Introduction To African American Studies

Dedicated to the histories, cultures, and political movements of black communities across the United States and the wider African Diaspora, African American Studies at Emory University pursues academic excellence and social responsibility through interdisciplinary scholarship, transformational pedagogy, and engagement with local, national, and international communities of African descent. In keeping with these dual commitments, the department changes the focus and broadens the vision of students in their explorations of human experience, history, literature, culture, and politics. The department prepares students for work, life, and the realities and responsibilities of twenty-first century global citizenship through an interdisciplinary approach to liberal arts education. AAS creates learning communities characterized by introductory, advanced, and integrative forms of learning. Students have numerous opportunities to participate in first-year seminars, lectures, writing-intensive courses, undergraduate research experiences, diversity curriculum, and capstone courses and projects. Here, faculty and students work collaboratively in the democratic pursuit of greater understandings of politics, culture, social movements, and society; of knowledge, ethics, evidence, and interpretation; and of the past and present as both means and ends.