About
We study the cultures of Africa and its diaspora from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. Our course offerings focus on African societies as well as on African-descended communities of the United States,the Caribbean, Latin America, and other African diaspora communities around the world. The faculty of African American and African Studies are all specialists of Africana scholarship but trained in a variety of fields, among these literature, history, sociology, political studies, and anthropology. Our courses are mostly interdisciplinary and designed to integrate scholarship on race, gender, and class. Several of our courses are cross-listed with other units. We offer courses that fulfill the general education requirement as well as the intensive writing requirement.
How You Will Learn
Geared towards both the scholarly and the working world, we aim to produce graduates who are ready for advanced graduate study in the humanities or social sciences. We also aim to produce professionals who can work in a variety of fields that require an understanding of the history and cultures of African and African-descended peoples. This major can be used in a broad array of fields,including education; law; health professions; marketing; journalism; and the arts. We encourage our majors to pursue internships, where they can apply their scholarly knowledge to a particular career. Flexibility is a key characteristic of our program.
Programs
John Keene
Welcome to the Department of African American and African Studies at Rutgers University-Newark.
Our department, which was founded in 1970 as a result of student activism, is one of the oldest departments of African American and African Studies in the nation. We are committed to cultivating and bringing together a diverse community of students, scholars and artists interested in better understanding the experiences and contributions of people of African descent throughout the world.
John Keene
Chair, Department of African American and African Studies
Jan Ellen Lewis
Celebrating her Life and Work
Please join us for an afternoon of tributes and reflections in celebration and remembrance of our beloved Jan Ellen Lewis on Saturday, October 13, from 2pm-4pm.
Featured Course
Race and Ethnicity in the Caribbean and Latin America
This course introduces students to the ways race and ethnicity have shaped societies across the Americas from colonial times to the present.
Contact
175 University Avenue
323 Conklin Hall
Newark, NJ 07102
United States
Featured Course
Black-ish and the Black Middle Class
This introductory-level course will interrogate the meaning of blackness primarily through the optics of the African American middle class.
Faculty
Belinda Edmondson
Professor
John Keene
Professor and Chair of African American and African Studies
Wendell P. Holbrook
Associate Professor
Lauren O’Brien
Teaching Assistant
Alumni Spotlight
Aliya S. King is an award-winning journalist and the author of Platinum.
She is the co-author of Original Gangster and the New York Times bestseller Keep the Faith. Her work has appeared in Vibe, Giant, Uptown, Essence, King, Ms., Us Weekly, and Teen People.