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Bachelor's Degree Programs
Africana Studies

Major in Africana Studies

The Africana Studies major prepares undergraduates for productive local, national and international careers or graduate work. It grounds students in the essential theory and basic information about people of African descent that serves as a foundation of knowledge for advanced study in the discipline. Recognizing the importance of cross-cultural understanding and regional differences of the African experience, it also provides students with a trans-national perspective on the life, history and culture of people of African descent in the United States, Latin America, Canada, the Caribbean Europe, and Africa. To ensure coherence within the overall major, students must also complete one introductory course and one senior seminar capstone course.

Students completing the Africana Studies Bachelor of Arts program will achieve the following:

Know:
  • about a) the general experiences of people of African descent in the United States, the continent of Africa, the Caribbean, South and Central America as well as other areas of the African diaspora and b) the major social, cultural, and historical events, phenomena and figures of Africana life and experience and
  • about the major texts, theories and schools of thought comprising Africana Studies as a discipline, as well as the contemporary issues that face peoples of African descent.
Understand:
  • the intellectual and societal origins, purposes, and challenges of Africana Studies as an academic discipline, including its connections to the historical and present experiences of peoples of African descent.

Be able to:

  • competently demonstrate appropriate methods of inquiry grounded in critical race theory or an African-centered analytical framework to investigate and evaluate topics, texts, artistic productions, events, or phenomena pertaining to the experiences of Africana peoples and
  • effectively demonstrate an ability to research, organize, and produce a well-written paper, or audio-visual project on a selected topic or artistic production, event, or phenomena pertaining to the experiences of Africana people.

The Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Africana Studies (AFRO) requires satisfactory completion of the following:

  • A minimum of 120 credit hours is required for a BA degree from the IU School of Liberal Arts.
  • A minimum cumulative grade point average of 2.0 (C) is required for graduation.
  • A minimum of 30 credit hours must be completed after formal admission to IU Indianapolis.
  • A minimum of 21 credit hours of major coursework must be completed in residence in the IU School of Liberal Arts at IU Indianapolis. Course work completed on an IU-administered or IU co-sponsored Overseas Study program counts as residential credit.
  • A minimum grade of C (2.0) is required in each major course.
  • Once a course has been applied toward one requirement, it cannot be used to satisfy a second requirement, except where explicitly stated otherwise. In addition, except in cases of variable title courses, internships, and other special courses, no course will be counted more than once toward graduation.
  • Students cannot take more than 6 hours of AFRO-A 495: Independent Study, AFRO-A 499:  Community Experience Internship, or AFRO-A 499: Honors Thesis for credit.

IU Indianapolis General Education Core

A list of accepted courses in the IU Indianapolis General Education Core can be found here.

Core Communication (6 credits)

  • ENG-W 131: Reading, Writing, and Inquiry I (3 credits) or ENG-W 140: Reading, Writing, and Inquiry: Honors (3 credits) completed with a grade of C (2.0) or higher

English for Academic Purposes (EAP) sections of ENG-G 131 have been designated for students whose first language is not English.

  • COMM-R 110: Fundamentals of Speech Communication (3 credits)

Analytical Reasoning (6 credits)

  • College math from List A (3 credits)
  • List A or List B (3 credits)

 Cultural Understanding (3 credits)

  • A world language course is recommended

 Life and Physical Sciences (6 credits)

  • A laboratory science component is required

Arts/Humanities and Social Sciences (9 credits)

  • Arts & Humanities (3 credits)
  • Social Science (3 credits)
  • Additional Arts & Humanities or Social Science (3 credits)

Transfer students entering IU Indianapolis from another public university in Indiana who have completed the transferable general education core at their home campus will not need to complete the IU Indianapolis General Education Core.

Liberal Arts Baccalaureate Competencies

First-Year Experience (1-3 credits)

  • SLA-S 100: First Year Success Seminar
  • Other: First Year Seminar from another school at IU Indianapolis

Transfer students with 18 or more credit hours are not required to take this course.

Writing Proficiency (3 credits), completed with a grade of C (2.0) or higher, chosen from the following:

  • ENG-W 230: Writing in the Sciences
  • ENG-W 231: Professional Writing Skills
  • ENG-W 270: Argumentative Writing

Transfer students may satisfy the writing proficiency by completing course work equivalent to ENG-W 230, ENG-W 231, ENG-W 270, or GEWR-UN 200 with a grade of C (2.0) or higher at another campus or institution.

Transfer students with 80 or more transfer credits may petition for exemption from the Writing Proficiency requirement.  Petition available in the Miriam Z. Langsam Office of Student Affairs, Cavanaugh Hall room 401.

Analytical Proficiency (3 credits), chosen from the following: 

  • ECON-E 270: Introduction to Statistical Theory in Economics and Business
  • PHIL-P 208: Causality and Evidence
  • PHIL-P 262: Practical Logic
  • PHIL-P 265: Introduction to Symbolic Logic
  • POLS-Y 205: Analyzing Politics  
  • SOC-R 359: Introduction to Sociological Stats

Analytical Proficiency is in addition to the Analytical Reasoning area in the IU Indianapolis General Education Core. Analytical Proficiency courses may be shared with major requirements if applicable.

