Abstract
Colonization, enslavement, and institutionalized oppression have disrupted the relationship between the educational experiences of Black students and the fate of African/Black communities. Research has shown that Africana studies has demonstrated the capacity to realign the education of Black students in higher education, leading to the advancement of communities of African descent. This analysis aims to present Africana studies catalytic consciousness theory as a framework for determining the effects of taking Africana studies classes on students who self-identify as being of African descent on college and university campuses—particularly at institutions where they are underrepresented. The main elements of the effects of Africana studies are illustrated through the lens of the Dagara cosmic wheel and its elements: fire, water, earth, mineral/stone, and nature/vegetation.
Keywords
Education is a critical social institution involving the transmission of knowledge, information, job skills, and cultural values that allow people to advance and function in societies. However, whose heritage does that knowledge reflect, to whom is the information most critical, to which communities are the job skills most relevant, and whose cultural values are being transmitted? The answers to these questions call for the emergence of a specialized institutional force for people of African descent. Woodson (1933) articulated long ago that many Black students graduate with the capacity to advance their people, but lack the intent, will, and determination to do so. According to Kambon (2003), this occurs in part because Black students are incentivized by the prospect of upward mobility to adopt mainstream worldviews—ways of perceiving and understanding the world. At predominantly White institutions (PWIs), including both colleges and universities, Black students often feel isolated, marginalized, and excluded in their attempts to adjust to campus environments (Chapman-Hilliard & Beasley, 2018; Harper et al., 2004; Patton et al., 2011). Moreover, Black students can find themselves equally underserved at minority-serving institutions (MSIs) (McDougal et al., 2018). Their difficulties at MSIs can go unrecognized because equity and inclusion are sometimes measured by demographic diversity and because trainings and programs fostering racial and cultural equity are often present, but are non-inclusive of the cultures, experiences, and needs of students of African descent.
Black students demonstrate resilience by exercising their own agency and creating conditions that nurture higher levels of self-concept, self-belief, achievement orientation, and motivation within themselves (Harper et al., 2004). This happens most often in learning environments that align with Black students’ cultures of origin as well as their needs and priorities (Shappie & Debb, 2019). Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are more likely to create these environments than PWIs.
One source of support for Black students on all types of campuses, however, is Africana studies departments and programs, also known as Black studies, African American studies, and Pan-African studies. Within these programs, Black students can find social support, opportunities for racial socialization, enhanced help in developing cultural pride, culturally responsive activities and services, and knowledge of their intellectual heritage in various subject areas (Adams, 2014; Carey & Allen, 1977). These pedagogical approaches in Africana studies foster positive racial identity development, enhanced self-esteem, increased self-efficacy, and a higher likelihood of graduating (Marie, 2016). These efforts also counter isolation, even on campuses such as PWIs where Black students are underrepresented. The current paper introduces the theory of Africana studies catalytic consciousness (ASCC) with the aim of determining the effects of taking Africana studies classes on students who self-identify as being of African descent on college and university campuses, particularly in institutions where they are underrepresented. Africana studies has an underappreciated yet demonstrated ability to guide Black students in matching their intellectual pursuits with the needs and interests of Black people (Adams, 2014; Carey & Allen, 1977; Marie, 2016). Developed on the basis of multiple investigations into the impact of Africana studies, ASCC theory has a distinct ability to further that goal. A series of empirical studies has measured the influence of Africana studies programs on Black students. This is also known as the Africana studies effect. These research efforts present evidence that exposure to Africana studies correlates with the development of culturally informed perspectives, connections to Black professors, enhanced self-determination, a strengthened sense of social responsibility, a sense of historical location, protection from racism-related stress, enhanced self-awareness, positive racial identity, feelings of connection to the African diaspora, improved academic performance, greater progress toward graduation, and a stronger sense of African self-consciousness (Adams, 2005, 2009; Baldwin & Brown, 1990; Carey & Allen, 1977; Chapman-Hilliard & Beasley, 2018; Chapman-Hilliard et al., 2016; Livingston et al., 2010; Marie, 2016; Oliver et al., 2017; McDougal & Fischer, 2018; McDougal et al., 2018; McDougal, 2019; Sellers et al., 1997; see Table 1). Because my own studies, in addition to the aforementioned investigations, have already provided evidence for the Africana studies effect, the purpose of this paper is to address a remaining gap in the literature in regard to how the effects of Africana studies are interrelated and contribute to one another, which remains unclear. This gap exists in part because, thus far, much of the research on the Africana studies effect is largely descriptive and exploratory and does not include a great deal of explanation. These studies accurately describe the outcomes of exposure to Africana studies without sufficiently explaining how and why students are affected in specific ways. As such, this paper presents a theory of the effects of Africana studies, providing an explanation of these effects and how they work together. Gaining a greater understanding of the effects of Africana studies will put Africana studies departments, colleges, and universities in a better position to enhance and engage in the practices that increase Black students’ success, engagement, achievement, and self-perception.
