About Africana studies
Mission
The Department of Africana Studies at the University of Pittsburgh is devoted to the critical and systematic examination of the cultural, social, political, and historical experiences of Africans on the continent and in the diaspora.
Our goal is to provide students with an integrated understanding and appreciation of the Black experience in its multifaceted dimensions.
The department also stresses that the production, interpretation, and application of knowledge should inform research, development, and aesthetic initiatives that promote constructive change in African and African American communities and lives. Toward these ends, we offer an intellectual model that recognizes major cultural paradigms transcending the total Black historical experience from the "formative" period of classical African civilizations through the "oppressive" phase of European enslavement and colonialism to contemporary "recovery" or "transformation" strategies. Throughout, we emphasize African agency, ingenuity, and creativity.
