Department of Africana Studies
Africana Studies is an interdisciplinary field of study devoted to the critical and systematic examination of the cultural, political, social, economic, and historical experiences of African Americans, Africans, and peoples of African descent around the world.
Our intellectual work and programing highlight the impact of Africa and the African diasporas on humanity. Through its research, academic initiatives and public programming, the Center’s work seeks to explore the profound ways in which African peoples have functioned on a global scale and how their experiences have resonated around the world throughout history.
Africana Studies News
Upcoming Events
Scholar For A Day 2025
Colonial Medicine and African Societies
Kalala Ngalamulume
The Scholar for a Day is a day-long seminar, organized by Penn graduate students of all disciplines, designed to provide students and faculty with exposure to a leading scholar in African Studies. The event allows…
Anticolonial Intimacies and Black Feminist Refusal: Theorizing from the Miskitu Coast
Africana Lecture Series: Afro-Latinx
Dr. Melanie White
Melanie White is an interdisciplinary Black Studies scholar and cultural historian of Caribbean Central America. She is currently an ACLS Fellow and Assistant Professor of Afro-Caribbean Studies in the Department of…
Understanding the Recent Wave of Military Coups in West Africa
Brown Bag Series
Marc Papé
The most recent headlines out of Africa have been dominated by the third wave of military coups in the “Francophone” African region of mainly West Africa. Indeed, it is reported that “eight governments have been…