Empirical Research on the Effect of Africana Studies on Students.
Africana Studies Catalytic Consciousness Theory
The choice of majoring or minoring in Africana studies should not be taken lightly. Deciding to major or minor in this field means walking a particularly meaningful path. Choosing Africana studies serves as an early potential indicator of having the kind of will necessary to take on the great challenge that this field represents. This choice identifies a collection of people with an appetite for knowing and/or doing things related to the Africana world. As such, this project seeks to illuminate what Black students encounter in Africana studies classes and how those encounters systematically lead to a transformation of consciousness. Consciousness, in this context, refers to Black students’ culturally informed awareness, understanding, and perception of themselves in relation to their environments: for example, institutions of higher education. In particular, this paper focuses on students’ intellectual, cultural, and political consciousness. According to ASCC theory, Black students’ experiences in Africana studies create a series of micro-revolutions that begin internally and expand outward. These revolutions involve the development and transformation of culturally, politically, and intellectually oriented consciousness. These internal transformations are followed by socially contagious revolutions involving rising expectations, aspirations, and motivation.
These micro-revolutions can be explained through the lens of the Dagara cosmological wheel, which provides a helpful way of thinking about the influence of Africana studies as a whole as well as its individual parts. In Dagara cosmology, the image of a wheel symbolizes the planet and the cyclical nature of life (Somé, 1999), serving as a lens through which the Dagara people can interpret life. In this paper, the Dagara cosmic wheel will provide a lens through which to interpret and assign meaning to the effects that Africana studies has on Black students. Each of the primary effects of Africana studies, which are nonsequential, contributes to the overall influence of the discipline. The Dagara cosmic wheel contains five elements, four of which correspond to the primary effects of Africana studies: fire (agentic social responsiveness), water (enhancement of intellectual engagement), earth (creation of space), and mineral/stone (self and identity). The fifth element, nature/vegetation, corresponds with African/Black communities (see Figure 1). Nature/vegetation represents the ever-changing conditions of Black communities that Africana studies seeks to improve. Although it is not one of the primary effects of Africana studies, nature/vegetation represents the ultimate proving grounds for Africana studies as a discipline.

Within the image of the wheel, the elements are situated as follows: earth sits at the center; water, at the top (north); fire, at the bottom (south); mineral, on the left (west); and nature, on the left (east).
A theory consists of an interrelated set of assumptions and concepts that seek to explain a phenomenon. To enhance the explanation of the effects of Africana studies, this paper will present several key assumptions of ASCC theory. The remainder of the paper will then discuss the four elements of the Africana studies effect. Emphasis will be placed on how these elements work together to influence Black students in higher education.
ASCC theory makes several key assumptions:
Warfare can no longer be associated with the armed forces alone. The educational experiences of Black students are analogous to a battlefield in the sense that higher learning exposes them to an elaborate array of toxic forces and stimuli (messages and experiences) that can be physically and mentally damaging (Harrell, 1999).
Black students have unique experiences in institutions of higher education, and what enhances their wellbeing and success is similar to but also different from what helps their peers (Blumenthal & Chu, 2017; Goldrick-Rab et al., 2017).
Africana studies affects all students exposed to its pedagogy and curriculum, but it has a qualitatively distinct influence on African/Black students (Chapman-Hilliard & Beasley, 2018).
The most radical action that students of African descent can take is to apply their knowledge and skills in serving the needs of communities of African descent and to look at the world in culturally informed ways that help them understand and effectively serve the needs of the masses of people of African descent (Woodson, 1933).
