Pan-African Studies is an interdisciplinary approach to the study of the cultures, languages, historical, and contemporary issues relating to African Americans, Asian Americans, Chicana/os-Latina/os, and Native Americans. The program directs students to critically examine the cultural contributions made by these groups to world civilization and to American society.
Ethnic Studies challenges all students to analyze existing generalizations, theories, and concepts about racial and ethnic groups in order to develop valid generalizations, concepts, and theories about the people and their experiences. Students are encouraged to actively work to eliminate problems based on discrimination.
Students are also encouraged to blend professional area studies with Ethnic Studies. For example, a student may major in Ethnic Studies and minor in Business Administration. Similarly, students with a degree in Engineering Technology may minor in Ethnic Studies and emerge well-prepared professionally to assume middle management and supervisory positions in a multicultural society.
Ethnic Studies majors and minors enter careers and professions in both the public and private sectors. Program advising and other information can be obtained from the Ethnic Studies Department.
The curriculum combines in-depth and transnational approaches to the study of the Black experience in order to give students a unique foundation for critical thinking and socio-cultural analysis. PAS places African American Studies in a larger comparative context of Africa and the African Diaspora-thus the name "Pan-African" Studies.
Read also: Explore African American Studies at Stanford
Moreover, the goal of the curriculum is to allow for flexibility in required core and elective courses. Although the African-American experience remains central to an understanding of the United States, teaching and research on the African Diaspora has come to include the study of peoples from every continent, language group, and religious faith, and especially Africans in the Americas. The goal of the curriculum is to allow for flexibility in required core and elective courses.
Program Requirements
Units required for Major: 36 Total units required for BA: 120
Course List
The following courses are part of the Pan-African Studies curriculum:
- Required Lower Division Course (3 Units)
- ETHN 11 - Introduction to Ethnic Studies
- Required Upper Division Courses (21 Units)
- ETHN 100 - Ethnic America
- ETHN 110 - The Asian American Experience
- ETHN 130 - Chicano/Mexican-American Experience
- ETHN 131 - La Raza Studies
- ETHN 140 - Native American Experience
- ETHN 170 - Pan African Studies
- ETHN 194 - Research in Ethnic Studies
- ETHN 195A - Ethnic Studies Fieldwork
- ETHN 195B - Ethnic Studies Seminar
- Concentration Electives (12 Units)
- Select one of the following Concentrations:
A concentration must be declared in Asian American Studies, Chicana/o Studies, Education (Teachers in Urban Settings or Teachers in Bilingual Education), Native American Studies, Pan African Studies, or General Ethnic Studies. The concentration includes 12 units of electives.
Concentration in Pan African Studies (12 units)
- Concentration Requirements (12 Units)
- Select four courses from the following:
- ANTH 101 - Cultural Diversity
- ANTH 161 - African Cultures and Societies
- ENGL 180F - Major African-American Authors
- ETHN 115 - Biracial and Multiracial Identity in the US
- ETHN 117 - Black Political Thought
- ETHN 133 - Crosscultural Aging in America
- ETHN 141 - Politics of the African Diaspora
- ETHN 155 - Genocide and Holocaust Studies
- ETHN 156 - Indigenous People
- ETHN 171 - African Religions and Philosophies
- ETHN 172 - Black Women In America
- ETHN 173 - The Black Family in the United States
- ETHN 177 - Topics In African Studies
- ETHN 179 - Black Music and Black Consciousness
- HIST 142 - History of Women in Africa
- HIST 143A - Middle Eastern History to 1800
- HIST 176
- HIST 177 - The African-American Experience, 1603-Present
- THEA 140 - Black Drama in the African Diaspora
- THEA 170 - African American Theatre and Culture
Total Units: 36
Read also: Overview of Black Studies at UC Berkeley
Note: A concentration must be declared in Asian American Studies, Chicana/o Studies, Education (Teachers in Urban Settings or Teachers in Bilingual Education), Native American Studies, Pan African Studies, or General Ethnic Studies. The concentration includes 12 units of electives.
History Grade 12 | Steve Biko & the Black Consciousness Movement
General Education Requirements
- Area 1: English Communication (9 Units)
- 1A - English Composition
- 1B - Critical Thinking
- 1C - Oral Communication
- Area 2: Mathematical Concepts and Quantitative Reasoning (3 Units)
- Area 2 Course - Lower Division
- Area 3: The Arts and Humanities (6 Units)
- 3A - Arts
- 3B - Humanities
- Area 4: Social and Behavioral Sciences (6 Units)
- Area 4 Course - Lower Division
- Area 4 Course - Lower Division
- Area 5: Physical and Biological Sciences (7 Units)
- 5A - Physical Science
- 5B - Biological Science
- 5C - Laboratory
- Area 6: Ethnic Studies (3 Units)
- Area 6 Course
- Upper Division Courses: (9 Units)
- Area 3 Course - Upper Division
- Area 4 Course - Upper Division
- Area 2 OR Area 5 Course - Upper Division
Total Units: 43
To help you complete your degree in a timely manner and not take more units than absolutely necessary, there are ways to use single courses to meet more than one requirement (overlap). For further information, please visit the General Education page.
Note: There is no way to list all possible overlaps so please consult with a professional advisor.
Graduation Requirements
- English Composition II
- Race and Ethnicity in American Society (RE)
- Foreign Language Proficiency Requirement
To help you complete your degree in a timely manner and not take more units than absolutely necessary, there are ways to use single courses to meet more than one requirement (overlap). For further information, please visit the General Education page.
