African Studies

Bachelor of Arts (BA) – Honours

Be a part of the longest-running African studies program in Canada. 

The African Studies (AFST) program provides students with the opportunity to pursue their interests in Africa and its diasporas. The program brings together members of the York community with an interest in Africa/African Diasporas to re-imagine Africa and its diasporas in terms of their evolution and the advancement of humanity, centrality to world history, and as sites of knowledge production.

The program has a commitment to both the intrinsic benefits of academic inquiry and to the well-being of Africans and Diasporian Africans, making it a platform/site for elevating theoretical and empirical interdisciplinary research as well as for understanding the cultural, socioeconomic, and political development of African peoples. Our students benefit from academic and pedagogical interdisciplinarity, from faculty members across the University, which allows for innovative program delivery and learning that will equip them with the agility required to apply their knowledge to real-life circumstances.

Quick Links

• LA&PS Colleges
• Peer Mentorship
• Writing Centre
• Our Alumni
• AFST Academic Calendar

Are you a future student?

OUAC Code: YAL

What you’ll learn

• Draw on informed understandings of Africa and its diasporas’ richly diverse histories, economies, politics, and cultures to effectively communicate and represent Africa.

• Recognize, appreciate, and highlight/learn/examine Africans’ and their diasporas’ roles in addressing socioeconomic and political challenges, from both historical and contemporary perspectives.

• Examine and appreciate Africa’s contributions to contemporary arts (including music, film, fashion, literature, dance, theatre, painting, etc.).

• Learn the importance of re-imagining the futures of Africa and its diasporas through the exciting, global Pan African creative phenomenon of Afrofuturism (which is inclusive of cultural production at the intersections between race and technology, including religion, architecture, communications, visual arts, philosophy etc.).

Hands-on experiences

• Engage in practical research at The Harriet Tubman Institute for Research on Africa and its Diasporas.

• Collaborate with faculty to develop and submit funding proposals for the SSHRC Undergraduate Research Award.

• Participate in cross-cultural educational travel to West Africa, gaining firsthand knowledge of African cultures and histories.

• Join African student associations and attend events such as galas, speaker panels, conferences and the York Federation of Student’s Culture Fest.

• Take advantage of co-op programs to gain paid, real-world work experience.

We provide the opportunity for you to combine African Studies with another discipline of your choice. In our teaching and learning activities, we stress an interdisciplinary approach. We have professors and scholars trained in different disciplines and our courses are designed to draw from a variety of perspectives within the social sciences.

— Mohamed Sesay
Assistant Professor & Program Coordinator, African Studies

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