Africana studies is one of the most powerful tools in the arsenals of people of African descent for aiding Black students in the discovery and fulfillment of their diverse life purposes and in diminishing the effects of the self-subjugation that they are engaged in on a daily basis (Oliver et al., 2017).
Africana studies utilizes a formula that can nurture the unique combination of racial/ethnic identity, intellectual identity, specialized knowledge and skills, and an African/Black community advancement agenda. This distinct blend of qualities produces invaluable resources for African/Black communities.
The assumptions of ASCC represent the premises and beliefs that serve as the foundation for the theory. In particular, they highlight the urgency of understanding and magnifying the effects of Africana studies on Black students in higher education.
Many different iterations of Africana studies are being implemented around the country and world. All of the effects of Africana studies that ASCC seeks to explain cannot necessarily be achieved by any one department or program of Africana studies. In particular, ASCC seeks to explain the impact of Africana studies departments or programs due to the presence of: (1) faculty who act as advocates for the needs of Black students on campus, have training in Africana studies, adopt equitable approaches to teaching, work to support their students, view their students as capable and hold them to high expectations, balance their teaching with research, and engage in community service in ways that are responsive to Africana culture while connecting the curriculum to the needs and concerns of people of African descent; and (2) curricula that cover a broad range of dimensions of African/Black people’s lives, teach students to examine African/Black life through culturally relevant lenses (theories, paradigms, frameworks), are pan-African in scope, teach students to understand anti-Black oppression in its many and changing manifestations, show students how people of African descent have and continue to struggle for liberation, convey the importance of aligning knowledge with service to African/Black communities, and demonstrate how to situate the realities of different peoples of African descent in their own cultural worldviews. These two qualities are more effective when departments or programs have adequate space, personnel, resources, incentives, and representation on university committees that aim to further social and academic initiatives related to equity, university-wide support services, and student success and engagement initiatives.
Karenga (2010) discusses the three fundamental principles of Africana studies: academic excellence, social responsibility, and cultural grounding. Departments and programs may be invested in those principles on a continuum from “not at all” to “completely.” The more grounded the departments and programs are in these principles, the more influence ASCC will have on Black students in the Africana studies discipline. ASCC is designed to examine how Black students are affected by departments and programs that are grounded in all three principles. When students step into environments characterized by the aforementioned qualities, they are being relocated into a space defined by norms that differ from the rest of their college/university’s spaces. When all of the principles are present, students are essentially stepping into a socio-cultural dimension that does not conform to the general university environment imbued with institutionalized anti-Blackness. Thus, the Africana studies experience is similar to a rite of passage. Mazama (2009) identifies a general pattern in rites of passage that includes separation, testing and teaching, and reincorporation into society. Similarly, inside the spaces that Africana studies creates, Black students’ consciousness undergoes a distinct transformation, enhancement, and/or activation, which is contagious among their peers. Ultimately, when they leave these spaces, Black students must reengage with society using the knowledge they have gained from Africana studies. In this way, they undergo relocation, transformation, and reengagement. This transformational effect is defined by four major elements corresponding to the Dagara cosmic wheel: creating space (earth), enhancing self and identity (mineral), enhancing intellectual engagement (water), and developing agentic social responsiveness (fire). The following section discusses these major elements.
Elements of the Impact of Africana Studies
This section discusses the major elements of ASCC, each of which represents one of the major effects of Black students’ exposure to Africana studies. Each element is explained through the lens of the Dagara cosmic wheel.
