The Institute for African American Studies has
evolved at The University of Georgia as an academic program of
study since 1969, though its current status dates from 1992. It
is dedicated to the production of creative research on the achievements
of African Americans and to exciting instruction for a diverse
community of thinkers. In addition, it serves as a cultural repository
and resource for the citizenry of Georgia.
The Institute offers several courses in the core curriculum.
Students wishing to earn a certificate or undergraduate
degree in African American Studies can do so by taking the
recommended courses approved by the Director. The intent is to
be both intellectually exciting and rigorously challenging. Often
views might seem unusually innovative. Many students of the Institute
are interested in professional study and scholarly research beyond
the undergraduate level. Others might begin to lay out a systematic
plan for thoughtful public service.
The Role of African American Studies
Western Civilization has been a reliable means to understand
world cultures for many generations, but the rapidly changing
demography of the United States requires a more profound awareness
of cultural resources by thinkers of color. As seekers after human
truth, African Americanists should test traditional assumptions
about race to help students make more enlightened choices for
themselves and their civilization. The primary objective of an
African American studies curriculum, regardless of race or color,
is education for positive and productive citizenship. Hence, a
reasonable list follows:
- Situate students within a learning environment that encourages
appreciation of the history and culture of African Americans.
- Develop critical and analytic tools of inquiry necessary for
research and publication.
- Develop professionals.
- Teach the economic, psychological, and social situation of
Blacks past and present.
- Inquire historically into the profound cultural gap between
American ideals of the Constitution and American practices.
- Test the contemporary hypothesis that conscientious dissenters
of any color or creed are unpatriotic Americans.
- Liberate American thought from simplistic stereotypes.
- Explore the diversity and range of thought in the African
Diaspora.
- Expand the range of academic inquiry about humanity and who
is human.
- Foster interdisciplinary study in the humanities, arts, and
sciences.
- Provide laboratory experiences in a cultural exchange to enrich
the professions of business, law, economics, social work, education,
and agriculture.
- Facilitate life-long enlightenment about theories and forms
of African Americans.
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University
of Georgia's Holmes/Hunter Academic Building, location
of the Institute for African American Studies
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African American Studies at UGA
Since 1992, African American Studies at the University of Georgia
has rapidly developed in quality and quantity. Of the thirty-six
courses that are either singly or jointly sponsored, nearly all
have had steadily increasing enrollments, bringing program enrollment
to well over two hundred undergraduates a year. Course offerings
have recently expanded from 33 to 69, with several new courses
currently under review.
UGA's Institute for African American Studies boasts a renowned
faculty who have published scores of books and critical
articles, earned numerous awards in research and teaching, and
have proved themselves influential in African American studies
and in their own areas of traditional scholarship. Working together
as a team, the Director and faculty have more than doubled the
appropriate courses and quadrupled the Institute core since
1992. Our scholars have moved the Langston Hughes Review from
Brown University to Georgia and established The Womanist as
a pioneering, acclaimed periodical. Black Issues in Higher
Education has documented the importance of the Institute
and represented UGA as a national example of academic diversity.
The Institute, which directs research and learning in at least
ten associated departments, is truly multidisciplinary.
Funding for African American Studies is administered through
the University of Georgia Foundation. The Institute welcomes the
public inspiration and support of thoughtful citizens who wish
to make a tax-deductible donation to
our endowment.
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