Africana Studies

The Africana Studies Program is an interdisciplinary program that prides itself on offering courses that examine Africanness and Blackness in a globalized world. The program offers students the ability to explore Africana and Diasporic study through a wide range of perspectives such as anthropology, economics, education, history, history of art, international studies, language, literary studies, performance and visual studies, political science, sociology, and social work, among others. 

Mission

The Africana program values a range of research and course foci, including forced or choiced migration, decolonization, political economy and globalization, anti-Black racism, institutional power, oppression, heritage, joy, resistance, and liberation. These topics encourage students to appreciate and critique the multiplicity of what Blackness is, while creating visions for all that it can be. We are committed to speaking truth to power and working to redistribute power equitably and justly, ensuring that students have tools to examine their own positionality, navigate systems, and effect change.The interdisciplinary nature of our program affords students the opportunity to experience a vast exploration of the lives, knowledge systems, and cultures of Africa and African descendants throughout the world.

Vision

The Africana Studies Program envisions our future as:

• creating and building communities of inquiry of the African continent and Diaspora, within and beyond Bryn Mawr College
• leading anti-racist thought, action, and education on campus
• holding space for criticality, challenging power structures, engaging multiple perspectives, and developing awareness and tools for liberation
• sparking an interest and commitment to continued study of African and Diasporic topics 

Guiding Principles

• Africanness and Blackness are not monolithic: the ways we explore and influence the Diaspora add to its existing diversity 
• Working as a community of critical thinkers who allow diverse opinions and ways of knowing to aid and inform our understanding and action 
• Accepting our shared common humanity as a basis for inclusion and respect
• Being conscious of the ways that African and Diasporic languages and dialects hold value, meaning, and power
• Encouraging, engaging with, and supporting a range of creative expression, inquiry, and thought 

Africana Studies extends far beyond the classroom.

Students participate in study abroad programs in Ghana, Zimbabwe, Senegal, and Capetown, and take praxis courses to engage in experiential learning in communities closer to home. Their projects often develop into critical and ongoing resources for the whole college community, such as the Black at Bryn Mawr digital archive and A Point of Difference, an exhibit on the experiences of Bryn Mawr students, faculty, and staff from Africa and the African Diaspora.

Africana Studies students also benefit from a wide variety of academic, intellectual, and social resources at Bryn Mawr College, including The Enid Cook '31 Center, and in the surrounding area, such as the unique African American Museum in Philadelphia.

To discuss your plan of study, ideas for special projects and summer work, and other aspirations, please contact the program director.