Earth: Creating Space
Africana studies departments and programs create space at institutions of higher education in ways that bear similarities to the function of the element of earth in Dagara cosmology. Earth, among the Dagara, represents the grounding of people’s sense of identity, visibility, and belonging. In institutions of higher education, classrooms are typically associated with walls, doors, chairs, boards, educational technology, and even virtual locations. These spaces are transformed by Africana studies faculty, pedagogy, curricula, and other Black students in ways that increase Black students’ sense of belonging, safety, and freedom to be their authentic selves. These spaces are protective and welcoming because they foster a complex interaction between faculty members who see Black students as capable, serve as mentors to them, are more likely to be of the same race and/or ethnicity, and hold them to high standards; pedagogies that are equitable, culturally relatable, and able to deconstruct systems of oppression; and Black students who are more likely than most of their peers to share common racial identities, experiences, or cultures, allowing them to affirm their experiences and realities (Beasley et al., 2016; Chapman-Hilliard & Beasley, 2018; Guiffrida, 2003). The approaches to teaching in Africana studies often make use of various styles of instruction, and professors often make an effort to ensure that everyone is learning (McDougal & Fischer, 2018). It is important to note that these environments are more than safe: They also provide a sense of belonging that makes students more academically involved. The fact that the curriculum has more relevance to their own lives leads Black students to become more engaged in Africana studies classes than in many non-Africana studies classes. On many college and university campuses, Black students are exposed to an array of socially and psychologically toxic forces, including but not limited to cultural alienation, social isolation, racist microaggressions, low expectations, stereotyping, racist curricula, and intersectional forms of mistreatment, which can negatively affect them both physically and psychologically (Marie, 2016). Africana studies classes and programming can serve as safe spaces or “clean rooms,” shielding Black students from high levels of exposure to these toxic forces (Oliver et al., 2017). As a result, Black students who are engaging in Africana studies courses are more likely to enjoy uninterrupted academic aspirations, racial and ethnic identification, motivation, self-confidence, and self-expression. Further, the creation of space in Africana studies classes naturally facilitates community-building on campuses (McDougal et al., 2019). Within this space, Black students form relationships with likeminded peers, same-race/ethnicity peers and faculty, and supportive faculty and staff. Black students form a Black campus community within the safe spaces created by Africana studies. In fact, the majority of the students mentored by Africana studies faculty are not even Africana studies majors and minors (McDougal & Fischer, 2018).
However, in Dagara cosmology, while people who are lacking in the earth element experience a sense of hopelessness and absence of visibility, those with too much earth element can become overly territorial and exclusive. The knowledge and experiences produced in Africana studies are not the private property of Africana studies; rather, the discipline is meant to enhance the African world. The consequences of losing track of collective identity (cultural grounding) and social responsibility can lead to thinking and behaviors that are characterized by exclusivity, antagonism, and competitiveness with those outside of the networks, knowledge bases, and experiences that Africana studies students gain from this creation of space. Staying true to the foundational principles of academic excellence, social responsibility, and cultural grounding helps Africana studies departments and programs to maintain healthy relationships with the broader off-campus Black community. Africana studies students and faculty can and do translate the space created in Africana studies into experiences and organizations across Black campus communities and within off-campus Black organizing and institution-building. The spaces created by Africana studies also make students feel more comfortable engaging in sensitive practices such as self-examination.
Mineral: Enhancing Self and Identity
“Kwenda kwa kolokofwa ne nzubo yanji.”
The journey of a snail and its house.
The above saying, “The journey of a snail and its house,” is a Kaonde proverb that means that a wise person carries wisdom everywhere, just as a snail travels everywhere with its shell. The fourth element of the Dagara cosmic wheel is mineral, which represents memory, resources, stories, and symbolism. The element mineral serves as the storage place for information and history, which gives a person a sense of uniqueness and purpose in life. Similarly, Africana studies can have the powerful effect of restoring or regenerating Black students’ cultural memory and thus their perceptions of their individual and collective selves. Like the snail’s shell, this cultural memory serves as critical wisdom through which Black students can understand themselves, their uniqueness, and their own sense of purpose. Although Black people are generally underrepresented in higher education curricula, in Africana studies, Black students gain exposure to the history, culture, experiences, and intellectual heritage of people of African descent in various areas of knowledge while challenging anti-Black stereotypes, misrepresentations, and notions of Black inferiority. This knowledge, combined with the safe space created in Africana studies (a quality associated with the element mineral), allows Black students to feel comfortable enough to interrogate and explore their own identities. It affords them the space to investigate their own internalized racism and other oppression-related harmful self-perceptions. As a consequence, students gain a greater sense of cultural self-awareness; a more positive evaluation of people of African descent, including themselves; an understanding of themselves not just racially, but also culturally; and a sense of belonging and commitment to people of African descent. They gain knowledge that allows them to better understand and appraise their own individual lives and experiences as well as the lives and current conditions of other people of African descent without engaging in victim blaming. The knowledge they gain from Africana studies curricula gives them the ability to draw connections between themselves and their ancestral heritage.
