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Certificate Programs
African Studies
Certificate in African Studies

The Africana Studies Program offers an 18-credit hour Certificate in African Studies designed to provide undergraduate students with an overview and understanding of both historical and contemporary perspectives on the lived experiences of the peoples and cultures of Africa. The curriculum provides students with a wide breadth of knowledge pertaining to the approaches used in the study of Africa in terms of its history, development, politics, culture, religion, health, environment, resources, growth, and economies. The Certificate in African Studies enables students to supplement their instruction in their major discipline with a concentration on African Studies. Alternatively, the Certificate provides additional preparation for students currently pursuing pre-med, pre-dentistry, nursing, business, engineering, and law degrees, who may envision a future career working in Africa.

Student Learning Outcomes

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.

Admission to the Certificate program in African Studies (AFRO) requires the following:

  • 55 credit hours earned towards a degree at IU Indianapolis
  • At least a cumulative GPA of 2.5
  • to declare the certificate, complete the School of Liberal Arts online declaration form here

The Certificate in African Studies (AFRO) requires satisfactory completion of the following:

  • Completion of a total of 18 credit hours, with a minimum grade of C in each course.

Certificate Requirements:

Core courses (6 cr.):
  • AFRO-A 152: Introduction to African Studies (3 cr.)

AND

  • AFRO-A 200: Research in African American and African Diaspora Studies (3 cr.)

OR

  • AFRO-A 495: Individual Readings in African American and African Diaspora Studies (1-3 cr.)

Electives (12 cr.), choose four courses from the following:

  • AFRO-A 306: Globalization, Struggle, and Empowerment in the African Diaspora (3 cr.)
  • ANTH-E 384: The African Diaspora (3 cr.)
  • ENG-L 382: Fiction of the Non-Western World: 20th Century African Literature (3 cr.)
  • ENG-L 411: Literature and Society: South African Literature and Culture (3 cr.)
  • FREN-F 271: Cultures and Border Crossings (3 cr.)
  • HIST-H 227: African Civilization (3 cr.)
  • HIST-H 421: Topics in African, Asian, or Latin American History: Peoples and Cultures of Africa or Modern Africa (3 cr.)
  • POLS-Y 338: African Politics (3 cr.)
  • REL-R 308: Arab Histories (3 cr.)
  • REL-R 328: Afro-Diasporic Religions (3 cr.)