Welcome to the African Studies Program at Indiana University! We are committed to being one of the nation's leading programs for the interdisciplinary study of Africa. Our diverse teaching activities promote greater understanding and appreciation of the continent and its people. There are several degree options for both undergraduate and graduate students. These degrees are enhanced by a broad range of African Studies courses, including cross-listed courses in a broad range of disciplines and our own courses, our African Civilizations and Contemporary Africa courses at the undergraduate level, and our Graduate Seminar, African Studies Bibliography and Interdisciplinary Methods courses at the graduate level. Our African language courses adopt performance-based pedagogical methods and stress cultural understandings.

Undergraduate students are encouraged to study abroad in Africa, in Indiana University or those at other universities. Graduate students can apply for FLAS fellowships to support their study of African languages. The African Studies Program regularly organized conferences and workshops, on its own or in collaboration with other programs and institutes, on a variety to topics. The backbone of our academic programming is our affiliated African Studies faculty. They engage in innovative research and excel in teaching at all levels. Supporting our faculty is our African Studies staff, housed in Woodburn Hall. We encourage you to explore our academic offerings.

Faculty Highlight

Beth Buggenhagen
Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology
Faculty Member of the African Studies Program and Graduate Faculty at IU

Beth Buggenhagen has conducted fieldwork in Dakar and Tuba, Senegal, and in the North American cities of Chicago and New York City. Her current research interests include the politics of social production and value, material culture, visuality, gender, Islam, and globalization. She is currently at work on a book manuscript, Prophets and Profits: Gender and Islam in Global Senegal, which analyzes the multilayered connections of prophets and profits in the Senegalese postcolony to understand debates over women’s ritual and religious practices, family law and religious authority in an era of economic volatility....In New York City her research has considered the predicament of Senegalese Muslim traders who deal in grey market goods (designer purses, CDs and DVDs). Her work has considered the political dimensions of official and unofficial economies to address topics that are gaining attention within and beyond academia such as Islam, civil liberties, immigration reform, debates over new media technologies, unregulated economic networks and the U.S. led global War on Terror...

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African Studies Outreach

Visit the Outreach Homepage

Current Outreach Events

Film: Sankofa
Date: Tuesday, February 23, 2009, 6:30pm – 8:30pm
Location: Monroe Country Public Library, 303 E. Kirkwood Ave.
Cost: Free

Synopsis: "Sankofa”, an Akan word meaning “one must return to the past in order to move forward”, is the story about the transformation of Mona, a self-possessed African-American woman and a contemporary model sent on a spiritual journey in time to experience the pain of slavery and the discovery of her African identity. Mona is possessed by spirits lingering in the Cape Coast Castle in Ghana. She travels to the past where, as a house slave called Shola on a sugar plantation, she is constantly abused by the slave master. Nunu, an African-born slave, and Shango, Shola's lover, continuously rebel against the slave system. Inspired by Nunu and Shango's determination to defy the system, Shola finally takes her fate into her own hands.