African Studies (Minor)

Program Description

This minor in African studies provides students with the opportunity to engage with the study of Africa from a range of disciplines, acquire in-depth knowledge of African societies and cultures, and become conversant with the major social concerns, intellectual debates, and artistic expressions relevant to the continent. The minor is expected to appeal in particular to students who wish to pursue careers on the continent in public service, non-profit work, or business, and to those who wish to undertake graduate study related to Africa.

Minors in African studies must complete the required “Africa in the World” plus three Africa-focused electives. To ensure the appropriate breadth within the minor’s choice of electives, each minor must take at least one elective in Arts and Humanities and one in Social Sciences. In addition to electives at NYUAD, minors may satisfy the elective requirements by taking another course in the NYU global network that contains significant material on Africa and in which their final project (if required) includes Africa as a major area/subject of focus.

The mastery of African languages (including Arabic, French, and Portuguese) directly contributes to the minor’s learning objectives. Minors may meet one elective requirement through a language course. In the case of relevant languages offered at NYUAD (i.e. Arabic and French), only courses that correspond to at least the Intermediate 2 level may count towards the minor. For African languages only offered at other sites of the GNU, any 4 credits of language study may count.

Admissions

New York University's Office of Undergraduate Admissions supports the application process for all undergraduate programs at NYU.  For additional information about undergraduate admissions, including application requirements, see How to Apply. 

Program Requirements

Course List

Course	Title	Credits
HIST-UH 1105	Africa in the World	4
Select one Africa-focused elective from Arts & Humanities		4
Select one Africa-focused elective from Social Sciences		4
Select one additional Africa-focused elective from either area		4
Total Credits		16

Learning Objectives

Students who successfully complete the minor in African Studies will:

• become familiar with the major theoretical and methodological approaches in the study of the African continent and its peoples.
• develop a critical understanding of the diverse intellectual traditions that have taken Africa as an object of knowledge and scholarly research.
• learn to select, contrast, and combine relevant disciplinary outlooks that will allow them to address complex issues in contemporary African.
• understand how thinking about Africa has shaped various disciplines in Social Sciences and the Humanities.
• acquire substantive knowledge about the histories, societies, and cultures of the African continent.
• be able to demonstrate the relevance of Africans as key actors in the world’s past, present and future.

Policies

NYU Policies

University-wide policies can be found on the New York University Policy pages.

NYU Abu Dhabi Policies

A full list of relevant policies can be found on NYU Abu Dhabi's undergraduate academic policies page.