Welcome to African Studies

Welcome to the African Studies Program at Rice. This website introduces you to the Africanist community and Rice and beyond, and provides information on the African Studies minor for Rice undergraduates. Rice faculty in the disciplines of Anthropology/ Archaeology, History, and Religion research and teach about the African past and the 50-plus countries on the continent today.

These Rice faculty maintain ties with scholars of the African continent in the Houston area, elsewhere in the United States, and in Africa. The Houston Area African Studies Group is a long-standing collaborative among Texas Southern University, the University of Houston, Rice, and other institutions. We encourage anyone interested in attending African Studies events in the Houston area to subscribe to the Houston Area African Studies Group listserv.

Houston has important resources for learning about the African continent.  For example, did you know that two of the finest collections of African art in the world are here in Houston? They are the African antiquities and sculptures housed in The Menil Collection, and the Glassell Collection of African Gold housed in the Museum of Fine Arts Houston.
 

Kerry Ward
Associate Professor of History
Director, African Studies Program