Black Studies Minor

Total program: 24-28 semester hours

Black studies at the University of La Verne is an interdisciplinary and transnational pedagogical exploration of the Black and African diaspora with an emphasis on contemporary action, advocacy, activism, performance and excellence in the new economy. The minor integrates intercultural communication and community action as a way to develop opportunities for praxis, research and exploration of the multiple identities of the Black Diaspora. This program is not just an academic program, but a cultural community that solidifies and presents the Black community’s cultural, socio-political, and economic contribution to the identity of the global community. In partnership with the University of La Verne’s Black Alumni Affinity Group and the regional Black community, our students will enjoy direct access to internships, community participation, and professional mentorship.

The program connects ethnic and area studies to provide an interdisciplinary focus. The minor will seek to engage students in a learning community to collaboratively develop a broader application of activism, advocacy, and organizing for cultural sustainability and empowerment. In addition to analyzing the impact of slavery and freedom on Black life in the Americas, the minor will also examine the issues that continue to shape and define Black communities in the post-Civil Rights Era United States and the contemporary Africa diaspora, including: Black intra-racial dynamics, gender relations, marriage and family patterns, sexuality, expressive forms, and hip-hop culture. Students will examine the formation and position of group and individual identities through systematic study, active learning, and research which includes:

Understanding Historical and Cultural Knowledge

1. Examine the origins of the African slave trade, and explore political, economic, demographic and cultural factors shaping Black and African American life and culture prior to 1865 to present day.
2. Historical and political developments of Black and African American communities in the US and elsewhere.
3. Arts, literature, and representation as mechanisms for establishing identity and promoting social change. A study of the genesis, development, and scope of Black and African American culture, approached through an examination of selected art forms, historical themes, and intellectual currents.
4. The processes and implications of the diverse Black experience as an umbrella term that both connects and obscures group and individual identities and differences.

Analyzing Systems of Power, Oppression, Privilege, and Affordances

1. Social processes and stratification across race, class, gender, ethnicity, locale, language(s), generations, sexuality, religion (and so on).
2. Colonial and decolonial epistemologies.
3. Transnational, border, diaspora, social, meta-barrio, slavery, and migration ecologies.

Applying the above to Community Engagement

1. Through critical perspectives and de-colonial theories to students’ respective engagements.
2. Guide students in the process of consolidating their intellectual experience as they work toward carving out the next stage of their professional lives.
3. In students’ roles as local and global citizens who understand that group and/or individual actions have real life ethical ramifications.