Mainstream society influences many Black students to evaluate themselves based on the cultural standards and definitions of the groups that hold a disproportionate share of power (Kambon, 2003). Through the ability to draw upon the resources of their own cultural and intellectual heritage and history, Black students in Africana studies gain the psychological resources to resist the imposition of Eurocentric and non-African/Black worldviews and value systems on their evaluation of people of African descent (Akbar, 1995). Instead of seeking mainstream validation, they can use internal resources to shape their own personal values, vision, and sense of purpose. Colonization and racism have splintered relationships and fostered division and disunity among people of African descent. However, the pedagogy and curricula of Africana studies allow Black students to gain an appreciation of both the uniqueness and the commonalities among people of African heritage. As a result, they can use their cultural memory to identify and tear down artificial divisions between one another, paving the way for authentic unity (Nobles, 2006). In Dagara cosmology, individuals seeking to remember or recover what has been lost, stolen, or forgotten are in search of the element mineral. However, too much mineral without the balance of the other elements can lead people to become stuck in the past and their newfound knowledge; prevent them from producing their own knowledge, creative projects, or research; cause them to ruminate and become overly self-critical; or lead them to retreat into their shell of wisdom (Akbar, 1985). Finding proper mentorship and remembering the principle of social responsibility will prevent Africana studies scholars from becoming imprisoned by what has already been studied and created or getting caught in the harmful inertia that hinders the formation of new ideas, practices, and products. Instead, they will learn to produce their own knowledge and endeavors while merging their scholarship and production with an effort to meet the needs and challenges of communities of African descent.
Water: Promoting Intellectual Engagement
“Do not drift, rather steer” (Karenga, 1989, p. 31).
In Dagara cosmology, when the original burning sphere of fire encountered a huge body of water (the second element in the wheel), fire (the first element) was forced below the surface, leaving the surface hot, steaming, and fertile. Water cleanses, seeks to reconcile the unreconciled, and aims to add balance to disorder and danger. It cools the burning psyche and calms that which is in a state of volatility (Somé, 1999). People in crisis are believed to seek out water, which brings resolution and removes impurities (Nehusi, 2011; Somé, 1999). In Ancient Kemet, Nun, the primeval waters, represented divine potential, containing all possibilities (Nehusi, 2011). Like water, Africana studies has a strong influence on students’ intellectual engagement. The theories and paradigms in Africana studies are used to answer research questions and solve problems, bringing about resolution and clarification in a way that is similar to how water removes impurities and reconciles the unreconciled. In such ways, Africana studies brings about the development of knowledge, ideas, and creative products. Going beyond the enhancement of self and identity, the intellectual engagement it encourages leads students to systematically interact with the world outside of themselves, answer questions, and create their own knowledge, ideas, or products.
Africana studies is, in part, defined by unique and culturally-grounded theories and paradigms: that is, culturally-grounded approaches to understanding the world in ways that center on the cultures, values, and perspectives of people of African descent. Black students in the Africana studies discipline gain exposure to perspectives grounded in the histories, cultures, and socio-political realities of people of African descent (Chapman-Hilliard & Beasley, 2018). This exposure shapes their intellectual interests, increasing their desire to learn more about people of African descent and connect new information to the lives of people of African heritage. Black students’ intellectual engagement is influenced by central aspects of Africana studies, such as the safe space it provides and the nature of the knowledge in the curriculum. For example, because the curriculum in Africana studies pertains to their own histories, cultures, and intellectual heritage, Black students are often more intellectually invested in and excited about their educational experiences in this field (Adams, 2014; Chapman-Hilliard et al., 2016; McDougal & Fischer, 2018). In addition, the added elements of having space to learn, safety from racism-related anxiety, and cultural affirmation result in improved academic achievement. The enhanced academic engagement and achievement that Black students experience in Africana studies results in increased academic confidence and motivation (Adams, 2014; Beasley et al., 2016). According to ASCC theory, they carry this confidence and motivation into their other classes and intellectual engagements outside of class, resulting in intellectual empowerment. Due to this empowerment, students become more sensitive to and less tolerant of cultural bias and the marginalization of their intellectual heritage in classes and spaces outside of Africana studies.
