The minor in African and African American Studies (AFST) provides students with a comprehensive, interdisciplinary academic program that focuses on 1) critical theories on race, 2) African and African diasporic history, culture and literature, and 3) the religious, political, and social dimensions of Black life. The program examines subject matter related to African contexts (both the historical study of such contexts and the study of current populations), as well as African diasporic cultures (including historic and contemporary migrations), with a focus on the African diasporic presence in the Americas. Thus, courses offered in the AFST minor address the experience of African Americans but also more broadly explore the global Black experience and its relationship to Black life in the Americas.