Connecticut College has an Africana Studies program. Though not well known, it is by no means new. It has been on the books for years and is being resuscitated now because, as Africana Studies major Maurice Tiner ’17 said, “It needed to happen.” He explained, “Students wanted to be able to say that I graduated with an Africana Studies major or minor, and I took these classes. … [There was a] want and need for the major … to be here for students to take advantage of.”
The discipline of Africana Studies itself arose from the same need. It “came out of a historical moment in the 1960s and 1970s when students, black students, were demanding a curriculum that addressed their needs,” said Courtney Baker, Professor of English and the director of the Africana Studies program. The field is “interdisciplinary by nature,” combining “cultural studies and historical analysis, the arts and social sciences.” At Conn, this includes the following departments: Anthropology, Sociology, Philosophy, Art History, Dance, Music, Hispanic Studies, English, French, Film Studies, Economics, Education, Government, History and Human Development. Geographically, Professor Baker said, Africana studies is “global, covering … everywhere … black people exist.”
This breadth is due to the purpose of the major: to examine “the complexity of black existence,” as Nathalie Etoke, Professor of French and Africana Studies, said. She emphasized that “race is not a conversation. It’s the practice of daily life. … It’s life.” She said, “As long as you can produce culture,” one object of study in Africana Studies, “you’re producing life – and you are praising life in spite of everything.”
The discipline “centers the experiences of black people, our cultural productions, and takes race, in particular blackness, as a serious critical lens and object of study,” said Professor Baker. It is political, “deeply connected to the politics of black life, both nationally and internationally.” Africana Studies necessarily grapples with the question of “what it means to study black life in higher education.”
Daryl Brown ’17 offered one answer to this question, saying, “I think it could bring a new perspective to all students. When I got to college I felt I was cheated in high school [because] there was some information that was omitted and … [that] I wasn’t exposed to.” Africana Studies, he said, “can provide exposure and … develop new perspectives – or better perspectives – about America [and] the world.” The field is in some ways a challenge to Eurocentrism, recognizing that Eurocentrism, though it is often “taught like it [is] the foundation of all history,” is not “the only way to go.” It is “just one section of history,” Brown said.
The foundational course for the major is Africana Studies 201: Intro to Africana Studies. For Olivia Dodd ’17, now an Africana Studies major, the course “was the first time that I had been acutely aware of how much history I had not been taught.” As she said, “This is the continent where humankind came from. … Why don’t I know anything about it?” In the course, she began to understand “that there are so many points of view and a lot of points of view that you will be able to hear and you won’t be able to hear” depending on your perspective. The discipline “introduces you to … what has always been there but what people don’t really see.”
Brown provides one example of this. Learning about ancient African history, he said, he realized how significant the influence of Africa has always been: from how different cultures organize families, to the practice of circumcision; he emphasized that the African diaspora introduced practices that are “a huge part of multiple cultures.” As Professor Etoke said, “If people study the history, they will understand that what’s happening today is not new.”
“Sometimes,” Brown said, Africana Studies is “treated as if, ‘Oh, that’s the black stuff. It doesn’t have any connection to me,’” That is incorrect. Each of us “[is] irrelevant if [we] can not relate to … other people,” as Professor Etoke said. Africana Studies is “not just for black students,” David Canton, Professor of History and Interim Dean of Institutional Equity and Inclusion said. “It’s for all students.” And “it’s like any other major.” Brown said, “I would like Africana Studies to be held at the same validity as any other [major].” Brown spoke the frustration of feeling that his major was being trivialized.
Brown acknowledged a greater student demand than he initially expected, however. “When they introduced this, I thought it was just going to be me and all the other black kids.” But the major has a wider draw. There were “tons of people interested in minoring and majoring,” a result, Brown said, that “shows … how the campus feels.” And he’s holding out for even more students. “I’m sure it’s more students. I bet you some students don’t even know we have Africana Studies … and are interested.”
The major is here out of need, but what does it mean to study Africana Studies at Conn? The “much-desired” and “urgently-needed” program is in part a response to lived realities, Professor Baker said. “We’re in a historical moment,” in the U.S., the world, and on this campus, “where black lives and black dignity are under siege in many ways.” And “the course of study [teaches] students … [to understand] a core configuration of the world, which is a racial configuration, and explores that globally,” she said. The existence of a major validates that work. Africana Studies “provides a space and a format for students, faculty and staff who are already working on this, and who want to work on this, to collaborate.” The results are impressive. “If you create spaces, focused spaces, where students, faculty, and staff can gather to talk about and learn about an area of interest, that those conversations can often operate at an extremely high level and be completely fascinating and genuinely productive,” she said.
About the College’s support for the major, Professor Baker said, “We’re in talks … with [the administration] to get a clear indication of the institution’s investment in the program.” Alumni and trustees are helping in this process, “[getting] involved in strong calls for the administration to invest in the work of developing curricular and social resources for black students, faculty and staff on campus,” she said. Investing in Africana Studies is in line with the College’s rhetoric about interdisciplinary and full participation. Both Professor Baker and Dean Canton singled out the Africana Studies program for the inclusiveness of its faculty representation. “We have the most diverse faculty representation of any program or department on campus,” Professor Baker said. Tiner said that Connecticut College “should be … proud” to support an Africana Studies program.
The students and faculty are excited about the future of Africana Studies at Conn. “I see a great future ahead of us,” Brown said. “I imagine in … ten years this is a huge department. … I think this is going to go into Connecticut College’s history. Because my passion for this I definitely see in a ton of freshman. … People have this passion. Black, White, Latino, whatever, they have this passion.”
Meanwhile, Africana Studies 201, which is open to majors and non-majors, will continue to be taught. Sign up for this spring.
