Pan-African Studies | Student Learning Outcomes

The Department draws from its departmental mission to establish visionary and aspirational goals, broken down into measurable objectives. The particular Learning Objectives/Outcomes of the Department are divided into three conceptual areas of Attitude, Knowledge, and Skills.

ATTITUDE

  • Value for critical thinking
  • Valuing of diverse perspectives
  • An appreciation for scholarship and the importance of ideas for personal and community advancement
  • Value for diversity as a positive attribute of humanity  
  • Value for the interconnections between scholarship and effective social action
  • Value for lifelong learning

KNOWLEDGE

  • Understanding of diversity within the Black community (in terms of gender, class, sexual orientation, national origin, etc.)
  • General grasp of the historical context of contemporary Pan-African challenges.
  • Understanding of shared experience and contemporary interconnections among people of African descent throughout the world.
  • Basic knowledge of African history, cultures and politics, including (ancient African kingdoms, colonialism, independence movements, contemporary period)
  • Basic knowledge of African-American history, culture and politics, including (slavery, Civil Rights, Black Power, Electoral Politics contemporary period)
  • Basic knowledge of African/African-American cultural expressions, including literature, music, film, art, etc.
  • Understanding of African/African-American activist traditions and its ramifications for national and global equity and justice  
  • Basic Understanding of the intellectual tradition and seminal thinkers associated with the Black experience

SKILLS

  • Ability to critically engage in analyses from a Black perspective
  • Ability to engage in scholarly research, including the gathering of appropriate sources and employment of suitable methodologies
  • Skilled presentation of research findings through written and oral means.
  • Ability to historicize and compare contemporary conditions in the Pan African world
  • Ability to examine intersectional oppressions simultaneously (race, gender, class, etc.)
  • Ability to relate formal instruction in PAS to practical arenas of endeavor, e.g., career, activism, entrepreneurial, and others