African and African Diaspora Studies - Boston College - Chestnut Hill MA

African and African Diaspora Studies from Boston College - Chestnut Hill MA is a Campus Bachelor Area Studies degree that prepares you for a Liberal Arts career. The African and African Diaspora Studies Program (AADS) considers the history, culture, and politics of Africans on the subcontinent and African-descended peoples in the U.S., the Caribbean, South America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Covering a vast historical period and geographical expanse, African and African Diaspora Studies acquaints students with the multiplicity and diversity of the African diaspora and the world in which we all live. Using an interdisciplinary and comparative approach, the program draws on a broad range of methodologies in the Humanities and Social Sciences including those in English, History, Sociology, Philosophy, Theology, and Communications. These diverse methodologies help reveal the deep roots and diverse routes that have shaped African and African-descended peoples and continue to inform their lives today. Three themes are central to the African and African Diaspora Studies Program: Globalization, Intersectionality, and Social Justice. Globalization is as old as the trade in African slaves. Consequently, patterns of travel, labor, trade, commerce and resource extraction have impacted the experiences of African-descended peoples and the peoples they have encountered. AADS courses explore the connections between various geographic regions, cultural traditions, and historical developments that have defined globalization. An intersectional approach emphasizes the fact that race is defined by various identity categories and social locations. Gender, class, color, region, nation, age, sexuality, political ideals, and spiritual beliefs all determine how one experiences and understands racial identity. Intersectionality reminds us that race is not a monolithic or homogeneous category of human experiences; rather history, culture, and various social locations shape how we understand others and ourselves as racialized beings. The history of African and African-descended peoples has, in large part, been defined by the struggle for social justice. the fight for racial equality and against discrimination, sexism, homophobia, and class exploitation has shaped the history of African diasporic peoples. In resisting enslavement, segregation, patriarchy, imperialism, and colonialism, by striving to overturn discrimination in housing, healthcare, employment, religious institutions and families, African and African diasporic peoples have undertaken drives for social emancipation that have challenged all people and all nations to realize their democratic ideals. View more details on Boston College . Ask your questions and apply online for this program or find other related Area Studies courses.