This will be the last graduating class of the Afro-American studies program, and chairman Lewis Gordon is thrilled.
That’s because the program is set to achieve department status and a name change to the Africana Studies Department on July 1. The faculty approved the measure at a meeting this month and the Corporation is expected to give final approval during Commencement weekend.
Gordon (left) said the department status is "a commitment of many years for many people," and thanked the faculty for its support. Gordon posted additional comments on the Internet.
The name change reflects an already broadly focused education in the African diaspora, which includes courses offered on people of African descent in North America, the Caribbean, Africa, Latin America and Latin Africa, and the Francophone and Arabic world, Gordon said. The curriculum won’t change much, although the department’s goal is to expand offerings to include courses on the rest of the African continent and people of African descent in Europe and Asia.
One change planned is that the required introductory course, which now focuses on the United States, will switch to one in September 2002 that would look at diaspora connections across regions.
In the long term, Gordon will work toward establishing a graduate program in Africana studies. Because of the rigorous undergraduate program, which is recognized by the academic world, some students are already publishing works at the doctorate level, Gordon said.
"That our graduate students are getting good jobs in academia indicates there is a market for a graduate program," Gordon said.
External reviewers said recently that the program's faculty are leaders in their fields. Works by faculty members Rhett Jones, Paget Henry, Joy James and Gordon have appeared in textbooks and anthologies, and their books are used in many departments and programs across the country and abroad, Gordon said.
"We have a team of people where everyone has made a major mark," said Gordon.
Reviewers said the department leads the fields in Africana thought, philosophy, political and social thought, Caribbean thought, and ranks among the top three in literary theory.
The department focuses on theory, history and the arts. Included among Gordon’s goals for the department is boosting its arts section with the appointment of a faculty member who would direct the Rites & Reason Theater, the oldest black theater in the United States in continuous operation.
This year, there will be 17 undergraduates at Commencement, with about 40 students overall in the program. Some 1,000 students each year have taken Afro-American studies courses that are cross-listed in other departments.