Africana Studies
The goal of the Africana Studies department is to take up the field's central questions and debates in multiple contexts and by means of multiple methodologies. In keeping with this goal, many of the department’s course offerings focus extensively and transdisciplinarily on issues of social, structural, and institutional hierarchy as they pertain to race and a host of other dimensions of identity.
About the Major
Hamilton’s Africana studies faculty and students represent a wide range of racial and ethnic backgrounds, bringing to the classroom a diversity of experiences, perspectives, and disciplinary strengths. Students often spend a summer conducting research with a professor; some have earned fellowships to continue their academic work abroad after graduation.
Students Will Learn To:
- Apply at least two disciplinary lenses of analysis that focus on a specific aspect of the life experiences of people of African descent (for example in written/digital assignments, performative or oral presentations)
- Explain, verbally and/or in writing, the interrelationships among people from sub-Saharan Africa, the United States, the Caribbean, Latin America, or other parts of the African diaspora in two or more of the following areas: linguistic, intellectual, political, economic, or cultural
- Define and provide examples of colonization, decolonization, Black liberation/power movements and their legacies
- Explain, verbally and/or in writing, the concept of intersectionality via specific connections with race, ethnicity, class, and gender
- Explain the goals of one or more current social justice initiatives involving people of African descent in the United States and globally
A Sampling of Courses
Exploring Social Justice
This course explores the historical movements for social justice and contributions of a new generation of black leadership including students, women and community organizers during the civil rights and Black power movements. We will consider the contributions of well-known figures like Huey Newton and Malcolm X and lesser-known figures like Septima Clark, the director of the freedom schools, and their significance in the present times.
Explore these select courses:
Forefronts the consequences of assumptions based on hegemonic ideas and representations of blackness and Black life. We examine how visual and narrative representations impact our perceptions and sense of collective and individual selves, and the lived experiences of Black subjects. We explore dominant cultural representations of blackness and how they are in dialogue, negotiation, and contestation, along with the tension and interaction between ideas inherited from the outside, and the created inner ones.
Meet Our Faculty
history, sociology, and Africana studies
culture theory; racial formation; visual culture; diaspora; invisibility and transnational cultural politics
acting; Shakespeare; African-American theatre; Sanford Meisner; Uta Hagen; August Wilson
A. Todd Franklin
Eugene M. Tobin Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Africana Studies
existentialism, African-American philosophy, and Nietzsche
critical human geography; race, place, and belonging in Italy, Black Europe, and the U.S.; gender and intersectionality; African Diasporic politics and identity in Italy; Blackness and anti-blackness
Vincent Odamtten
William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Literature and Africana Studies
African literature with a focus of Ghanaian and women's literature; 20th-century Caribbean literature; African-American literature; science fiction; literary criticism; use of digital technology in the study of literature
Careers After Hamilton
Hamilton graduates who concentrated in Africana studies are pursuing careers in a variety of fields, including:
- Volunteer, U.S. Peace Corps
- Financial Analyst, Lazard Capital Markets
- Architectural Designer, Coyle & Associates
- Foreign Services Officer, U.S. Department of State
- Program Coordinator, Posse Foundation
- Editorial Assistant, EPIX
- Teacher, Bronx Academy of Letters
Explore Hamilton Stories
Global Race and Sport Class Meets Venus Williams
“Venus Williams exemplifies how sports serves as a microcosm of broader societal issues offering a powerful example of the impact of individual agency in challenging and reshaping societal norms,” Professor Westmaas said. “Listening to her insights provided students with a direct ‘real-world’ application of the theoretical concepts we cover…making the abstract more tangible and concrete in the presence of a superstar.”
Westmaas Address Marks 200th Anniversary of Enslaved Revolt in Guyana
Associate Professor of Africana Studies Nigel Westmaas was recently the invited keynote speaker at a symposium organized by the University of Guyana to mark the 200th anniversary of the Demerara enslaved revolt of 1823 in Guyana.
Four Faculty Promoted to Professor
Hamilton President David Wippman announced the promotion of four faculty members to the rank of professor, as approved by the College’s Board of Trustees at its June meeting. They include Mark Cryer (theatre), Robert Knight (art), Michelle LeMasurier (mathematics and statistics), and Nigel Westmaas (Africana studies). All were effective July 1, 2024.
Contact
Department Name
Africana Studies Program
Contact Name
Nigel Westmaas, Chair
Clinton, NY 13323
