The Certificate in African Studies provides degree-seeking FIU students with an interdisciplinary approach to the study of the global, economic, cultural, and historical experiences of the peoples and communities of Africa , and of African nation-states. It is designed to complements students’ work in their major fields of study at the undergraduate level while fostering greater understandings of the African continent. Students are able to draw upon the diversity of areas of research and teaching interests of the core and affiliate AADS faculty, students and to choose courses that allow them to focus more specifically on Sub Continental Africa and its diverse populations.
The Certificate is designed to offer coordinated insights into the ongoing challenges African communities face locally, nationally, and internationally and on the ways in which continental African communities and individuals have developed political and creative strategies for survival in the midst of, and resistance to, racism and political, economic, social, gender, and class oppression.
Applicants must be a degree seeking student at FIU to apply for this certificate. To apply for the African Studies Certificate, please click here.
General Requirements (18)
Students complete 18 or 20 credit hours of study from disciplines as diverse as geography, history, international relations, journalism, sociology, anthropology, literature, music and political science. The core requirements are: 1) AFH 2000 “African Civilizations – GL” or AFS 3011 “African Civilization, Religion and Philosophy – GL” (This required course should be taken at the start of the Certificate Program); 2) an African language course: either SWA 1130 (Swahili I for 5 credits), or SWA 1131 (Swahili II for 5 credits), or SWA 1100 (Introduction to Swahili Language and Culture for 3 credits). SWA 1100 is offered during a study abroad program to East Africa (Check with the African & African Diaspora Studies Program). If a student elects to take a language course on campus (5 credits), the total of credits he/she will need to accumulate to satisfy the requirements for this certificate will be 20 credits. If instead a student enrolls in SWA 1100 during study abroad program, the total of credits he/she will accumulate to satisfy the requirements for this certificate will be 18 credits. Although only one language course will be counted to meet the language requirement for the Certificate in African Studies, students are encouraged to take the second level of the African language offered: SWA 1131 (Swahili II). Taking SWA 1130 and SWA 1131 will also allow undergraduate students to satisfy a university graduation requirement of at least two semesters of education in foreign languages. The other 15 credits must come from each of two lists, one comprising the Arts and Humanities, and the other the Social Sciences. The program director may a pprove other courses upon request. Students requesting an exception from these lists must present a syllabus for the course they would like to enroll in. Not all courses are offered every semester.
Required Core Course: (3 Credits)
- AFH 2000 African Civilizations –UCC, GL
OR
- AFS 3011 African Civilization, Religion and Philosophy—GL
Arts and Humanities Courses: (3-9 credits)
- AFA 4340 Health in African World
- AFH 4504 Slavery and the Slave Trade in Africa
- AFA 4905 African and African Diaspora Studies Independent Study
- AFA 4930 African and African Diaspora Studies Theory
- AFA 4931 Special Topics in African and African Diaspora Studies
- AFH 4100 History of Africa I
- AFH 4200 History of Africa II
- AFH 4342 History of West Africa
- AFH 4405 History of East Africa
- AFH 4450 History of South Africa
- AFS 3317 China and India in Africa—GL
- AFS 3331 Women and Human Rights in Sub-Saharan Africa
- AFS 3332 Gender and Sexualities in Sub-Saharan African Contexts—GL
- AFS 3823 African Arts and Modernity—NEW!
- AFS 4210 African Visual Arts—GL
- AFS 4200 African Drum I
- AFS 4201 African Drum II
- AFS 4215 African Photography—NEW!
- AFS 4367 Metropolitan Africa—NEW!
- ARH 3511 Introduction to the Visual Arts of the African World
- ARH 4520 African Arts
- DAA 3347 West African Dance
- FRW 4750 Francophone Literature of Africa
- LIT 4351 Major African Writers
- REL 4370 African Religions
- WOH 4230 The African Diaspora and the Atlantic Slave Trade
Social Sciences Courses: (3-9 Credits)
- AFA 3339 Women and Human Rights in Sub-Saharan Africa—GL
- AFS 4265 Latin America and the Caribbean in Africa-South-South Interactions—GL
- ANT 4352 African Peoples and Cultures
- ANT 4396 Representations of Africa and Africans in Films
- CPO 3204 African Politics
- GEA 3600 Population and Geography of Africa—GL
- INR 3252 International Relations of North Africa
- INR 3253 International Relations of Sub-Saharan Africa