The Africana Studies Program gives students of all races, ethnicities, genders, and backgrounds a full understanding of the global linkages between peoples of Africa and other African descended people in the Southwest, the contiguous United States, and throughout the Black Diaspora in Mexico, Latin America, and the Caribbean. As a small, tight-knit department, Africana Studies provides an excellent university experience in a discipline that investigates African descended peoples' experiences from the perspective of their interests, aspirations, possibilities, and envisioned destinies. Course topics include Black identity in the Southwest and Latin America, race and the law, African politics, Colonial educational systems in Africa, Afrofuturism, the Harlem Renaissance, Swahili language, and more.

A Bachelor of Arts degree in Africana Studies is designed to sharpen and develop students’ critical thinking, research, and writing skills through an interdisciplinary approach, and students develop a strong foundation for law school, further academic studies, or anything that involves critical analysis and communication.

Africana Studies is a great compliment to other A&S programs, fine arts majors, business majors, and more, as it offers an analytical lens that can be applied to any other field. Some of the program courses are cross-listed with Political Science, English, Sociology and Criminology, Anthropology, Philosophy, American Studies, Communication and Journalism, among others, allowing students to explore their individual interests within an Africana Studies framework.

Undergraduate Program

UNM Catalog