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Our courses draw on literature, philosophy, history, and many other disciplines to examine African, African-American, and Caribbean/Latin American themes. We also study the social construction of racial differences and its relation to the perpetuation of racism and racial domination.
Department Highlights
The Major
Our majors begin by studying the central debates and problems within our field. They go on to take courses on various Black cultures and to examine the links among them.
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Student Research
Students explore topics such as gender and class issues in diasporic literature; international hip hop dance culture; the use of statistical models in predicting the spread of AIDS in Africa; and representations of Black children in picture books.
From our College Archives
Our History
Founded in the early 1970s in response to student protests and demands, we explore issues of race and the cultural connections between Africa and the Black diaspora. (Pictured: Amherst's first black faculty member, Professor James Q. Denton.)
From our College Archives
After Amherst
Our majors go on to careers in education, business, medicine, law and other fields in which an understanding of racial and cultural differences is important. Many complete graduate programs at top national research institutions.
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Scholar-in-Residence
Each year, through the Charles Hamilton Houston Scholar-in-Residence program, we invite an important intellectual in the field to campus for a week to deliver a lecture, direct a faculty seminar and participate in the intellectual life on campus.
2023 Senior Reception & Commencement
Enjoy some photos from the 2023 Black Studies’ Senior Reception & Commencement ceremonies, which took place in May 2023.
Family Weekend 2022
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Black Studies Courses
Current Courses
BLST 134
Hip Hop History
Description
This course examines the cultural origins of hip hop and how this small, minority, Bronx-based subculture expanded into one of the most influential styles of music in the world.
BLST 253
Building Colonial Cities
Description
In this course, we will examine the global diffusion of the Creole architectural typology, from its emergence in the Spanish Caribbean to its florescence in British and French India.
BLST 416
Econ of Race and Gender
Description
In this class, we will employ an applied microeconomics perspective to try to understand the hierarchies and operation of race and gender in society.
Featured Article
The BREHA Collective
The Black Feminist Reproductive Justice, Equity & HIV/AIDS Activism (BREHA) Collective is a new interdisciplinary lab that foregrounds the experiences, labor, and political visions of Afro-Diasporic girls, women, and gender-diverse people in our shared and divergent struggles against reproductive injustice.
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