The Program in African and African American Studies (AAAS), established in 1969, was the first ethnic studies program developed at Stanford University, and the first African & African American Studies program at a private institution in the U.S. AAAS provides an interdisciplinary approach to the study of peoples of African descent as a central component of all societies, offering courses that promote research across departmental boundaries.
It has developed an extensive and dedicated network of Stanford scholars who work in race studies and works in concert with the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity (CCSRE). Scholarship can focus on critical intersectionality with gender, class, region, religion and other variables, and thus works closely with other ethnic programs and allied fields of study—from International Relations to Political Science, and from Feminist Studies to Sociology. AAAS also encourages students to use interdisciplinary methods drawn from anthropology, art, art history, economics, languages, linguistics and literature, music, philosophy, political science, psychology, and religion, among others.