African American & Latin American Studies Major, Caribbean Studies Emphasis

Coordinator Baptiste

The Caribbean forms an important historical and cultural bridge between Africa and Afro-America, and was the birthplace of European settlement and colonization in the Americas. Better known in the United States as a tourist destination, the region has a rich but tragic history intimately connected with Euro-American imperialism and plantation slavery. Nevertheless, by bringing together people of widely diverse ethnicities from all over the world, the plantations became a virtual laboratory of socio-cultural engineering to produce some of the earliest and most complex multiracial societies. In conjunction with a study group that spends a semester at the University of the West Indies, ALST majors within the Caribbean concentration are exposed to a diverse range of issues relating to race relations, cultural identity, political governance, and economic development that are embedded in the history, literature, politics, and economies of the territories of the region.

A student must complete major declaration procedures with the appropriate coordinator no later than the second term of the sophomore year, unless an exception is approved by the program director.

For more information about the program, honors/high honors, transfer credit, etc., visit the Africana and Latin American studies program  page.