The Tufts Community Union Senate on Sunday adopted a resolution that urges the Board of Trustees, the administration and the faculty of the School of Arts & Sciences to start transitioning the Africa in the New World minor — currently affiliated with the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies — to an Africana studies major. The resolution says this should be accomplished by increasing the number of related courses offered and goes on to call for the creation of an Africana studies department as soon as it is financially possible.
The Senate is certainly justified in putting forth a resolution advocating for an Africana studies major. Doing so would diversify the Tufts curriculum and allow some students to better pursue their academic passions. On a symbolic level, strengthening Africana students at Tufts would help demonstrate a university-wide commitment to the representation in academia of minorities and historically marginalized groups on campus and would be a welcome addition to existing programs such as women's studies and Judaic studies.
While creating an Africana studies major is an important step in designing a more representative curriculum, the development of an independent Africana studies department — instead of just administering the major through an independent program — may be an unnecessary endeavor.
Existing Africana studies programs at peer institutions are clearly interdisciplinary in nature, with major requirements that include classes from history, political science, sociology, drama and language departments, among others. A comparable program at Tufts would likely lend itself well to the structure of an interdisciplinary major rather than an independent department. It seems wasteful to devote time and resources to creating an official department when the existence of a major or a program administered by or affiliated with the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies would likely be sufficient — as demonstrated by the success of the International Relations, women's studies, Latin American studies, Middle Eastern studies and environmental studies programs.
Although the development of an Africana studies department may appear to lend more legitimacy to the proposed major, this claim is debunked by the fact that the International Relations major — one of the most popular and renowned majors at Tufts that attracts many prospective students — is not housed within an independent department. Instead, like other interdisciplinary programs at Tufts, it is affiliated with the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, draws on faculty from a wide range of departments and is coordinated by program administrators who play key roles in coordinating between faculty and administrators across disciplines.
By taking advantage of existing courses and professors, it should be possible to craft a rich and diverse curriculum for the proposed Africana studies major, which could incorporate courses taught by the anthropology, economics, community health and music departments, to name a few. Creating a department is not necessary to achieve this.
Instead, forming a robust interdisciplinary program could more effectively send a strong signal and better reflect the interests of the student body.
