Africana Studies

College of Ethnic Studies
Dean: Kenneth Monteiro

Department of Africana Studies
EP 103
415-338-2352/1054
Chair: Dorothy Tsuruta

Faculty

Professors—Head, Nobles, Obenga, T'Shaka, Tsuruta, Yansane

Associate Professor—Ginwright, Richards

Assistant Professor—Akom

Lecturers—Black, Brown, Casey, Cavil, Hubbard, Shakir, Stewart

Programs

B.A. in Africana Studies
Minor in Africana Studies


Program Scope

The Black Studies Department at San Francisco State University was the first Black Studies Department established on a four-year college campus in the United States. The birth of Black Studies at SFSU in 1968 was, in fact, inspired by student-led opposition to the then Western intellectual hegemony and racist scholarship that characterized the limitations found in traditional approaches to college education. In 2005, the Black Studies Department at SFSU changed its name to the Africana Studies Department.

Every student should know about the unparalleled and unmatched contributions African and African American people have made to human civilization. These contributions include the formulation of the first system of government for a territorial state; creation of the foundations of science, mathematics, and advanced technology; the first written script, the foundations of philosophy and psychology; the building of the great pyramids and such modern inventions as the first electric light filament, the cotton gin, the first gas mask, the double effect evaporator, and the first design of a three stage rocket capable of interstellar flight. In studying Africana studies, students are able to learn about, critique, and be inspired by the accomplishments of African men and women who shaped and are shaping the moral conscience, artistic genius, scientific and technical achievements, and political activism of their time.

The Department of Africana Studies at SFSU has continued to be in the vanguard of the intellectual discourse pertaining to domestic and global freedom and development of African people throughout the world. The maturation of the discipline has resulted in new and innovative alternatives to the traditional paradigms of oppression and exclusion. In addition to learning aspects of human history that have been hidden and/or stolen, when students study Africana studies they learn how to recognize and challenge intellectual hegemony and racist science. The discipline of Africana studies not only provides students with the experience of challenging traditional Western orthodoxy, but also gives them an opportunity to explore new and alternative paradigms and theories. In Africana studies, students acquire and develop an appreciation for both the origins of knowledge, the philosophy of science, and the politics of knowing. Students develop a social character and personal outlook that gives them the ability to contribute to the well-being of themselves and humanity. The Africana studies curriculum is designed to address the needs of the African and African American community as a classroom where lessons can be learned and taught. The discipline of Africana studies prepares students to not only understand the world they live in but to see where the world is wanting and to have the ability and the desire to make it better.

All students majoring in Africana studies are required to complete a program consisting of core courses and electives with emphases in the areas of the humanities and behavioral and social sciences. The core courses (27 units) provide the students with an appreciation of the historical development and intellectual foundation of the discipline as well as the critical knowledge base, intellectual skills, and methodological techniques essential to the field of Africana studies. The courses offered in the emphases (twelve units each) allow the student to gain a deeper intellectual grasp of the field within one of two important emphases.

BACHELOR OF ARTS IN AFRICANA STUDIES

On-line course descriptions are available.

The Bachelor of Arts in Africana Studies includes basic core courses (27 units), an area of emphasis (12 units), and electives on advisement (6 units).

Program Units
AFRS 101 Introduction to Africana Studies 3
AFRS 200 Introduction to Black Psychology 3
AFRS 201 Kemet, Afrocentricity, and the Dawn of Science 3
AFRS 210 Introduction to Africana Literature 3
AFRS 300 From Africa to America 3
AFRS 302 Black Diaspora 3
AFRS 340 Economics of the Black Community 3
AFRS 516 Research Methods 3
AFRS 551 Fieldwork in Africana Studies 3
Total for core 27
Area of Emphasis (listed below) 12
Electives upon advisement from Africana Studies or related area 6
Total for major 45
Black Humanities Emphasis
Units selected on advisement 12
AFRS 221 African American Music: A 20th Century Survey  
AFRS 225 Images and Issues in Black Visual Media
AFRS 301 Africa in Global Perspectives
AFRS 303 African American History
AFRS 400 Black Arts and Humanities
AFRS 411 African and African American Literature
AFRS 440 Black Oratory
AFRS 450 African Philosophy and Cosmology
AFRS 617 Black Dance Experience
AFRS 665 Black Journalism
Black Behavioral and Social Sciences Emphasis
Units selected on advisement 12
AFRS 111 Black Cultures and Personalities  
AFRS 215 Introduction to Black Family Studies
AFRS 301 Africa in Global Perspectives
AFRS 303 African American History
AFRS 310 Anthropology of Blackness
AFRS 320 Black Politics, Mass Movements, and Liberation Themes
AFRS 326 Black Religion
AFRS 330 Sociological Dimensions of the Black Experience
AFRS 370 Health, Medicine, and Nutrition in the Black Community
AFRS 515 Black Family Studies
AFRS 610 Art, Myth, and Religion

MINOR PROGRAM IN AFRICANA STUDIES

Program Units
AFRS 101 Introduction to Africana Studies 3
AFRS 200 Introduction to Black Psychology 3
AFRS 201 Kemet, Afrocentricity, and the Dawn of Science 3
AFRS 210 Introduction to Africana Literature 3
AFRS 300 From Africa to America 3
AFRS 302 Black Diaspora 3
AFRS 340 Economics of the Black Community 3
AFRS 516 Research Methods 3
Total 24