About Us

     Professor Deirdre Cooper Owens  teaches a section of AFRA 3206: Black Experience in the Americas                                                                                                                                                          Professor Martine Granby teaches a section of AFRA 3575: Black Documentary Film Archival Practices                                                      Professor Evelyn Simien at the Women of Color in Political Science pre-conference at APSA

Africana Studies at UConn

Africana Studies exists as an academic unit within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at UConn. Established in 1989, the primary mission of the Africana Studies Institute (formerly the Institute for African American Studies) is to enlighten and inform the University of Connecticut community and the people of the State of Connecticut, the nation, and the world about the history, culture, contributions and experiences of people of African descent in the United States and abroad. To achieve this goal, the ASI promotes high-quality research, scholarship, and teaching of the African American experience and sponsors a wide variety of programs on topics and issues that are critical to Black America and pertinent to a better understanding of the Black world.


The Institute offers the major in Africana Studies, two minors in Africana Studies and African Studies, coupled with study abroad opportunities in East and West Africa. For decades we have trained our students to critically analyze the varied experiences of people of African descent globally and locally--for example, Africana Studies revitalizes and extends the traditional learning experience beyond the classroom in several important ways, as with our new collaboration with UCONN Global, developing Experiential Global Learning experiences in Africa for UCONN undergraduates.  An inaugural intersession course in Ghana exceeded enrollment expectations for May 2023, and in fact, generated a waiting list of twenty-plus students. Two study abroad sessions were planned for 2024: Ghana in May 2024, and Kenya in August 2024, with another in Ghana scheduled in Spring 2025.  These short-term programs respond to an upsurge in students’ interest in study abroad opportunities that can be better accommodated between semesters and address equity in access to global experiential opportunities. These opportunities enable our students to gain credits that support four-year degree completion rates while cultivating both cultural competence and global citizenship.


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Celebrating 16 Years of Excellence in Africana Studies

30+

Undergraduate Majors

70+

Undergraduate Minors

16+

Core Faculty

26+

Affiliate Faculty