Africana Studies

2 students at desks
2 students at desks
The Black Intelligentsia Panel included Dr. Charles McKinney, the Neville Frierson Bryan Chair of Africana Studies at Rhodes, Dr. Ernest Gibson of Auburn College, Dr. Andre E. Johnson of the University of Memphis, and Professor Kiese Laymon of the University of Mississippi. 

The mission of the Africana Studies Program is to understand and appreciate the integral yet distinct experiences of people of African heritage throughout the world. The program’s curriculum aims to emphasize diasporic connections between Africa, the Caribbean and the Americas in an effort to enrich our understanding and appreciation of our complex and diverse world. As such, the program encourages students to seek appropriate ways to integrate content and analysis in this broad subject matter with their work in other disciplines and programs.

The Africana Studies Program at Rhodes brings together disciplines such as sociology, history, and religion to help students understand they are citizens in a world of diverse cultures. 

Spring 2023 Africana Studies Courses and Electives:  

Core Courses in Africana Studies:  

 

AFS 205 Black Queer Thought and Life 

AFS 220: Malcolm, Martin, Baldwin, and America 

AFS 305: Africana Theory 

AFS 485/HIST 405 Black Madness, Mad Blackness: The Psychic Life of Race  

Africana Studies Electives:  

 

ANSO 235: Sociology of the South 

EDU 225: African American Experiences in US public schools 

HIST 105.02 Photography and African American History 

HIST 243 The Civil Rights Movement 

HLEQ 210, Introduction to Health Equity 

INTS 253: Identity Conflict in Africa 

MUSC 118: African American Music  

MUSC 120: History of the Blues  

PLAW 206: Urban Politics and Policy 

RELS 102: The Bible & Black Women’s Experiences 

SPAN 328: The Black Experience in the Hispanophone World 

A young woman intently studying a computer screen.
Resources

The Rhodes library offers a variety of resources for students researching topics in African-American Studies.

Related Links

Faculty & Staff

Cara Djonko-Moore
Associate Professor of Educational Studies
Katherine Clay Bassard
Professor of English and Africana Studies
Charles Hughes
Director of the Lynne and Henry Turley Memphis Center
Justin Rose
Associate Professor of Political Science, Chair
Laura Loth
Associate Professor, Chair of Modern Languages & Literatures, Head of Section - French
Duane T. Loynes Sr.
Assistant Professor of Urban Studies and Africana Studies, Associate Director of Equity & Culture (Institute for Health Equity & Community Justice)
Abou-Bakar Mamah
Assistant Professor - French
Charles McKinney
Neville Frierson Bryan Chair of Africana Studies and Associate Professor of History
Shadrack Nasong'o
Professor of International Studies
Samson Ndanyi
Assistant Professor of History and Africana Studies
Evelyn Perry
Associate Professor of Sociology; Chair, Anthropology/Sociology
Earl Wright II
Professor of Sociology

 

 

Departmental News and Events

head and shoulder image of Rhodes College professor Shatavia Wynn
Dr. Shatavia Wynn, assistant professor of religious and Africana studies, has been chosen for Sacred Writes’ 2023 Carpenter Cohort funded by the Carpenter Foundation and made up of scholars focused on gender and sexuality studies.
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image of college professor Samson Ndanyi
Rhodes College’s Department of History and the Africana Studies Program will present a book launch and discussion of Dr. Samson Ndanyi's Instructional Cinema and African Audiences in Colonial Kenya, 1926 – 1963 (Lexington Books, 2022) on April 25. Open to the campus community, the event begins at 4:30 p.m. in Blount Auditorium.
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image of college professor Charles McKinney
Dr. Charles McKinney, the Neville Frierson Bryan Chair of Africana Studies at Rhodes and associate professor of history, recently was appointed to the Shelby County Historical Commission. In the role, he will help to preserve the history of Shelby County, TN. Members of the commission are nominated by the Shelby County Mayor and approved by the Shelby County Commission to serve four-year terms. Votes by the commission for McKinney’s appointment were unanimous.
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