Life and Physical Sciences Laboratory

One laboratory science course is required, but may be part of the coursework taken in the IU Indianapolis General Education Core.

Arts and Humanities (3 credits) - Courses in one’s first major field of study cannot be used to fulfill this requirement

100 or 200 level course chosen from the following disciplines

  • American Studies (AMST)
  • American Sign Language (ASL) excluding World Languages courses
  • Classics (CLAS) excluding World Languages courses
  • Communication Studies (COMM-R, excluding COMM-R 110, and COMM-T only)
  • East Asian Languages and Cultures (EALC) excluding World Language courses
  • English-Creative Writing or Writing and Literacy (ENG-W), excluding courses in the Writing Proficiency area.
  • English Literature (ENG-L)
  • Film Studies (FILM)
  • Folklore (FOLK) excluding FOLK-F 101
  • German (GER) excluding World Language courses
  • History (HIST) excluding HIST-H 105, HIST-H 106, HIST-H 108, HIST-H 109, HIST-H 113, HIST-H 114
  • Latino Studies (LATS)
  • Medical Humanities and Health Studies (MHHS)
  • Museum Studies (MSTD)
  • Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS)
  • Philosophy (PHIL)
  • Religious Studies (REL)
  • Spanish (SPAN) excluding World Language courses
  • Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) excluding WGSS-W 105
  • World Languages and Cultures (WLAC)

Social Sciences (3 credits) - Courses in one’s first major field of study cannot be used to fulfill this requirement

100 or 200 level course chosen from the following disciplines

  • Anthropology (ANTH)
  • Communication Studies (COMM-C and COMM-M only)
  • Economics (ECON)
  • English-Linguistics (ENG-Z)
  • Folklore (FOLK)
  • Geography (GEOG)
  • Global and International Studies (INTL)
  • History (HIST) only HIST-H 105, HIST-H 106, HIST-H 108, HIST-H 109, HIST-H 113, HIST-H 114
  • Journalism and Public Relations (JOUR)
  • Latino Studies (LATS)
  • Medical Humanities and Health Studies (MHHS) excluding MHHS-M 201
  • Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS)
  • Political Science (POLS)
  • Psychology (PSY)
  • Sociology (SOC)
  • Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS)

World Language and Perspectives (0-14 credits) - This requirement may be satisfied in one of the following ways:

  1. Completion of second-year proficiency in a single world language.
    1. Languages include:
      1. American Sign Language (ASL)
      2. Arabic (NELC-A)
      3. Chinese (EALC-C)
      4. French (FREN)
      5. German (GER)
      6. Japanese (EALC-J)
      7. Spanish (SPAN)
    2. Second-year proficiency is demonstrated by:
      1. passing the full second-year sequence of courses in a single language or
      2. completing a third or fourth-year course1
  2. Completion of third-semester proficiency in a single world language and one course in History selected from HIST-H 108, HIST-H 109, HIST-H 113, or HIST-H 114.
  3. Completion of first-year proficiency in a single world language; one history course selected from HIST-H 108, HIST-H 109, HIST-H 113, or HIST-H 114; and one course selected from the Global History and Perspectives list:
    1. ANTH-A 104: Intro to Cultural Anthropology
    2. CLAS-C 213: Sport and Competition in the Ancient World
    3. EALC-E 232: China Past and Present: Culture in Continuing Evolution
    4. ENG-L 245: (The Empire Writes Back) Intro to Caribbean Literature
    5. GEOG-G 130: World Geography
    6. HIST-H 108: Perspectives on the World to 1800
    7. HIST-H 109: Perspectives on the World since 1800
    8. HIST-H 113: History of Western Civilization I 
    9. HIST-H 114: History of Western Civilization II
    10. INTL-I 100: Intro to International Studies
    11. LATS-L 228: An Interdisciplinary Look at U.S. Latino/a Identities
    12. POLS-Y 217: Introduction to Comparative Politics 
    13. POLS-Y 219: Introduction to International Relations
    14. REL-R 212: Comparative Religions
  4. Non-English native speaker with approved waiver.

Courses in World Language and Perspectives may also satisfy General Education Core Cultural Understanding. 

          1 Students interested in receiving credit for lower-division language courses, see the section ‘‘Special Credit for Foreign Language Study.’’

Advanced Courses

Students are required to have 42 credit hours in 300-400 level coursework including courses in their major. Of the 42 advanced credits, 9 credit hours must be 300-400 level coursework outside the first Liberal Arts major field of study and from the School of Liberal Arts. Students seeking dual degrees are exempt from completing 9 credits hours in 300-400 level coursework outside their major and from the School of Liberal Arts.

