The African & African American Studies Program is designed to establish coordinated interdisciplinary study of the history and culture, the social and economic issues, and the political institutions and processes that have shaped the experiences of people of African ancestry. The program serves as an interdisciplinary intellectual center that encourages research and scholarship in many dimensions of African and African American experiences. It provides access for students and scholars to a broad range of information and research not only from the humanities and the social sciences, but from the arts and professions while taking advantage of Duke University's distinctive resources in each of these areas.