African American Studies
The mission of the African American Studies Program is to support the interdisciplinary exploration of African American experiences and those across the broader African Diaspora. The goals for the African-American Studies major include ensuring upon completion students can (1) identify historical, economic, cultural, and sociological forces impacting Black communities and lives, and the continued intersectional significance of race among Black communities and the broader experiences of Black people, (2) engage with existing texts across a variety of disciplines exploring the complexities of Black life across the African Diaspora, (3) develop critical understandings of African American and broader African descendant communities and lives, and (4) participate in both academic and public discourse on Black experiences.
What Can I Do in African American Studies?
African American Studies is an interdisciplinary program that prepares students to better understand the experiences of Black people around the world. Students will learn research skills that will assist in producing an open discussion about Black experiences in any community. Students will gain knowledge of the research process that prepares them for jobs across the labor market or graduate-level studies.
Supporting Black Excellence
[African Americans have the right] "to a quality education and equal participation in Texas society..."
"...to me a 'goal' is set for the purpose of achieving it. It takes work, faith, patience, and persistence to make a goal a reality."
-Artemisia Bowden
Founder of St. Phillip’s College
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Community Organizing/Leadership
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Race and Education
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Critical Race Studies
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Education and Human Rights
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Diversity and Equity
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Diversity and Community Contexts
Start your journey at UTSA in African American Studies and then explore a Ph.D. opportunity at multiple universities. We'll help get you there!
Doctorate Programs in African American Studies
UT Austin
https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/aads/graduate/overview.php
UC Santa Barbara
https://www.blackstudies.ucsb.edu/graduate
Princeton
https://gradschool.princeton.edu/academics/fields-study/african-american-studies
Dr. Jasmine L. Harris
Dr. Jasmine L. Harris is an Associate Professor of African American Studies and Coordinator of the African American Studies Program in the Department of Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Texas, San Antonio. Dr. Harris completed her Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota in 2013, working first as Visiting Assistant Professor of Sociology at Wake Forest University before joining the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Ursinus College outside of Philadelphia in 2014. Dr. Harris views her research, teaching, and service as intertwined, influencing and shaping each other. Her examinations of Black life in predominately white spaces are founded on personal experiences. They include Black students at PWIs, Black DI football and men's basketball players at universities in the Power 5 conferences, and Black sociologists producing knowledge in a white-dominated discipline. Dr. Harris has been published in major newspapers across the country, including the Houston Chronicle and the Chicago Tribune. She was recently featured in the Vice News documentary, "College Sports, Inc." Represented by The Howland Literary Agency in New York City, her forthcoming book, "Blackademics: The Disturbing Education of Black Girls in American schools" will be published by Broadleaf Books in Spring 2024.
Contact Us
College of Education and Human Development
Main Building | One UTSA Circle | San Antonio, TX 78249
Phone: 210-458-4370 | education@utsa.edu