Through Time

The African Studies Certificate

The African Studies Certificate provides valuable knowledge about Africa and its diverse peoples and cultures.

Completing a sequence of courses on Africa and the Black Diaspora will challenge students to think critically about African and global Black literature, history, politics, sociology, anthropology, etc.

The certificate includes courses across several disciplines, including English, history, journalism, anthropology, and sociology.

Use the certificate to highlight your commitment to strengthening connections with others across cultural and linguistic divides; your openness to consider diverse perspectives; and the capacity to explore your own limitations and beliefs.

This certificate also serves as a gateway to many related majors, such as Social Work, History, English, Anthropology, and Sociology.

Career Outcomes

The African Studies Certificate addresses six of the eight Madison College Core Abilities. Core abilities are identified by Madison College as the critical skills graduates gain during their studies and use as lifelong learners on the job, at home and in the community.

The African Studies Certificate curriculum contributes to the following core abilities: communication, critical thinking, ethics, global and cultural perspectives, self-management, and social interaction.

After completing the African Studies Certificate, you will be knowledgeable in:

Cultural Awareness: Demonstrate awareness of and sensitivity to other cultures’ norms, practices, and actions while at the same time recognizing, acknowledging, and appreciating individual differences.
Intercultural Communications: Communicate effectively and respectfully with diverse people in intercultural teams and work groups.
International Travel: Exhibit preparedness/readiness for international travel, including the abilities to assess and respond to health and safety risks and adapt to unpredictable situations.
Global Citizenship: Recognize self as a part of global culture by demonstrating awareness of the interdependence of global systems, understanding how the United States may be perceived worldwide, solving problems with multiple perspectives and variables, and making globally responsible decisions.
Global Work Skills: Apply global perspectives to the workplace through the use of appropriate technology for international communication, the ability to collaborate with diverse co-workers, and the ability to adapt to variances between cultures in occupational processes, procedures and practices, and through recognizing the impact of the global economy on various occupations and professions.

Direct transferability varies according to major and college of choice. Check with your advisor and transfer school for verification of qualified courses.