Read also: Experience Fad's Fine African Cuisine
Note: There is no way to list all possible overlaps so please consult with a professional advisor.
If not satisfied before entering Sacramento State, it may be satisfied in General Education Area C2 (Humanities).
Career Prospects
Pan-African Studies graduates don't just study history - they become the cultural interpreters, policy shapers and community advocates our interconnected world needs. Your deep cultural knowledge becomes your most distinctive professional asset. With 84.8% employment rates and 43% mid-career salary growth.
Career Opportunities:
- Education and Academic Leadership
- Secondary Education Teacher
- College Professor
- Museum Educator
- Curriculum Developer
- Educational Administrator
- Study Abroad Coordinator
- Academic Researcher
- Law and Public Policy
- Attorney
- Policy Analyst
- Paralegal
- Government Relations Specialist
- Legislative Assistant
- Civil Rights Advocate
- Legal Research Specialist
- Government and Diplomatic Service
- Foreign Service Officer
- Federal Policy Analyst
- Cultural Attaché
- Immigration Services Officer
- State Department Specialist
- Intelligence Analyst
- Public Affairs Specialist
- Nonprofit and Community Leadership
- Executive Director
- Program Manager
- Grant Writer
- Community Organizer
- Advocacy Director
- Foundation Program Officer
- Social Services Coordinator
- Media and Communications
- Journalist
- Public Relations Specialist
- Content Creator
- Social Media Manager
- Documentary Producer
- Communications Director
- Cultural Critic
- Business and Consulting
- Management Consultant
- Human Resources Specialist
- Corporate Responsibility Manager
- Market Research Analyst
- Cultural Consultant
- Training Specialist
- Business Analyst
- Arts and Cultural Institutions
- Museum Curator
- Arts Administrator
- Cultural Program Director
- Archivist
- Gallery Director
- Festival Coordinator
- Cultural Historian
Whether you're drawn to the 11% growth in cultural institutions, the $200,000 potential in leadership roles or the intellectual rewards of academic research, your degree provides the foundation for a career that honors both heritage and progress.
Arcadia University's Program
Arcadia University offers an interdisciplinary BA in Pan African Studies with a variety of innovative and intellectually stimulating courses in the Humanities and social sciences. Courses place the history, culture, and advancements of Africa and its diaspora at the center and employ methodologies and theories of Africana Studies to understand both the complex challenges and issues in the field.
This degree program also encourages its students to envision themselves as agents of change, working to understand and address systems of inequity, racism, and violence that affect communities of color all across the Pan African world. Through these studies, our students develop the knowledge and skill sets for graduate-level study and professional careers in fields such as social work, counseling/therapy, law, education, etc.
In addition, exposure to the scholarship of interdisciplinarity ensures that our students develop strong communication and critical thinking skills that will serve them well in any field they enter. There are 52 required credits for the major. This includes five core courses and eight electives. Students may petition the program director to have an alternate capstone course count towards this requirement.
Elective Courses
Students must also complete the following requirements:
- Four 200-level courses
- Four 300-level courses
200-Level Courses
- AH 240 - African American Art History (4 Credits)
- AN 272 - Cultures, Conflict and Power (4 Credits)
- CJ 216 - Mass Incarceration and the Death Penalty (4 Credits)
- EN 219 - Literary Themes and Forms (4 Credits)
- EN 231 - Short Fiction of the African Diaspora (4 Credits)
- EN 244 - B(l)ack to the Future: Black Sci-Fi and Speculative Fiction (4 Credits)
- HS 218 - Modern Africa/South Africa (4 Credits)
- HS 230 - Cultural History of Modern Africa (4 Credits)
- PL 215 - Black Thought and Philosophy (4 Credits)
- PS 225 - Politics of the Developing World (4 Credits)
- PY 209 - Black Child Development (4 Credits)
- SO 230 - Racism: Myths and Realities (4 Credits)
- SO240/PAS240 - African Diasporic Images in the Media (4 Credits)
- SO 280 - The Sociology of AIDS and HIV (4 Credits)
- TH 299 - Theater and the Global Majority (4 Credits)
- US 212 - Where Race Lives, What Race Says (4 Credits)
- US 252 - Black Theater Matters (4 credits)
- US 258 - African American Religious History: From Slavery-Free US 263 Postcolonialism on Screen
300-Level Courses
- CJ 300 - Race, Crime and Justice (4 Credits)
- CJ 310 - Civil Rights, Civil Liberties and the Law (4 Credits)
- CM 358 - World Cinema (3 Credits)
- EN 330 - Cinema of the African Diaspora (4 Credits)
- EN 341 - The (Neo) Slave and Emancipation Narrative (4 Credits)
- EN 372 - Special Studies in Writing (4 Credits)
- FR 306 - Francophone Culture and Civilization (4 Credits)
- FR 310 - French Women Writers and Other Troublemakers (4 Credits)
- FR 315 - Folklore, Fairy Tales, and Ghost Stories From the Francophone World (4 Credits)
- FR 312 - French Caribbean Literature and Culture (4 Credits)
- HS 367 - Global Slavery and Abolition (4 Credits)
- HS 370 - Race in America: Slavery to DuBois (4 Credits)
- IS 320 - Global Poverty and Inequality (4 Credits)
- IS 330 - Social Life of War (4 Credits)
- IS 340 - Law, Disorder and Globalization (4 Credits)
- IS 355 - Environmental Racism (4 Credits)
- PAS 389 - Independent Study in Pan African Studies
- PL 350 - Social Justice (4 Credits)
- PS 370 - International Human Rights
Students are encouraged to take a course with a focus on community engagement or application.
