Why choose
Africana Studies?
It is important to understand the historical context behind today’s social issues and laws.
Chloe Horton | Africana Studies & Law
A digitally focused, multidisciplinary degree program advancing cultural awareness and understanding
The Department of Africana Studies introduces students to the past and present experiences and future prospects of Africa-descended people in the U.S., Africa and Black Diaspora. Explore topics related to history, philosophy, politics, religion, culture, society, literature, and the arts within a welcoming and supportive community of world-class faculty and staff.
Choose From 3 Emphases:
- African American History, Culture, and Aesthetics
- Performance, Media, and Digital Africana Studies
- Comparative Global African Diaspora
Africana Studies Minor
Choose from two minors: a minor in Africana Studies or a minor in hip-hop cultures. Course credits can be earned on campus, online or through our study abroad programs!
Online Degree
Join a program that embraces new technologies and serves as a leader in digital learning. You’ll study under faculty from diverse academic backgrounds, resulting in a rich and exciting interdisciplinary classroom experience.
Double Major
Combining your interests is possible at Arizona. For the same tuition AND same amount of time, you can get a versatile education to make yourself stand out. Our Africana Studies degree pairs well with many disciplines across campus.
I am pursuing a career in music so the hip-hop minor has been vitally important to building my future. There is so much diversity in music nowadays and being able to develop cultural awareness is necessary.
Ayla Ahmad | Music, Minors in Hip-Hop Cultures, Film & Television
Choose from two minors: a minor in Africana Studies or a minor in hip-hop cultures. Course credits can be earned on campus, online or through our study abroad programs!
Join a program that embraces new technologies and serves as a leader in digital learning. You’ll study under faculty from diverse academic backgrounds, resulting in a rich and exciting interdisciplinary classroom experience.
Combining your interests is possible at Arizona. For the same tuition AND same amount of time, you can get a versatile education to make yourself stand out. Our Spanish degree pairs well with many disciplines across campus.
Minor in
Hip-Hop Cultures
The first-ever Minor in Hip-Hop Cultures offers investigation of the origins and development of this global force. The Minor introduces students to the main themes represented in hip-hop cultures: appropriation and defense of spaces, mixing of different cultures, migrations, multilingualism, race, class, gender, religions, sexuality, nationality, politics, economics, and the search for identity.
Meet students who have chosen Africana Studies
Want to learn more about Africana Studies?
Karina M. Rodríguez
Recruitment Director
Want to learn more about Africana Studies?
A degree in Africana Studies provides a dynamic and stimulating education as well as a path to a fulfilling career. Get in touch with Karina, and she can help match the best academic plan for you.
STUDY ABROAD OPPORTUNITIES
Study abroad programs allow you to expand your diversity competency and broaden your perspectives as you observe, participate and get immersed in some of the cornerstones of contemporary Africana experiences around the world.
Global Africana Studies Experience
This trip offers students the unique opportunity to spend 9 days in Paris, France, where they experience key course material come alive!
Center for Digital Humanities
The Center for Digital Humanities employs students across campus and across disciplines in projects that apply technologies like data visualization, digital storytelling, 360-degree immersive video, digital mapping, and virtual and augmented reality to subjects including traditional African dances, Buddhist temples and rituals, ancient writing and languages, religious expression in social media, and more.
Certificate in Caribbean Studies
This program provides students with a solid introduction and broad understanding of the Caribbean region’s cultures, history, languages, literatures, institutions, peoples, and traditions. It was specifically designed for students and professionals who are interested in the Caribbean region and who wish to combine their main area of specialization with a solid background in the new and changing international landscape.
Scholarships
Our department offers or sponsors several scholarships around an array of criteria to enable more opportunities and more experiences to be available to our students.
Center for Digital Humanities
The Center for Digital Humanities employs students across campus and across disciplines in projects that apply technologies like data visualization, digital storytelling, 360-degree immersive video, digital mapping, and virtual and augmented reality to subjects including traditional African dances, Buddhist temples and rituals, ancient writing and languages, religious expression in social media, and more.
Certificate in Caribbean Studies
This program provides students with a solid introduction and broad understanding of the Caribbean region’s cultures, history, languages, literatures, institutions, peoples, and traditions. It was specifically designed for students and professionals who are interested in the Caribbean region and who wish to combine their main area of specialization with a solid background in the new and changing international landscape.
Scholarships
Career Possibilities & Alumni Stories
Our majors have gone on to exciting careers around the world in a wide variety of industries. See what you can do with your degree.
Jeffrey Powell
Jeffrey Powell
B.A. Africana Studies 2013
Director, Economic Development and Research | SUN CORRIDOR
“After graduating in Africana Studies, I moved to Washington D.C. where I worked as a project manager for an international development NGO, working on clean water and sanitation access across Africa. After a couple of years in D.C., I moved back to Tucson where I now work in economic development. My experience in the College of Humanities has had a major impact on my values and my professors played a key role in shaping who I am today.”
Kayli Botiz
Kylie Botiz
B.A. Africana Studies 2017
High School Social Studies Teacher | YES PREP EISENHOWER HIGH SCHOOL
“I teach 11th grade US History and AP US History for one of Houston’s top charter school districts. Studying Africana Studies at the University of Arizona helped me figure out my purpose in life. It allowed me to understand the value of learning and teaching black culture to my peers and to the youth. Without this degree, I do not believe I would be on the career path I am on. I am so grateful to be a graduate of Africana Studies!”
Patricia Ogunmola
Patricia Ogunmola
B.A. Africana Studies 2014
B.A. Linguistics 2014
“Currently, I am a Mitigation Investigator at the Capital Post-Conviction Project of Louisiana, working on a multi-disciplinary indigent defense team. Our office handles all final appeals for those who have received a death sentence, and it is my responsibility to humanize those who may have committed horrendous crimes. I am committed to social justice and human rights, and will continue to do this work until the death penalty is abolished in the United States.”
