Africana Studies

Meredith M. Gadsby, Associate Professor of Africana Studies; chair

Yveline Alexis, Associate Professor of Africana Studies
Justin L. Emeka, Associate Professor of Africana Studies and Theater
Melissa G. George, Lecturer of Africana Studies and Director of the Afrikan Heritage House
Everett F. Hardy, Assistant Professor of Africana Studies
Caroline B. Jackson-Smith, Professor of Africana Studies and Theater
Darko K. Opoku, Associate Professor of Africana Studies
Charles F. Peterson, Associate Professor of Africana Studies and Director of the Lemle Center
Thomas (Talawa) Prestø, Visiting Assistant Professor of Africana Studies and Dance
Michael B. Roman, Assistant Professor of Africana Studies and Studio Art

Visit the department web page for up-to-date information on department faculty, visiting lecturers, and special events.

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.

Learn more about identity-based program housing supported by the department.

See information about Research, Internships, Study Away, and Experiential Learning (RISE).

Explore Winter Term projects and opportunities.

Majors, Minors, and Integrative Concentrations

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.