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Africana Studies

Africana studies examines the diverse experiences of people of African descent worldwide, focusing especially but not exclusively on African, African American and Caribbean affairs and culture. Using the tools of the social sciences and humanities, we investigate the structures, organizations, problems and perspectives of those of African origin and the African Diaspora.

Our mission is to advance the study and understanding of the historical as well as the contemporary connections among communities with people of African descent.

Experiential learning plays a large role in the Africana studies department, and majors are encouraged to go abroad. Students often spend six weeks at the Ethnographic Field School in Tanzania and in programs across Europe and Africa. Africana studies majors also engage domestic and global communities through Dickinson's Global Mosaics program, interdisciplinary research excursions designed around immersive ethnographic fieldwork. Recent Global Mosaics include "After Genocide and Apartheid" (Rwanda; 2019) and "The African Diaspora" (Cuba; 2018).

Contact Info

Chair

Jeremy BallAssociate Professor of History

Department Coordinator

Kalaya Stroud

Phone

717-254-8383

Fax

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Social Media

Location

Althouse Science Hall - Room G11 Mailing Address

Department Features


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Study Abroad
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Current Courses

Student Outcomes

Where Our Students Go From Here

Jobs

  • AmeriCorps/Vista
  • Teach for America
  • Deloitte
  • TEAM Charter Schools
  • Imagine Scholar
  • Ithaca College
  • NBC Universal
  • St. Thomas More School

Graduate Schools

  • Columbia University
  • State University of New York at Albany
  • University of Massachusetts at Amherst
  • University of Southern California
  • Northwestern University
  • Syracuse University
  • University of Georgia
  • CUNY, Hunter College
  • Georgetown University
  • Teachers College, Columbia University
  • Icahn School of Medicine
  • Johns Hopkins University
  • Fashion Institute of Technology
Where Our Students Have Interned
  • Cumberland County Courthouse
  • Food Trust
  • Dickinson College Archives & Special Collections
  • Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office Internship Program
  • YWCA Carlisle
  • Exploration Schools at Yale University
  • Planned Parenthood Keystone
  • Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation
  • United Way of Pennsylvania
  • Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
  • BRICK Peshine School

Student Perspective

I was the Africana studies/Archives & Special Collections intern for Dickinson. I explored materials in the archives to formulate a cumulative research project. My research was centered around Black student identity and advocacy at Dickinson during the 1960s, but also more generally in America during the time period. I focused on individuals and groups who worked toward changing the discriminatory culture of the school during the time.

—Destiny McFalls ’25 


Student Research

Black Students Organizing @ Dickinson 1963-2023

In April of 2022, Black Students Organizing @ Dickinson 1963-2023, became the first installment of the Sankofa Series, a student-curated exhibit that showcased the legacies and longevity of Black history, activism, celebration, and survival at Dickinson College. The exhibition was led by Lynn Johnson, Associate Professor of Africana Studies and Distinguished Chair in Africana Studies, and Celeste Hopson ’24 Africana Studies major, with contributions from Popel Shaw Center for Race & Ethnicity and the students of the Africana Studies Department. Black Students Organizing @ Dickinson 1963-2023, is the product of Africana Studies students' archival excavation of the images and voices of Black students who founded and cofounded organizations that made significant imprints on the academic curriculum as well as the social fabric of the college and Carlisle communities. To educate past, present, and future Dickinsonians about the efforts of inclusivity and equality that Black students and allies have made, the Black Students Organizing exhibit shares the stories and voices that were not hiding in the archives but were waiting to be found. No longer will these histories be at risk of being left behind.


Faculty Spotlight

Professor Nadia Alahmed

Professor Nadia Alahmed, Assistant Professor of Africana Studies.

How to Build a Fire: James Baldwin 2-day Convening

Friday, October 4, 2024 at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

Celebrating the centennial birth of James Baldwin, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture hosted a two-day convening in collaboration with the Institute for Research in African American Studies and the Department of African and African Diaspora Studies at Columbia University. 

