Mission and Vision

Mission and Philosophy

The mission of SUNY Cortland’s Africana Studies Department is to prepare students to comprehend, generate and disseminate constructive knowledge about Africa, the African Diaspora, and the United States through multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches for inclusive excellence, cultural competence, social justice, and transformative service.

Vision

The vision of the Africana Studies Department is to become an academic unit and transformative leader of opportunity for all students and graduates who are vested with transformational knowledge and skills in aesthetics, social sciences, performing arts, humanities, science and technology, and critical thinking in order to effectively serve the Africana world in particular and humanity in general.

 Following a tradition of intellectual inquiry and the study of the global Africana human condition, Africana Studies seeks to offer a uniquely designed program (major and minor) that emphasizes critical thinking and creative problem solving skills in addition to providing rigorous historical and cultural training in the Africana World. We are committed to offering Africana Studies electives in addition to a wide range of multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary courses. We expose students to a wide array of contrasting schools of thought so that important controversies in the discipline may be debated using many challenging perspectives.