The approaches to viewing the world that students become exposed to in Africana studies are cleansed of Eurocentric or other racist assumptions, yet informed by the histories, cultures, and socio-political realities of people of African descent. Simply put, like water, the intellectual engagement produced by Africana studies facilitates focus. However, in Dagara cosmology, too much water leads to a lack of ambition, a limited sense of urgency, and the failure to accomplish goals (Somé, 1999). Too much emphasis on intellectual engagement can lead students to become satisfied with asking and answering questions. Satisfying intellectual curiosity, developing ideas, and creating knowledge or products is not enough in Africana studies. Rather, Africana studies scholars must remember to connect their scholarship and production to solving problems, building institutions, and empowering people and communities of African descent. Dagara cosmology resolves this lull caused by the calmness of water with the heat of fire.
Fire: Developing Agentic Social Responsiveness
Fire is the first element in the Dagara cosmic wheel. According to Dagara cosmology, fire is present in everything. Providing a doorway to the ancestors, it is essentially a spiritual energy. When focused and guided, fire drives us to fulfill our life’s purpose (Somé, 1999). In Dagara cosmology, the element of fire clashed with water to produce life on earth (Lilly, 2011). Similarly, based on the ASCC theory, knowledge of self and culturally valid intellectual engagement collide with agency and social responsibility to produce meaningful collective empowerment and advancement for people of African descent. Africana studies kindles fires (i.e., will and drive) within Black students because social responsibility serves as a grounding principle of the discipline itself.
Africana studies teaches students that knowledge should not only be used for exploration, description, and explanation; instead, it must ultimately be leveraged for prescription, intervention, and collective advancement. As a result, Africana studies students will place a greater value on using knowledge to engage in service in order to act as agents of change (Adams, 2005; Livingston et al., 2010). They will then become more critical of society’s institutions and more motivated to apply their intellects to the challenges, needs, concerns, and goals of African/Black communities. In the words of Maulana Karenga (2010), Africana studies curricula involve Africana people’s efforts to take initiative as active agents in shaping the world in their own image and interests. Thus, the curriculum itself exposes students to critical analyses of how and why people of African descent have not only experienced oppression and subjugation, but also fought against it successfully and unsuccessfully in social movements for racial and ethnic advancement, development, freedom, and liberation. Students therefore gain a greater belief in their own ability to catalyze change, partly through the mission, vision, and curricula of Africana studies programs, which all influence students’ interest in igniting change and challenging injustice (Adams, 2014). This enhanced sense of voice and agency prevents Black students from remaining unaware of what is possible and what they can achieve (Clausewitz et al., 1984). Moreover, it inspires them to challenge the world around them and become more involved in efforts to develop and advance their communities (Beasley et al., 2016; McDougal et al., 2018). Learning about Black liberation movements equips Africana studies students with ideas about how to effectively advance the interests of the African world.
The fire of agentic social responsiveness is critical because the safe spaces created in Africana studies classrooms are merely silos of protection in a warzone, outside of which lie damaging forces of oppression on a large scale. Thus, it is incumbent upon African/Black people with specialized knowledge to actively challenge the social structures that are the sources of Black oppression (Harrell, 1999). Martin Luther King, Jr. (1963) taught that it is easy to be like a thermometer, assessing and reporting the current temperature or social climate; the greater challenge is to serve as a thermostat, changing the temperature of the society in which we live. Africana studies teaches students to act as thermostats, using their knowledge to change the conditions of African/Black people’s lives in society for the better.
There are challenges to the dominance of the courage of fire. There are issues related to the dominance of agentic fire without the balance created by the other elements of Africana studies. Fire needs the safety of earth, the memory of mineral, and the calmness and perspective brought on by water. These other elements nurture good judgement. According to Dagara cosmology, too much fire may produce high levels of passion and courage, but ultimately lead to restlessness and destruction (Lilly, 2011). Good leadership, deep knowledge of self (the mineral element), and wise intellectual engagement (water) prevent fire from creating a culture of destruction. Not only do knowledge, wisdom, and proper guidance direct the intelligent movement of agency; agency also improves scholarship, as ideas must be studied and implemented to gain external validity and to guard against artificiality.
