Niagara University Reintroduces Minor In Africana/Black Studies
A reconfigured academic minor at Niagara University focuses on the study of the diaspora of African-descended people and cultures.
Launched this fall, the sequencing of courses for the Africana/Black studies minor includes areas of study on the History of Africa, The African-American (USA and Canada) experience (both historically and in contemporary times), Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Hispanic, and other cultures and descents of African peoples.
The program’s interdisciplinary offerings range across traditional fields of sociology, criminology, history, literature, political sciences, law, communications and education.
“Programs like the Africana/Black studies minor demonstrate the power of Niagara University by effectively engaging our students in the community in accordance with our Vincentian mission and values,” noted Dr. Michael J. Durfee, assistant professor of history and director of the Africana/Black studies minor. “At the same time, these young people are provided with a multidisciplinary and comparative framework through which to explore contemporary domestic problems facing urban communities and nonwhite residents.”
Housed in Niagara’s College of Arts and Sciences and anchored within its history department, the minor will build upon several of the university’s traditional course offerings, which include the Civil Rights Movement, Origins of the Urban Crisis, The War on Drugs, and Mass Incarceration.