Panelist: Fearless: Being A Public Intellectual in the 21st Century

“It is terrible to watch people cling to their captivity and insist on their own destruction." Blackprint: A Rap on Race: Margaret Mead and James Baldwin | Nadia Alahmed, PhD, Assistant Professor of Africana Studies, Dickinson College and author of “The Shape of the Wrath to Come: James Baldwin’s Radicalism and the Evolution of His Thought on Israel” and Marina Magloire, PhD, Assistant Professor of English, Emory University, author of the recent "Moving Towards Life" exploring the correspondence of June Jordan and Audre Lorde, will reflect on their recent essays then join in conversation highlighting the evolution, care and bravery of Baldwin’s public discourse, and what is needed to meet the current moment; with Brittney Cooper, PhD, Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Africana Studies, Rutgers-New Brunswick. Professor Cooper’s books include Beyond Respectability: The Intellectual Thought of Race Women. She is a frequent commentator on MSNBC and NPR.

Articles

Literary Hub

James Baldwin and the Roots of Black-Palestinian Solidarity

Nadia Alahmed, a Palestinian scholar, activist, and Assistant Professor of Africana Studies and Middle Eastern Studies at Dickinson, told me that “once Baldwin changed his mind about Israel, he never stopped criticizing it. Baldwin was one of the very first prolific black American voices to recognize Israel for what it really is.”

NPR

What James Baldwin can teach us about Israel, and ourselves

Professor Alahmed was also interviewed by NPR's Codeswitch Podcast to discuss her research.

Professor Say Burgin

Professor Say Burgin, Assistant Professor of History and contributing faculty to the Africana Studies Department.

Conversations in Black Freedom Studies: Jim Crow North/Black Freedom Struggle Outside the South

October 3, 2024 at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black culture

Scholars Ujju Aggarwal (Unsettling Choice: Race Relations, Rights, and the Partitioning of Public Education), Say Burgin (Organizing Your Own: The White Fight for Black Power in Detroit), Laura Warren Hill (Strike the Hammer: The Black Freedom Struggle in Rochester, New York 1940–1970), and Shannon King (The Politics of Safety: The Black Struggle for Police Accountability in La Guardia's New York) discuss the histories of Black freedom struggles in the North, how people organized, and what that teaches us about the unfinished business of the Black freedom struggle in New York today.

Professor Lynn Johnson

Professor Lynn Johnson, Associate Professor of Africana Studies.

Professor Johnson will be installed as the Judith Rogers and Maureen Newton Hayes Distinguished Endowed Chair of Africana Studies on April 28, 2025 at 4:30 PM in the Stern Great Room.


Africana Studies News

All News Department News
Student Promotes Health-Care Access Through Cultural Ambassadorship

Student Promotes Health-Care Access Through Cultural Ambassadorship

As the reigning Miss Akwa Ibom USA, Jessica Edem '28 uses her platform to help improve health-care access in southeastern Nigeria.

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Exploring Memory and Education in Ghana: The Atlantic Slave Trade Mosaic

Exploring Memory and Education in Ghana: The Atlantic Slave Trade Mosaic

An innovative global course brings students 'face-to-face' with history and 'adds another dimension to learning.'

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Dickinson

Dickinson's Clarke Forum Announces October Lectures

October begins with a Dialogues Across Differences event featuring the CEO of BridgeUSA, Manu Meel, and continues with talks on the U.S. Black birthing crisis and Puerto Rico statehood.

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Internship Spotlight: Destiny McFalls ’25

Internship Spotlight: Destiny McFalls ’25

Destiny McFalls '25 helped draft a successful application for Carlisle to achieve Pa. "Bird Town" designation! Bird Towns commit to creating more environmentally healthy, bird-friendly communities.

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Finding Vibrant Community

Finding Vibrant Community

"I couldn't ask for a better learning community," says Kiersten Kahn ’26, an English and Africana studies major and student leader who’s found like-minded friends and mentors on campus.

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Sparking Conversations

Sparking Conversations

“I’ve gotten to meet artists, veterans, scientists and academics who have done great work in the world.” Ella Layton ’26 makes a mark as a Clarke Forum and Trout intern.

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