This is an opinion article and does not necessarily reflect the views of The Tulane Hullabaloo.

It is no secret that Tulane University’s Department of African and African Diaspora Studies is one of the institution’s less popular places to take courses. Not only is the number of students majoring in Africana Studies fewer than ten, but Tulane administrators have recently moved the department’s headquarters from a mid-sized walk-in closet to an old attic. Nevertheless, a better future for Africana Studies at Tulane is possible and the best action the department can take is to offer more Africana classes based within the department itself, such as history, political science, psychology and economics, rather than offer many courses associated with the new wave of interdisciplinary coursework.

‘Interdisciplinary’ refers to the merging of different academic disciplines to produce a new way of approaching a subject. Within ADST, this might refer to a class such as ‘Race and Ethnic Relations in America’. This is a course in the Sociology Department that doubles as an accepted elective for the ADST major, combining sociological theory with topics in African studies. These interdisciplinary courses range from political science, with a strong relation to ADST, to communications and dance, which offer a looser interpretation of African studies.

One justification for Africana Studies offering more courses relating ADST to traditional disciplines is that those classes are more popular. It is simply a fact that the department’s political science, anthropology and history courses are more popular than the department’s strongly interdisciplinary courses, such as dance. A glance at the registrar’s records proves this and Africana Studies Director Professor Laura Adderley confirms this. If the department’s goal is to increase course enrollment, as they say, it should simply offer more courses with traditional departments such as those stated above, as well as art history and French literature.

Another argument for why Africana Studies at Tulane should increase its course offerings in traditional disciplines regards academic integrity. Over the last few decades, interdisciplinary programs in American universities have surged in popularity. The main reason given for interdisciplinary programs gaining popularity is that students are more interested in learning about “topics” than academic methodologies. The latter, however, is what a liberal arts education is predominantly about; liberal arts is about teaching students how to think critically, using a time-tested methodological framework, and apply those skills to any sort of career they may embark on in the future. This criticism of interdisciplinarity, that attempting to learn many disciplines without a strong base in any of those disciplines, has been echoed by many academics. For example, University of Maryland Professor Thomas C. Benson in his “Five Arguments Against Interdisciplinary Studies.”

Basically, if a student completes an Africana Studies major (or any other interdisciplinary major) of about ten courses from various different departments across Tulane, they may learn many important things about Africa, but may not really understand any one discipline’s academic methodologies and thus lack the fundamental critical thinking skills associated with specific disciplines. On the other hand, an Africana Studies major that, for example, consisted of seven African History courses and four courses from other departments would be excellent at ensuring Africana Studies students are learning much about Africa, as well as the traditional academic basics.

For the Department of Africana Studies at Tulane to have a better future, the department simply needs to increase its traditional disciplinary course offerings. It is rare that the popular thing to do is the right thing to do, but in this case, it is. By taking this approach, the department would be increasing its course enrollment and improving the university’s academic standards — a win-win for everyone.

Kevin Young is a junior at Newcomb-Tulane College. He can be reached at [email protected]​