Black Studies (BLST) is an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approach to studying and understanding the experiences of African and African-descended peoples. The Minor in Black Studies explores the cultures, histories, philosophies, experiences, and multiple ways of knowing engaged in by people of African descent globally. The term “Diaspora” encompasses Africa and the Global Diaspora, the focus of the minor.

The Minor in Black Studies is intended for any student with an interest in the world - locally or globally - regardless of their major or intended career path. The skills of interdisciplinary critical analysis that it seeks to foster are widely applicable and increasingly desirable across a range of careers: as an artist, author, curator, diplomat, educator, journalist, lawyer, linguist; or in the fields of business, community organizing, health care, health science, human resources, government, international relations, nonprofit management, politics, or social work. If the student is considering pursuing graduate study, including a teaching credential, MA, or PhD, the student will find the minor of particular benefit.

Program Learning Outcomes

Students graduating from the Black Studies program will be able to:

• Describe culturally-specific differences within and across Black communities, including different experiences related to class, national status, ethnicity, gender, race, religion, language, and sexuality.
• Summarize and deconstruct the ideas of major thinkers who have influenced Black Studies in the past and present. 
• Analyze the histories; artistic, expressive, and digital cultures; and cultural production of people of African descent in Africa and throughout the Diaspora.
• Examine foundational theoretical questions informing Black Studies.
• Understand the concepts of diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and anti-racism and the historical  and contemporary movements by Black people to resist systemic structures and practices that decrease these concepts in lived experience.
• Examine the intersections of identity as a central theme of Black Studies, including but not limited to intersections of gender; race; sexuality; class; and national, migrant, immigrant, or citizen status.  (B)
• Identify and critically analyze the concerns of African-descended peoples.
• Identify, locate, evaluate, synthesize and present current research and information on issues informing contemporary Black Life in Africa, in the Americas, and across the Diaspora.
• Review, reflect on, and apply the major theories, concepts, and methodologies of Black Studies across a variety of disciplines.
• Facilitate an understanding of identity and lived experience in relation to key historical dynamics and contemporary issues that affect Black communities.
• Co-create experiential, interactive, collaborative, and community-based educational experiences with students that engage diverse types of learners and pedagogical approaches; facilitate students’ holistic development; and integrate film, writing, podcasting, blogging, video production, and other multimodal pedagogical methodologies to engage diverse types of learners.

Summary of Units: