African and african diaspora studies

The Minor in African and African Diaspora Studies is designed for students interested in the cultures and experiences of the peoples of African descent on the continent and elsewhere. The goal of the minor program is to emphasize the importance of Africa and people of African descent in world cultural, economic, and social developments, and to provide a balance between language, humanistic, historical, and contemporary study. The minor includes study of economic and political systems as they reflect the African continent and areas of the African diaspora, and the histories, languages, and literatures of Africans and peoples of African descent elsewhere. All of Africa falls within the geographical scope of the minor. A student may concentrate on a particular region or on any of the broad groupings of African cultures, such as Arabic-speaking, Anglophone, Francophone, or Lusophone Africa. Equally, a student choosing to focus on the African diaspora may concentrate on any group of African-descended populations in the Americas. Students focusing on either principal area (Africa or the African diaspora) must also take at least one subject which deals with the other area or with interactions between them. The minor consists of six subjects (at least three of which must be MIT subjects), arranged in four areas of study: Subjects about Africa and the African diaspora, as well as subjects in indigenous African languages, are also available from Harvard University and Wellesley College through cross-registration. Students must receive permission from the minor advisor prior to registering for a class at another institution.  Five of the six subjects taken for the minor may be counted toward the eight-subject HASS Requirement. Of these five, at most one may count toward the distribution component of the HASS Requirement. Of the six subjects required for the minor, at least four cannot be counted toward a major or another minor . Students are...