African and African Diaspora Studies

The African and African Diaspora studies minor is designed to help students explore, examine, and critically analyze the African presence in a global context. Students learn how to investigate the agency, experiences, and movements of African and African Diaspora people that span time and place and bridge academic disciplines. The minor is a cross-disciplinary study area with course offerings in anthropology, sociology, economics, history, political science, fine arts, literature, language, psychology, and philosophy that address the black experience in Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America and the United States.

St. Mary's Project (SMP)

Projects in the African and African Diaspora program are often influenced by multiple disciplines and reflect research or experiences from a student's study abroad or internship. Recent examples include:

• The image of Africa in the western media
• The effects of tourism on conservation: A community's response to the changes at the Katchikally sacred crocodile pool
• The politics of ethnicity and religion in the Senegambia
• Afrocentricity and philosophy
• The negative relationship between the civil rights movement (1950-1970) and blaxploitation films

Travel Abroad

Students in the AADS minor are encouraged to travel abroad for academic experience based upon their major. Many students choose to participate in the well established St. Mary's program in The Gambia. Students have the option of participating in field schools, internships, and independent research supported by St. Mary's faculty and the University of The Gambia.

Life After St. Mary's

The African and African Diaspora minor provides excellent preparation for a future in foreign affairs, notably in the U.S. foreign service, various international organizations, in the private sector, or advanced academic study in a number of disciplines.

Special Opportunities

The African and African Diaspora program brings many guest lecturers and artists to campus. The program has hosted writer-scholars from Nigeria, Kenya, and Brazil as well as artists from Puerto Rico. Other distinguished guests have included Nobel Laureate in Literature, Wole Soyinka as well as the President of the Gambia, Yahya Jammeh.

For more information, visit the African and African Diaspora Department Web site at
http://www.smcm.edu/africandiaspora/