Major Requirements (33 credits)

  • AFRO-A 140: Introduction to African American and African Diaspora Studies (3 credits)
  • AFRO-A 200: Research in African American and African Diaspora Studies (3 credits)
  • AFRO-A 306: Globalization, Struggle and Empowerment in the African Diaspora (3 credits)

Senior capstone course requirement choose from:

  • AFRO-A 495: Independent Study capstone project

Area concentration requirement (9 credits) in one of the following geographical regions:

  • Africa
  • Latin America and the Caribbean
  • North America

The area concentration must include courses from at least 2 different School of Liberal Arts departments and at least 2 courses at the 300 level or higher.

Major elective credits (12 credits) selected from the following Africana Studies program specific and/or School of Liberal Arts department courses

Africa: 3 credits each

  • AFRO-A 152: Introduction to African Studies
  • AFRO-A 306: Globalization, Struggle, and Empowerment in the African Diaspora
  • ENG-L 382: Fiction of the Non-Western World 
  • ENG-L 411: Literature and Society: South African Literature and Society  
  • FREN-F 271: Culture, Colonialism, Conflict and Human Rights
  • GEOG-G 424: Geography of Africa 
  • HER-H 300: Black Visual Artists    
  • HIST-H 227: African Civilizations 
  • HIST-H 421: Topics in African, Asian, or Latin American History: 'Peoples and Cultures of Africa' and 'Modern Africa'  
  • POLS-Y 338: African Politics
  • REL-R 308: Arab Histories
  • REL-R 314: Religion and Racism 

Latin America and the Caribbean: 3 credits each

  • ANTH-E 384: The African Diaspora 
  • ENG-L 245: Introduction to Caribbean Literature 
  • ENG-L 406: Topics in African-American Literature: Anglophone Caribbean Writers
  • ENG-L 406: Topics in African-American Literature: Caribbean Women Writers
  • FREN-F 371: Francophone African and Caribbean Literature
  • GEOG-G 323: Geography of Latin America 
  • GEOG-G 324: Geography of the Caribbean 
  • HIST-F 341: Latin America: Conquest and Empire 
  • HIST-F 342: Latin America: Evolution and Revolution since Independence 
  • REL-R 328: Afro-Diasporic Religions 
  • SOC-R 461: Race and Ethic Relations 

North America: 3 credits each

  • AFRO-A 150: Survey of the Culture of Black Americans 
  • AFRO-A 255: The Black Church in America
  • AFRO-A 303: Topics in African American Studies
  • AFRO-A 305: Black Acting Methods
  • AFRO-A 307: Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Black Playwriting
  • AFRO-A 308: Black Radical Theatre
  • AFRO-A 309: History, Cultural Signifiers and Values of Black Theatre
  • AFRO-A 312: Afrofuturism
  • AFRO-A 316: Women, Race, Culture, and Education
  • AFRO-A 326: Race, Class, and Beauty
  • AFRO-A 327: Black Health and the Humanities
  • AFRO-A 369: The African American Experience
  • ENG-L 370: Black American Writing 
  • ENG-L 406: Topics in African American Literature (varies)
  • HIST-A 355: African-American History I 
  • HIST-A 356: African-American History II 
  • HIST-H 421: Topics in African, Asian, or Latin American History: African Americans in Indiana
  • HIST-H 421: Topics in African, Asian, or Latin American History: Interpreting African American History at Museums and Historic Sites
  • MUS-M 394: Black Music in America 
  • MUS-Z 393: History of Jazz 
  • POLS-Y 325: African American Politics 
  • REL-R 363: African-American Religions 
  • REL-R 370: Islam in America    
  • SOC-R 461: Race and Ethic Relations 

Africana Studies Courses: 3 credits each

  • AFRO-A 106: Perspectives from the African American Diaspora
  • AFRO-A 495: Individual Readings in Afro-American Studies
  • AFRO-A 499: Community Experience Internship
  • AFRO-A 499: Honors Thesis

Africana Studies Courses

Open electives
Candidates for a degree in the IU School of Liberal Arts must complete the IU Indianapolis General Education Core requirements, the baccalaureate competencies, and the requirements of their major department. Usually, students will still need to complete additional hours in order to reach the graduation requirement of 120 credit hours. These remaining credit hours are known as open electives.

Dual Degree Advantage

The Liberal Arts baccalaureate competencies are waived for undergraduate students at IU Indianapolis whose first major is outside the School of Liberal Arts and whose second major is a Bachelor of Arts degree from the IU School of Liberal Arts at IU Indianapolis. Students are only required to complete the courses in their major of choice in Liberal Arts. The IU Indianapolis General Education Core or the Indiana transferable general education core must be successfully completed. Students must complete the degree outside Liberal Arts in order to have the Liberal Arts baccalaureate competencies waived for degree completion. The Liberal Arts baccalaureate competencies are only waived for students who actively pursue and complete another degree program outside of Liberal Arts. Both degrees must be completed at the same time.