Black Studies

Black Studies majors learn in many ways.  For a start, all majors take an introductory course (BLST 111) that familiarizes them with some of the central debates and problems within the field:  Is there such a thing as a "Black" experience?  How African is African-American culture?  What kinds of theories can we advance to explain the relationship between race and a range of social and economic indicators?  How have scholars traditionally understood the connections between Africa, the Caribbean and the Americas?  How do issues of gender affect issues of race?  What new insights do postmodern and postcolonial theories offer on all these subjects?  Many of the thematic and disciplinary questions raised in the introductory course are expanded upon in other courses.