We offer two minors: Africana Studies and Hip-Hop Cultures.
Option 1
Africana Studies
A minor in Africana Studies requires 18 units in AFAS including:
- AFAS 220 Introduction to African American Studies
- AFAS 302 Africana Studies Research Approaches
- at least 9 upper division units
Option 2
Hip-Hop Cultures
The Minor in Hip-Hop Cultures provides students with a solid introduction and broad understanding of the origins and developing of the forms of expression that make up hip-hop cultures throughout the world: hip-hop dance, rap music, graffiti/tagging, fashion, business, and film. Additionally, it introduces students to the main themes represented in hip-hop cultures: appropriation and defense of spaces, mixing of different cultures, migrations, multilingualism, race, class, gender, religions, sexuality, nationality, politics and the economy, and the search for identity.
Please note that you are required to take 9 Units of Upper Division Credit.
Complete 3 units from the following courses:
- AFAS 200 (3) Introduction to Africana Studies
- AFAS/SOC 220 (3) Introduction to African American Studies
Complete 9 units from the following courses:
- AFAS 218 (3) Introduction to Hip-Hop Dance
- AFAS 302 (3) Africana Studies Research Approaches
- AFAS/LAS/RELI 335 (3) Rap, Culture and God
- AFAS 371 (3) Hip-Hop Cinema
- AFAS/FREN 373 (3) US & Francophone Hip-Hop Cultures
- AFAS 439 (3) Blacks in Hollywood
Complete 6 units from the following courses:
- AFAS 200 (3) Introduction to Africana Studies
- AFAS/SOC 220 (3) Introduction to African American Studies
- AFAS/ HIST 210 (3) African American History (1865-Present)
- AFAS 218 (3) Introduction to Hip-Hop Dance
- AFAS 302 (3) Africana Studies Research Approaches
- AFAS 318 (3) Pan African Dance Aesthetics: Theory and Practice
- AFAS/LAS/RELI 335 (3) Rap, Culture and God
- AFAS 371 (3) Hip-Hop Cinema
- AFAS/FREN 373 (3) US & Francophone Hip-Hop Cultures
- AFAS 439 (3) Blacks in Hollywood
- DNC 178A (1) Beginning Hip-Hop Dance Technique
- DNC 178B (1) Hip-Hip Dance Technique Limited Experience
- DNC 178C (1) Intermediate Hip-Hip Dance Technique
- FTV 302 (3) Recording Studio Production
- MUS 100 (3) Basic Musicianship
- MUS 109 (3) Rock and American Popular Music
- MUS 231 (3) Jazz History
- MUS 302 (3) Recording Studio Production
"I am pursuing a career in music so the hip-hop minor has been vitally important to building my future. There is so much diversity in music nowadays and being able to develop cultural awareness is necessary."
Ayla Ahmad | Music, Minors in Hip-Hop Cultures, Film & Television
Combine Hip Hop Culture with your Major to Gain a Career Edge
Given the challenges of negotiating cultural differences in an increasingly complex and interconnected world this minor affords students the opportunity to investigate hip-hop's pervasive, transformative, and exciting cultural force which has profoundly impacted many elements of mainstream American culture to the extent that corporations have embraced hip-hop music and artists as a means of marketing goods to everyone.
Today, hip-hop culture is a billion dollar industry that generates exceptionally large revenues and jobs worldwide (Charnas 2010). There are dancers who open dance schools in their communities, marketing and textiles experts who sell and promote products to a hip-hop clientele, journalists who report on hip-hop, computer engineers who build samplers, lawyers who defend and negotiate contracts for artists, social workers and educators who mentor youth groups, to only name a few of the professions connected to hip-hop. Consequently, there is no doubt that university students combining a major in Dance, Education, Business, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Chemistry, Journalism, Physiology, Sociology, etc., with the UA's minor in Africana Studies with concentration in hip-hop culture will be extremely knowledgeable and marketable in these specific industries.
Dan Charnas, The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop (New American Library, 2010).
Julie Watson, "Rapper's Delight: A Billion Dollar Industry." Forbes Magazine 18 Feb. 2004. http://www.forbes.com/2004/02/18/cx_jw_0218hiphop.html.
Ready to Declare?
To declare a major or minor in Africana Studies or in hip-hop cultures, please email your student ID# to Dr. Praise Zenenga at zen08@email.arizona.edu.