Africana and Puerto Rican/Latino Studies is an interdisciplinary department devoted to the exploration of the history and culture of African people in the Americas, the Caribbean and Africa, as well as Puerto Ricans and the broader Latino experience.
Africana and Puerto Rican/Latino Studies at Hunter College offers students a critical understanding of the political, cultural, social and ideological forces that have shaped the experiences of people of African, Puerto Rican and Latinx diasporas. This multidisciplinary training not only involves a questioning of disciplinary boundaries, but also provides students with the intellectual tools necessary to think critically about the production and dissemination of knowledge.
The mission of the Department of Africana & Puerto Rican/Latino Studies (AFPRL) is to prepare students with the knowledge and skills that cultivate a commitment to social justice and service to the communities we serve. The department’s teaching and research is informed by trans- and interdisciplinary approaches to the study of peoples of African, Puerto Rican and Latinx heritage. Our values rest on a commitment to the free exchange of ideas from the widest range of evidence-based perspectives. We encourage and model critical thinking and produce research committed to social change that shapes our teaching, mentoring and community engagement.
We welcome all students interested in the subject areas our departmental work and mission encompasses. As faculty, students and staff we collectively uphold the broader mission and values of Hunter and CUNY.
Our values are informed by our commitment to justice, equality, the pursuit of knowledge, as well as the free exchange of ideas from the widest range of evidence-based perspectives. We support all of our students and their right to attain an education and our doors are open to any student who is interested in the subject areas our departmental work and mission encompasses.
The Department of Africana and Puerto Rican/Latino Studies prepares students for a broad range of careers in the public and private sector; for entrance to professional schools such as law, social work, urban planning and medicine and for graduate study and research in the social sciences and humanities.
Graduates of the department have pursued careers in journalism, counseling, teaching, public policy, community development, media, politics, psychology and international affairs. The department's interdisciplinary structure offers students an opportunity to satisfy the increasing expectations of admissions committees and prospective employers for a broad liberal arts perspective that complements the specialized knowledge of a field.