The Africana Studies program (AFRS) at California State University, Fresno offers an interdisciplinary curriculum that illuminates the connectedness of the human experience and provides culturally-appropriate knowledge and skills. This helps students understand the experiences of African peoples all over the world and other ethnic groups in the United States. The program also involves its faculty and students in research, experiential learning, career counseling, computer technology, curriculum development, conference participation, and extended day, evening, and weekend courses. The program offers interdisciplinary courses leading to the Bachelor of Arts in Africana Studies as well as minors in Africana Studies and Ethnic Studies. Students with a B.A. in Africana Studies can pursue a master's or doctoral degree in the humanities, social sciences, or health sciences. Students can also seek other professional degrees in such areas as business, human resources, teacher education, and law. The program teaches appreciation for the heritage of African peoples and their contributions to the shaping of the fabric of American life and history. Africana Studies emphasizes the study of the history and culture of African Americans as they relate to the experiences of Africans on the continent and other peoples of African descent in the Diaspora. The major in Africana Studies provides an epistemological basis for understanding issues that pertain to the experiences of African peoples and other minority ethnic groups in the American society. The curriculum promotes an awareness of the African heritage of African Americans and others throughout the Americas. Opportunities are provided for students to engage in study abroad and service-learning in Africa and the Caribbean to stimulate intellectual interest in, and linkage to, contemporary Africa and the African Diaspora while enhancing global understanding of the varied social realities of the human experience.

Africana Studies uses an interdisciplinary and comparative perspective to illuminate the connectedness of the human experience and provide culturally-appropriate knowledge and skills necessary to understand the experiences of African peoples all over the world and American Indians in the United States. We seek to build bridges across similar “Ethnic or Interdisciplinary” programs at Fresno State (eg., Armenian Studies, Asian-American Studies, Chicano and Latin American Studies, Women’s Studies) as well as other traditional academic disciplines (e.g., Anthropology, History, Social Work, Economics, Geography, Sociology, Theater Arts, etc.) that provide knowledge and skills needed to understand the institutional arrangements and cultural constructions as they affect the contemporary American experience of race and ethnicity. What You Can Earn: Social Worker - $48,562 (in our region)\ Campus Recruiter - $60,602 (in our region) Interesting Classes You Might Take Ethnic Experience Critical Thinking About Race American Indian History Art and Music of Africa What You Can Learn: Appreciation for the heritage of African peoples and American Indians and their contributions to the shaping of the fabric of American life and history Historical and contemporary experiences of African Americans Current problems of American Indians and Arctic Natives