African & African American Studies
Discover and honor the contribution of Africans and their New World descendants in Western culture and society. Your studies will incorporate an analysis of historical and contemporary issues facing Africans or African Americans by integrating international perspectives, service learning, and traditional archival research. Faculty teaching African & African American studies courses include members of the expressive arts, humanities, and social sciences.
Dive into African & African-American Studies
The mission of the African and African American Studies (AAAS) program at Rollins College is to foster an awareness of the contributions and impact of people of African descent on the western hemisphere and a greater understanding of the complexity linked to the global African Diaspora.
See What You'll Learn See What You'll LearnPopular Courses
The AAAS program offers a number of courses in a variety of disciplines ranging from history, anthropology, religion, music, global languages, critical media and cultural studies and sociology.
AAAS 101 Intro to African & African American Studies
An interdisciplinary introduction to the history, politics, and culture of Africa and the African diaspora, with particular attention to the struggles and achievements of African-Americans. Students will acquire a solid historical and conceptual foundation for further study in the AAAS minor.
ARH 145 Introduction to African Art
Introduces archaeological, historical, modern, and contemporary works of African art in their aesthetic, cultural, and historical contexts. Examines sculpture, masquerade, textiles, painting, photography, architecture, and personal objects.
ARH 243 Fashion in Africa
Trace African fashion from cloth to everyday clothing and high-fashion catwalks between the 19th century and today. Explore how African dress reveals information about culture, history, political systems, religious worship, gendered relations, and social organization.
SOC 111 Social Problems
Follow traditional areas of social-problem analysis, including poverty, sexism, racism, and crime, as they evolve and transform society.
GBH 200 Introduction to Public Health
Investigate the concepts and methods for measuring health in populations, and consider the impact of health care systems, public health systems, and government policies on health and disease patterns.
SOC 331 The Civil Rights Movement
Investigate the African-American freedom struggle from the era of slavery to the present, with a special emphasis on the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
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Take a deeper dive into African & African American Studies studies at Rollins by exploring past events.
Expert Faculty
African & African American Studies Program
Telephone:407.646.2214
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Matthew Nichter, PhD
Associate Professor and Sociology Department Chair
Research interests: Relationship between the African-American freedom struggle, labor unions, and the socialist movement
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Shan-Estelle Brown, PhD
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Research interests: Health disparities, acceptability of treatments, global health, HIV, addiction, sickle cell disease, and health-care innovation technology
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MacKenzie Moon Ryan, PhD
Department Chair, Professor of Art History
Research interests: History of African and global art, with particular interest in textiles, fashion, trade, colonialism, cross-cultural exchange, and museum studies
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Claire Strom, PhD
Professor of History
Research interests: U.S. history, especially American sexuality and the Vietnam War
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Joshua R. Brown
Visiting Instructor in Philosophy
Research interests: Political Philosophy, Ethics, Philosophy of Race, Philosophy of Law, Capital Punishment.
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Emily Russell, PhD
Department Chair, Kenneth L. Curry Professor
Research interests: Medical humanities, disability studies, 20th-century American literature
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Ja'Nya Jenoch, PhD
Visiting Assistant Professor of Sociology
Research interests: Work-family policy, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), Social determinants of health, AI/ML in Healthcare
Related News
October 25, 2023
Moon Ryan Publishes Special Issue of African Arts Journal
Art history professor MacKenzie Moon Ryan edited and contributed to a special issue of African Arts journal.
June 27, 2022
Nichter Receives Best Article Award from WCSA
Sociology professor Matthew Nichter’s article on Emmett Till has received recognition from the Working Class Studies Association.
August 17, 2021
Nichter publishes article on organized labor's response to the death of Emmett Till
The article explores the role labor unions played in protests following Till's murder in 1955.