Mission Statement
The Department of Africana Studies is an intellectual community and academic unit committed to producing, refining and advancing the holistic knowledge of Black people in the United States, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe and Africa from a culturally relevant perspective. Our mission is to advance and broaden ideas set forth in the department’s founding document in 1969 that seeks to promote the rich, dynamic and enduring nature of the African world experience through a comprehensive curriculum and innovative modes of teaching, research and learning. To this end, we are committed to providing students with a learning environment that critically examines Africana history, politics, literature, culture, arts, media and values. Our major goal relating to this mission is twofold: to investigate areas of the Black experience that have been marginalized, neglected or distorted by white supremacy and racial oppression, and, through this effort, to identify and appreciate the historic achievements, challenges and substantive contributions of peoples of African descent to world civilization and culture.
About the Department
The Africana Studies major and minor consist of course sequences and concentrations within an interdisciplinary curriculum (including history, political science, literature, cultural studies, psychology, social science, urban education, religion and others) that provide students with intellectual training in understanding and analyzing both the broad range of the African-American experience in the United States and issues of the African diaspora. The department encompasses university-trained social scientists and humanists from the major academic disciplines. For more information, please visit the Africana Studies department website.
Academic Advisement
Seeking academic advisement is essential to academic success and timely graduation. Academic advisement is available to students through the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences Student Services Center/EOP Satellite. Please call (818) 677-2658 to schedule an appointment.
Careers
After graduating, Africana Studies majors have attended law school or graduate schools in various academic fields. Many become educators, social workers, entrepreneurs and government employees, or they work in media and entertainment fields. Typical immediate employment options for Africana Studies graduates include social media managers, museum directors, publishing editors, urban planners, community development program directors or assistants, researchers, managerial trainees, retail sales associates, K-12 teachers, graduate school instructors and/or research assistants and more. For additional information regarding Africana Studies-related career options, consult the Africana Studies department.
Clubs and Societies
Africana Studies faculty work with and/or advise various student organizations, including:
- African Student Organization (ASO)
- Black Leadership Council (BLC)
- Black Male Scholars (BMS)
- Model African Union Club (MAU)
- NAACP Student Organization
- Sistahood
- The Black Male Initiative (BMI)
- The Black Student Union (BSU)
- The CSUNaturals
- WISDOM
Scholarships
The department offers the James Bracy Memorial Scholarship annually to assist promising students in Africana Studies, who demonstrate a financial need, but who also have career goals aimed at uplifting underserved communities of African descent. This scholarship was established in Fall 2014 by the department in memory of Dr. James Bamidele Bracy, who was a faculty member in the department from 1981 until his death in 2014. For application information, contact the office at (818) 677-3311 or visit the Department of Africana Studies website.
Contact
Department of Africana Studies
Chair: Marquita Gammage
Santa Susana Hall (SN) 221
(818) 677-3311
africanastudies@csun.edu