The Africana Studies Program at Bryn Mawr is an interdisciplinary program that centers the histories, politics, intellectual genealogies, and cultural traditions of Black people throughout the African Diaspora, with an emphasis on the Americas (the Caribbean, Latin America, U.S. South(s), and Global South. Africana Studies explores how racial blackness and its entangled categories, such as gender, sexuality, ethnicity, etc., structure the development of the modern world, including its political economy. The program is especially focused on the study of the histories, politics, intellectual genealogies, and cultural contributions of Black women and Black queer and trans folks, who have been and remain at the forefront of Black liberation movements.

The Africana Studies Program offers instruction in and training from a range of disciplines (Anthropology, History, Literature, Education, etc.). It also offers a broad range of course foci, including anti-Black racism, forced or chosen migration, decolonization, political economy and globalization, performance, cultural analysis, and liberation movements. These lines of inquiry encourage students to understand and appreciate 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 the tools to examine their own positionality, navigate systems and institutions, and to effect change in the world around them.

The Minor in Africana Studies at Bryn Mawr College trains students to think critically, write analytically, and engage expansive theoretical and methodological frameworks. Our course offerings, pedagogical commitments, and theoretical underpinnings are grounded in the study of and value for Black Queer Feminisms in their various iterations and locations.

2026-2027 Africana Studies Steering Committee

Alex Alson (Literatures in English)
Darlyne Bailey (Social Work and Social Research)
Ignacio Gallup-Diaz (History)
Lela Aisha Jones (Dance)
Min Kyung Lee (Growth and Structure of Cities)
C.C. McKee (History of Art)
Tamarah C. Moss (Social Work and Social Research)
Kalala J. Ngalamulume (History & Health Studies)
Monique Reene Scott (History of Art and Museum Studies)
Chanelle Elizabeth Wilson (Education Studies)

Minor Requirements

The requirements for a minor in Africana Studies are the following:

Students are encouraged to begin their work in the Africana Studies Program by taking any one of six gateway courses:

Course List

Code	Title	Units
HIST B102	Introduction to African Civilizations	1
AFST H101	Introduction to African and Africana Studies	1
AFST B202	Black Queer Diaspora	1
AFST B204	#BlackLivesMatterEverywhere	1
AFST B206	Black Latinx Americas: Movements, Politics, & Cultures	1
AFST B234	Advancing Racial Justice: Engaging with Community Organizat	1
AFST B300	Black Women's Studies	1

The required gateway course provides students with an intellectual experience in multiple disciplines as well as the foundations for subsequent courses in Africana Studies. The course should be completed by the end of the student’s junior year.  Students may not count core courses twice. Any additional core course will count as a general elective

• Five additional semester courses:
  • Courses must be selected from at least two different departments and divisions.
  • Chosen from an annual Bryn Mawr-approved list of courses at Bryn Mawr, Haverford, Penn, or Swarthmore, or by permission of the Bryn Mawr Africana Steering Committee.
  • At least three of these courses must be taken at Bryn Mawr or Haverford.
  • One course from studying away may fulfill this requirement if approved in advance by the Steering Committee.
  • At least one of the additional courses should normally be at the 300-level.
  • Units of Independent Study (403) may be used to fulfill this requirement.
  • Only two courses of these five Africana Studies courses may overlap with courses taken to fulfill requirements in the student’s major.
• Students are encouraged to organize course work along prototypical routes:
  • Regional or area studies; for example, focusing on Black people in Latin America, the English-speaking Caribbean or North America.
  • Thematic emphases; for example, exploring class politics, conflicts and/or economic development in West and East Africa.
  • Comparative emphases; for example, problems of development, governance, public health or family and gender.
  • The student should indicate the proposed focus of the minor in writing at the time of registration for the minor.
• Capstone experience:
  • Should consolidate or synthesize the student’s focus in the minor (e.g. a thematic or comparative emphasis).
  • Constitutes a sixth course or its equivalent.
  • Can be satisfied by taking a capstone course at the 300-level within the major or another field.
  • If the department in which the student is majoring requires a thesis, the Africana Studies requirement can be satisfied by writing on a topic related to the minor that is approved by the student’s department; if the major does not require a thesis or the student does not choose to write a thesis, a seminary project may be substituted formulated within the framework of a capstone course or as an independent study project.

 We also encourage our Minors to also take the following cross-listed courses as part of their academic training in the field of Black Studies:

Course List

Code	Title	Units
ARCH B101	Introduction to Egyptian and Near Eastern Archaeology	1
ARTD B138	Hip Hop Lineages	0.5
ENGL B247	Introduction to 20th Century African American Literature	1
ENGL B372	Black Ecofeminism(s): Critical Approaches	1
EDUC B200	Community Learning Collaborative: Practicing Partnership	1
EDUC B266	Geographies of School and Learning: Urban Education Reconsidered	1
HIST B243	Topics: Atlantic Cultures	1