The Center for Africana Studies offers a Graduate Certificate in Africana Studies. The Program draws on our affiliated faculty as well as other faculty from the various departments in the School of Arts and Sciences and other schools of the University.
The Graduate Certificate Program in Africana Studies is directed by the Faculty Associate Director of the Center for Africana Studies.
The Graduate Certificate in Africana Studies provides students with an interdisciplinary, comparative, cross-national approach to the social sciences and humanities. This approach enables participants to address their research interests from a wide variety of perspectives than is typically allowed in traditional academic disciplines. The Graduate Certificate Program—particularly participation in the proseminar—gives students a familiarity with the essential social, historical, cultural, economic, and political background for studying issues that are central to the Africana experience, and the ability to produce richly contextualized analyses while maintaining their focus within one discipline.
The Certificate Program expands the professional options of its graduates by providing interdisciplinary training and exposure to the totality of the African Diasporic experience. Such training provides graduates with the flexibility to teach in both traditional academic departments (e.g., one of the cognate disciplines) as well as in programs in Afro- or African American Studies, African Studies, Africana Studies, Black Studies, Ethnic Studies or American Studies. The Certificate Program is also open to students from other schools (e.g., Nursing, Engineering, and the Graduate School of Education) and graduate students enrolled in non-PhD. courses of study.
Students in the Certificate Program participate in a year-long proseminar in Africana Studies (AFRC 640), which includes readings from a variety of disciplines in addition to independent research. Students usually take the proseminar during their first or second year of graduate study. In addition to completing the proseminar, students must complete four additional Africana Studies-related courses selected in consultation with Africana Studies-affiliated faculty advisors and/or the Program director. These courses may originate in Africana Studies or one of its cognate disciplines, and are intended to best fulfill students’ interests and professional goals. The last page of this document includes a current list of Africana-related courses, most of which originate in cognate disciplines but are cross-listed with Africana Studies. We acknowledge, however, that there will be instances in which courses that are not cross-listed with Africana Studies will be suitable for a student’s certificate program. Students are also expected to participate in a faculty-graduate student colloquium in Africana Studies.
Students may apply to the Graduate Certificate Program in Africana Studies at any time during their first or second year of study. A maximum of 15 students are admitted to the program per academic year. Applicants are evaluated based on both their academic record and the appropriateness of their interests to the program.
Application to the program requires a letter of interest, a copy of the statement of purpose submitted with the application to the Ph.D. program in which you are enrolled, a CV, and any additional materials you think would demonstrate your interests and commitment to Africana Studies.
Proseminar in Africana Studies (AFRC 640)
The aim of this course is to provide an interdisciplinary examination of the complex array of African American and other African Diaspora social practices and experiences. This class will focus on both classic texts and modern works that provide an introduction to the dynamics of African American and African Diaspora thought and practice. Topics include: What is Afro-American Studies?; The History Before 1492; Creating the African Diaspora After 1500; The Challenge of Freedom; Race, Gender and Class in the 20th Century; From Black Studies to Africana Studies: The Future of Afro-American Studies.
Africa and African Diaspora Thought (AFRC 706) examines the processes by which African peoples have established epistemological, cosmological, and religious systems both prior to and after the institution of Western slavery.
Cultural History and Literary Theory of Africa and the African Diaspora (AFRC 708) introduces students to the theoretical strategies underlying the construction of coherent communities and systems of representation and how those strategies influence the uses of expressive culture over time.
Political Economy and Social History of Africa and the African Diaspora (AFRC 710) provides the opportunity for students to investigate the relationship between the emergence of African peoples as historical subjects and their location within specific geopolitical and economic circumstances.
Faculty Associate Director, Center for Africana Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Suite 331A
3401 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6228
Phone: 215.898.4965
Email: africana@sas.upenn.edu
