Black Studies first emerged on college campuses in the midst of the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements of the 1960s. Previously relegated to racially segregated, historically black institutions, Black Studies became a central force in reshaping American higher education. Black Studies has produced a substantive body of interdisciplinary and multicultural scholarship that has challenged standard interpretations of history, culture and race. Today Black Studies is experiencing an unprecedented level of success and acceptance. Several of the nation's finest graduate schools, for example, are offering degrees in Black Studies.

At DePauw, the Black Studies minor is designed to create a space and a process for students and a process for students to interrogate the multiple and shifting cultural, social, and political meanings of blackness historically and contemporarily. African and African-descent communities can be found throughout the world; however, the minor primarily concentrates on exposing students to the history and cultures of Africa and the African Diaspora in the two Americas and the Caribbean. The minor is structured to enable students to investigate: 1)the social and cultural linkages between Africa and the Diaspora and among Diasporan communities; 2) the racial, ethnic and cultural identities in Africa and the Diaspora; 3) power relations in Africa and the Diaspora, especially those related to nation, race and gender.

The Black Studies minor provides an excellent opportunity to pursue a significant supporting field of study. The minor encourages an examination of the critical thought and perspectives of intellectuals of African descent and a search for answers to real problems of daily life that confront Africans and the African Diaspora. The minor is an especially good compliment to majors in anthropology, economics, education, history, religion and sociology.

Requirements for the Interdisciplinary Minor in Black Studies:

Courses that may be chosen for the minor are:

ANTH 151	Human Cultures
ANTH 258	Race & Ethnicity in American Culture
ANTH 259	Afro-American Cultures and Consciousness
ANTH 271	African Cultures
ANTH 272	Caribbean Cultures
ANTH 275	Pacific Island Cultures
ANTH 352	Urban Anthropology
EDUC 300	Multicultural Education
ENG 263	African-American Literature
HIST 109	African Civilizations
HIST 110	Modern Africa
HIST 255	Land and Labor in Africa
HIST 256	African Cultures
HIST 257	Ethnicity and Conflict in South Africa
HIST 275	African-American History
HIST 355	African Nationalism, 1890-1985
HIST 356	African Slavery
HIST 364	Civil War Reconstruction
HIST 367	The Civil Rights Movement
POLS 251	Comparative Politics and Government
POLS 352	Politics of Developing Nations
SOC 237	Racial and Ethnic Relations
SOC 337	Ethnic Conflict

appropriate topics in ANTH 290, 390; HIST 105, 300, 490; REL 270; SOC 201, 410; UNIV 155, 290 or other courses approved by the coordinator.

BLST 100. Introduction to Black Studies (1 course)

Designed as the gateway to Black Studies, this course is an interdisciplinary exploration of the collective experience of blacks in Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the United States. The course seeks to provide students an intellectual framework for engagement in a process of self-discovery and for achieving a more global understanding of the unique ways in which Africans and people of African descent have constituted our world. The course, which introduces important theoretical approaches and builds critical and analytical skills, provides an overview of the historical, socio-economic and cultural dynamics of black life.

BLST 240. Readings in Literatures of the Black Diaspora (1 course)

This course explores the literary expressions of Africans and peoples of African descents as they are found in the Caribbean, Latin America, and in the United States. Works by such writers as Achebe, Ngugi, Kincaid, Walcott, Guillen, Morejon, Reed and Morrison may be included.

BLST 281. History of the Black Experience (1 course)

An exploration of the historical foundations and the development of Black life in Africa and its later diffusion in the Black Diaspora. Its purview will range from pre-colonial dynamics to the more contemporary manifestations of global Black history in North America, Europe, the Caribbean, Central America, Latin America and Melanesia. Topics may include: African cultures before European contact, the slave trade and its impact on Africa and the Atlantic economy, the middle passage, internal migration in Africa and case studies of the creation of Diasporic communities and cultures.

Go to Office of the Registrar Interdisciplinary Minor Page
Go to the Office of the Registrar Minor Page

E-mail questions or comments to: sbates@depauw.edu

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