But it was not only the amenability of the administration that has led to the success of the proposal: changes within the fields of African and Afro-American studies make this an opportune time for the initiative.
“The fields are changing,” Akyeampong said. “There is a strong link across the Atlantic, a shift in the way that Africa works now and how African-American history is studied.”
At the same time, Gates said that student and faculty interest in the field has grown substantially in recent years—last year alone, 1,000 students in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences took courses that had African content, Gates said.
“There are hundreds of students, lots of senior theses, lots of Faculty members who are Africanists,” Gates said. “The whole question was to find a way to formalize this.”
Both Gates and Akyeampong said that Harvard was poised to be a leader in the field because of its resources and the strong base of faculty that already exists here.
“People have always felt that Harvard could be so prominent in African studies,” Akyeampong said. “It is very likely that, two or three years from now, we could be the premiere center for African studies.”
Drawing from several fields at the University—including sociology, anthropology, economics, art history and music—the interdisciplinary concentration will probably be divided into three subfields, Afro-American studies, African studies and some combination of the two.
Akyeampong said that the proposal was presaged somewhat by the formation of the Africa Initiative—a multi-disciplinary research and training program sponsored by the Committee on African Studies that was submitted to the provost’s office last fall.
The five-year teaching and outreach program in Africa garnered an interest in the field among professors from across the University’s many schools.
The new department will probably focus on sub-Saharan, central and West Africa, but will also offer courses on Northern Africa, which is usually associated—at least politically—with the Middle East.
As Gates and Akyeampong headed off to celebrate at an Ethiopian restaurant last night, Bethany L. Hoag ’06 greeted the news with similar elation.
Hoag, who works for the Committee on African Studies, says that she came here hoping to pursue the field—she spent two years in an international school in Swaziland before coming to Harvard this year.
“When I first started working at the office, people were talking about it as if it were a wish,” Hoag said. “I didn’t realize anything was in the works. I am really excited.”
Gates and Akyeampong say that they expect languages to be the first new additions to the department.
Swahili is currently the only sub-Saharan African language taught at Harvard.
An information session for sophomores and first-years interested in the new department will be held on April 28.
Other universities with African studies programs include Columbia, Michigan State, Stanford University and the Univeristy of California at Los Angeles.
—Staff writer Rebecca D. O’Brien can be reached at robrien@fas.harvard.edu.