African-American and African Studies

Long before globalism became a trendy concept, the African-American and African Studies program (AAS) was offering students an expansive view of how African experience has shaped international history, politics and culture. Since its inception in 1970, the AAS program has used a large canvas to illuminate the shared history and culture of peoples of African descent in Africa as well as the Americas and Europe. “Our program,” says Scot French, interim director, “is much bigger in scope than one might imagine.”

Like the American Studies major, AAS attracts students who are willing to step outside the traditional disciplines and view the world from new perspectives. Hosted by the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies, the AAS program embraces such disciplines as anthropology, art history, English, environmental sciences, politics, psychology and religious studies. Courses cover topics ranging from black protest literature, plantation economies and colonial politics to American Islam, the health and disease of African-Americans, and cinematic representations of African culture.

The AAS program also gives students study-abroad opportunities in cultures that were affected by the slave trade and that bear the stamp of African influence. “We feel that we’re at the vanguard of studies abroad in South America,” says French. Students can immerse themselves in the culture of Brazil’s Salvador da Bahia, once a major slave-trading port in the South Atlantic. During the six-week Brazilian program, they study Portuguese, attend classes taught by leading Brazilian scholars, participate in local cultural activities and conduct independent research.

“We encourage students to step out of their culture and then look back in,” says French. “Once they do this, they see Richmond, Northern Virginia, Norfolk — the places where they’re from — in the context of a much broader world.”