The Black World Studies minor at Columbia College Chicago is an interdisciplinary program aimed at fostering a deep understanding of the historical, artistic, cultural, and political experiences of Africans and the African Diaspora. Its purpose is to enhance student's awareness of the relationship between people of African descent within a global framework. By examining crucial moments of black protest, students are exposed to a diversity of liberation struggles aimed at slavery, colonialism, and other forms of social, political, and economic marginalization. Through a critical examination of the social constructions of race, class, and ethnicity, students are enjoined to become more thoughtful agents of change. In exploring how power and knowledge are produced and challenged, Black World Studies empowers students to directly confront these complex issues as conscious global citizens.

As a result of successfully completing program requirements, students should be able to:

• articulate the meanings of race and ethnicity as socially constructed categories; 

• identify the intersections between race and ethnicity and other socially meaningful categories, such as gender, sexuality, class, and (dis)ability; 

• interrogate structures of power and exploitation around race and ethnicity other socially meaningful categories;  

• understand and use the vocabularies, both conceptual and theoretical, as well as the research methods central to an analysis of race and ethnicity; and 

• discuss (orally and in writing) the diverse experiences of Africans and people of African descent in their own and other cultures.