MISSION STATEMENT

The Department of African American Studies has as its central mission the dissemination and creation of knowledge on Africa and the African Diaspora and to promote interdisciplinarity through teaching and research. It provides programs of teaching and research in Africa, African American and Caribbean culture, history, politics, sociology, and contemporary affairs.  Thus, African American Studies at UB has four sub-fields that will shed light on the African American experience, as follows:
 
  • African American Studies;
  • African Studies;
  • Caribbean Studies;
  • African Diaspora Studies. 


Students are also provided an opportunity to study abroad at universities in Africa, the Caribbean and in Cuba.

African American Studies plays a pivotal role in the University of Buffalo’s mission “to build upon the many cultures and traditions that have shaped us and our nation, in order to better prepare our students and state for the global community and economy of the 21st century.” By expanding UB’s overall mission to this vital area African American Studies creates educational programs that will promote equality, freedom and social justice in a sustainable society. 

African American Studies has the responsibility of preparing students for the job market.  While most of our graduates pursue careers in teaching, law or they continue on to graduate study, the department is expanding its curriculum to provide education appropriate to the needs and opportunities of the 21st century.  As it stands now we recommend a series of tracks that include:
 

  • Health and the environment,
  • International affairs and development, 
  • Gender and globalization,
  • Bioinformatics and technology, 
  • Public policy and legal studies,
  • Museum studies and
  • Arts and culture.


In addition, the Department of African American Studies participates in community services, especially in African American communities in Buffalo and Western New York. The Department has a Community Service Program that is active and a Center for Interdisciplinary Research in the Teaching of Africana Studies in Secondary Schools (CIRTASS), which will be revived in the near future, after a few years of dormancy. The Department also will form partnerships with service programs in Buffalo and with other UB schools and departments for the sake of pursuing our Department’s goal of delivering meaningful service to communities in Buffalo and Western New York.  The department is working with museums and historical societies and other not-for-profits to disseminate further information on Africa and its Diaspora.
 
 

VISION

The Department of African Studies has a diversified and strong undergraduate program. We hope to expand the number of students whom we teach and graduate as majors. 

African American Studies has in recent years participated in the Masters of Arts in the Humanities degree program. In the near future AAS will develop its own Masters of Arts degree program. This will fill a major void, because of the paucity of programs at the graduate level in New York and nationwide.  Only Cornell University and the University at Albany in upstate New York currently offer an M.A. degree in African American Studies.

The Department of African American Studies is one of UB’s most important departments that are devoted to curricular programs concerning areas that are historically disadvantaged, underprivileged, and underserved. Consequently, this Department has an obligation to help the rest of the University to be sensitive to justice and equity issues as a way of realizing UB’s mission goal. 

African American Studies plans to increase the national and international scholarly reputations of its faculty by supporting grantsmanship, research, and publishing opportunities.

African American Studies also plans to enhance its relationship to the Western New York community by becoming a conduit through which research on African Americans flows, and to be an advocate who articulates the community’s needs.  The department would like to increase its internships at community-based agencies and to offer courses within the African American community.