Black Studies is an interdisciplinary field of study that explores the scholarship, history, political, social and cultural movements and institutions of Africa and the African diaspora with special emphasis on the African American community in the United States. As such Black Studies offers a multi-continental approach to the physical and symbolic terrain, (i.e., the cultures, languages, history, religions, politics) linking the African continent with African diasporic communities worldwide. 

Source: https://www.ccny.cuny.edu/sites/default/files/BlackStudies.pdf