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African Studies

Administrative Information

Undergraduate Adviser: Prof. Rhiannon Stephens, 602 Fayerweather; 854-4160; rs3169@columbia.edu

Program Office: Institute of African Studies, 201 Knox; 854-4633

Interdepartmental Committee on African Studies

Hisham Aidi
    School of International and Public Affairs

Taoufik Ben-Amor
     Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies

George Bond
     Teachers College

Zoë Crossland
     Anthropology

Souleymane Bachir Diagne
     French and Romance Philology; Philosophy

Mamadou Diouf
     History; Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies

Abosede George
     History (Barnard)

Macartan Humphreys
     Political Science

Brian Larkin
     Anthropology (Barnard)

Mahmood Mamdani
     Anthropology; Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies

Gregory Mann
     History

Hlonipha Mokoena
     Anthropology

Rosalind Morris
     Anthropology

Emmanuelle Saada
     French and Romance Philology

Joseph Slaughter
     English and Comparative Literature

Marième Sy
     Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies

Rhiannon Stephens
     History

Zoë Strother
     Art History and Archaeology

 

The African studies program is designed to introduce students to the intensive study of Africa through methodological and theoretical training across disciplines. All students take common core courses, learn an African language, and study or conduct research in Africa. An introductory course develops a critical vocabulary for engagement with Africa and its intellectual history. Interdisciplinary work prepares students to engage with Africa's rich heterogeneity and trains them in the multiple disciplines that compose African Studies as an academic field of inquiry. Training in an African language and study or supervised research on the continent ensures that students develop their skills of analysis in a concrete fashion and on its own terms.
Given the interdisciplinary nature of the program, students are expected to work especially closely with the undergraduate adviser in order to choose appropriate courses for their specialty that satisfy all of the requirements.