The mission of the Department of African Languages and Literature is to provide research and teaching in the areas of African languages, linguistics, literature, and oral traditions. This includes work on both graduate and undergraduate levels, and emphasizes the development and application of analytical and methodological tools that will enable students to work effectively and imaginatively in the four areas.

The four areas are not considered mutually exclusive: the interconnections of these disciplines are studied closely and creatively. It is in the linkages among the disciplines that the Department makes its most significant and original contributions to knowledge.

The Department's mission is also to produce graduate students who are capable of conducting original research and of providing teaching of quality in African languages, linguistics, oral traditions, and literature; students who will assure the future strength and health of these fields, who will carry our work to other institutions and countries. Through our teaching and our publications, we regularly inform and define, develop and give richness to our several disciplines, and so have a shaping influence on the field generally.

As importantly, we seek to have an impact on the larger university community and beyond by our work with undergraduate students, as we cultivate their interests, give depth and breadth to their education, eliminate ruinous stereotypes, and foster understanding.

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