Daijahna Biggs is an African and African diaspora studies and aerospace engineering junior.<\/p>\n
Engineering came first: Biggs\u2019 high school allowed her to study on an engineering track at the same time she worked in Civil Air Patrol, an auxiliary organization of the United States Air Force. After getting into UT, she chose to add African and African diaspora studies to stay connected with her identity as a Black woman.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was more so just a \u2018me\u2019 decision,\u201d Biggs said. \u201cJust me knowing that I\u2019ll still have a piece of my identity that I can still learn about, and it\u2019s not just me trying to assimilate to what\u2019s around me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Biggs said that when she began African and African diaspora studies, she did not expect to learn much beyond what she already knew about the experience of being Black. After starting classes though, she was surprised to learn of the program\u2019s scope, which covers prominent works and ideologies of African American and diaspora studies on a global scale.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s so much to it that you can do,\u201d Biggs said. \u201cAnd a lot of people think that everybody in (African and African diaspora studies) is Black, and that\u2019s not true. There\u2019s actually a lot of non-Black people in (the major), so I liked that when I came. I was like, \u2018Okay, I love everybody else is wanting to get involved and learn as well.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Biggs said she enjoys the relationships with faculty that the major has allowed her to build, as well as the perspective on current events her classes have given her. She said a current standout is a seminar class with professor Nessette Falu, where students compare white and Black-centric theories of sexuality and feminism.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say that I always thought of being (LGBTQ+) just as a sexuality, but it\u2019s really a plethora of things,\u201d Biggs said. \u201cIt means connection, it means joy, it means love.\u201d<\/p>\n
Biggs remembers first hearing rumors about African and African diaspora studies losing department status in January through social media. She said the news caught her off-guard.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been going good since I\u2019ve been here, but then out of nowhere to be targeted \u2026 it\u2019s like, \u2018Oh, why?\u2019\u201d Biggs said. \u201cI haven\u2019t seen any negative things that have come out of (the department). I haven\u2019t heard any stories. I haven\u2019t seen anything. I haven\u2019t seen any problems. So I was like, \u2018Why are we being consolidated?\u2019 That\u2019s really weird.\u201d<\/p>\n
Biggs said she can\u2019t come up with a reason for why her department was consolidated. After the change, she said she has perceived a possible shift from the program\u2019s old atmosphere into something \u201crigid,\u201d with members afraid to speak out for fear of administrative retaliation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think (courses) may be a little altered, not authentic,\u201d Biggs said. \u201cWe kind of can\u2019t express what we do in our department freely \u2026 We have to play it safe, so nothing else happens to the department.\u201d<\/p>\n
As she continues her undergraduate education, Biggs said she plans to transfer from aerospace engineering to physics. Whatever career she finds herself in, though, she said her experience with African and African diaspora studies will inform her views and enable her to bring different perspectives to what she views as a more traditional work environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s not a lot of women within that field, so I think having that cultural analysis will kind of bring a more diverse energy to the room, so it\u2019s not just so (many) conservative values,\u201d Biggs said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Daijahna Biggs is an African and African diaspora studies and aerospace engineering junior. Engineering came first: Biggs\u2019 high…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":464755,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-464754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=464754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464754\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/464755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}