Nature: Enacting Change in African/Black Communities
The aforementioned four elements represent the influence of Africana studies on Black students. They typically have an indirect impact on African/Black communities, yet the conditions of African/Black communities serve as the ultimate measure of the work of Africana studies. In Dagara cosmology, the element nature is related to community. Nature represents the principle of change, as it possesses the ability to adjust, shift, and transform its shape. Nature challenges Africana studies students to be their real, authentic selves. For Africana studies, the academic discipline gains its relevance from its ability to guide constructive and positive change in Black communities. African/Black communities demand that Africana studies students and professionals be authentic and organic. Like the element nature, Black communities have served as a source of nourishment, shelter, and growth for Africana studies, which emerged not from the demands of professionals and professors, but from the demands of Black students with the support of the Black community and its allies (Stewart & Anderson, 2015). Carter G. Woodson (1933) claimed that education involves more than information: It also includes the shaping of consciousness and, consequently, behavior. In his classic work The Miseducation of the Negro, Woodson (1933) claimed that Black people had been exposed to a form of education that distanced them from the needs and concerns of Black communities and discouraged them from using their knowledge to serve their communities. Africana studies represents the solution to this “miseducation of the Negro” because it does just the opposite. However, it must maintain organic relationships with African/Black communities; if it does not, then these communities cannot serve as an effective source of nourishment and shelter. Black communities are the soil where the seeds of Africana studies ideas, scholarship, creative products, programs, and services are planted. The results of the seeds planted by Africana studies have yet to be fully appreciated. Current Black social movements and Africana studies departments and programs are instrumentally related to one another (Finley et al., 2017). Often, the leaders and membership of Black student movements at universities and in national Black social movements are Africana studies majors and minors, as Africana studies has provided the intellectual rationale for many of these movements. As such, African/Black communities are the ultimate proving grounds for Africana studies.
Human beings often mistakenly think that modernity requires moving away from nature (Somé, 1999), leading to neglect that has resulted in environmental degradation and climate change. Instead, humans must realize that we can combine technological advancement with respect for nature. Similarly, Africana studies students learn that they can merge their intellect and professional success with service to their communities. They also learn the harmful consequences of distancing themselves from or neglecting African/Black communities.
Conclusion
Precolonial African educational structures were designed to develop within students a robust set of knowledge, wisdom, and skills and to teach them to use these resources to enhance and advance community life in holistic ways (Adekunle, 2000). To varying degrees, colonization, enslavement, and institutionalized oppression have disrupted the relationship between the educational experiences of Black students and the fate of African/Black communities. Despite the systematically disadvantaging effects of many institutions of higher education, Africana studies has demonstrated the capacity to realign the education of Black students in higher education with the advancement of communities of African descent. It also enhances the intent, will, and determination to serve advocated by Woodson (1933). Moreover, Africana studies has the potential to exert a far greater influence in the future than it does at present.
The ASCC theory represents one lens that is designed to explain exactly how and why Africana studies has the ability to help Black students develop a more positive racial identity, increase their self-esteem and self-efficacy, and improve their likelihood of graduating and overall academic success. The types of influence that Africana studies has on Black students correspond to four of the elements on the Dagara cosmic wheel. Similar to the Dagara elements, the elements of Africana studies’ impact are interrelated and capable of being either beneficial or damaging if taken to extremes. Like the elements of the Dagara cosmic wheel, Africana studies must have the goal of ensuring that the elements of its influence exist in a healthy balance. Further, future research should examine the necessary steps in creating the conditions to magnify the effects of Africana studies on college campuses. Africana studies represents a solution hiding in plain sight for people of African descent. At its best, the experience it offers is catalytic in nature and capable of sparking a cascade of thought and practice to advance communities of African descent.
The purpose of a theory is to present an interrelated set of propositions and key concepts to explain some phenomena. The phenomenon that ASCC seeks to explain is the impact of Africana studies on Black students. ASCC theory is designed for the specific purpose of explaining how Black students are likely to be affected by the presence of Africana studies programs on college campuses. It also serves as an effective tool for understanding how the Africana studies effect can be magnified and which obstacles should be avoided in order for Africana studies to thrive. It can be a useful tool for informing faculty hiring, support and development, pedagogy, resources, and overall strategic planning. As part of this effort, Africana studies departments, colleges, and universities can use ASCC to understand and enhance the factors related to Black students’ success, engagement, and self-perception that have been detailed in this paper.
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
