Why Africana Study?
Students wondering about Africana Studies should know that the Africana studies program occupies a vital role in not only allowing Africans, African Americans, and Caribbean people inclusion but also providing a way of finding their own voice in defining and expressing their unique cultures. The program also welcomes students of all backgrounds who seek to widen their perspective and gain invaluable insight about the world in which we live.
Africana Studies’ objective is to widen and strengthen knowledge on African and Caribbean cultures, tradition, and values.
To widen knowledge, the program brings to surface realities that have been for ages hidden or misrepresented by ignorance or by malice. The program also helps in understanding contemporary American life and the issues involved in the continued struggle of African Americans to achieve full inclusion in mainstream America. Delving into the African and Caribbean cultures and the African American experience in the United States will provide—within the framework of a liberal art education—insights into African Americans’ substantial contribution to the making of the United States.
To strengthen knowledge, the program reinforces existing knowledge by offering a myriad evidence of the precious value of African Literature and culture as a whole. A wide selection of courses on black experiences throughout the Diaspora is offered from a variety of disciplines in the Humanities.
By connecting the past with the present, the roots with the branches, Africana Studies at Barry virtually connects the two continents and through knowledge will continue to give true credits and honor first to those who have traced the roads, then to those who have built the bridges and now to those who are proudly carrying the torches.