Africana Studies

Charles F. Peterson, Associate Professor of Africana Studies and Director of the Lemle Center; chair

Yveline Alexis, Associate Professor of Africana Studies
Pamela E. Brooks, Associate Professor of Africana Studies
Talise A. Campbell, Visiting Assistant Professor of Africana Studies and Dance
Preston D. Crowder, Visiting Assistant Professor of Africana Studies and Theater
Samantha Davis, Visiting Assistant Professor of Africana Studies and Politics and Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow
Justin L. Emeka, Associate Professor of Africana Studies and Theater
Meredith M. Gadsby, Associate Professor of Africana Studies
Caroline B. Jackson Smith, Professor of Africana Studies and Theater
Darko K. Opoku, Associate Professor of Africana Studies
Candice Raynor, Lecturer of Africana Studies and Director of Afrikan Heritage House
Michael B. Roman, Assistant Professor of Africana Studies and Studio Art

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The Department of Africana Studies at Oberlin College is a multidisciplinary program of study that seeks, through the humanities and social sciences, to explore key aspects of the Black experience in a systematic and structurally integrated fashion. Its broad educational purposes are to engender among all students an intellectual appreciation of life, culture, and history in Africa, the Americas, and the diaspora; to enrich the Oberlin College curriculum; and to increase the relevance of an Oberlin education to a culturally diverse world. Thus, the department strives to provide the general student body with substantive knowledge of the Africana experience and to provide majors with a range of critical, intellectual, artistic, and evaluative skills useful in any of their future pursuits. The department is aided in its efforts by the Afrikan Heritage House, which serves as the college’s African diasporan communal and cultural center.

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Majors and Minors

Curriculum

The Africana studies department curriculum offers extensive study of the Black experience in a diasporic setting, including but not limited to, Africa, North America, and the Caribbean. These offerings are arranged in three categories: introductory, intermediate, and advanced. All introductory courses are open without prerequisite, except as indicated in the course description. AAST 101 and other beginning courses may serve as prerequisites to all intermediate and advanced courses.

Private Reading Courses in the Department

Students may schedule an Africana studies private reading course during their junior or senior years.
No more than one Africana studies private reading course may be taken in any one semester.
No more than two Africana studies private reading courses may be taken during a student’s undergraduate program.