African and African American Studies

The Department of African and African American Studies offers graduate programs in the fields of African American studies and of African studies. Their aim is to offer rigorous interdisciplinary training in the humanities and the social sciences, with a focus in a disciplinary field, leading to the PhD.

The program admits four or five students a year into a five- to six-year program. While there are no specific prerequisites, typically students either have undergraduate majors in African American studies or African studies, or have majors in fields such as anthropology, comparative literature, English, history, history of art, music, philosophy, sociology, and religious studies, and have done some undergraduate work in the field of African or African American studies.

African American Studies

The fundamental rationale for the African American Studies program is that there now exists a substantial body of scholarly writing on African American social, cultural, economic and political life and history, conducted by scholars with a primary training in a traditional discipline, who have drawn on the work of colleagues in other fields to enrich their work. This interdisciplinary corpus of scholarship is at the core of African American studies, and most serious work on African American literature, history, culture and social, economic or political life, proceeds with an awareness of this interdisciplinary background. There is, as a result, a fairly substantial tradition of writings and a lexicon of ideas that together define a core of knowledge in the field. Familiarity with this core at the graduate level is an important part of the training of those who work on these topics.

Along with this background, there is also a good deal of work on the concept of race, which is clearly central to the field, and that can no longer be said to be rooted in a single primary discipline. It draws on anthropology, sociology and intellectual history, the history of science and philosophy, literary and cultural studies, and political science.

These two corpora are substantial enough and of sufficient importance that training in them provides a significant component of the graduate education of a student who wishes to work in African American studies at the same time as acquiring the intellectual tools of a primary discipline.

Our conception of the “American” in “African American” is capacious, not least because a full history of the African presence in the United States cannot be properly constructed without attention to relations among communities in many parts of the New World. There are many other reasons why this is intellectually necessary: a proper understanding of the concept of race, for example, must be comparative (and thus cross-national); and we are bound to acknowledge the complex role of economic, religious, and intellectual linkages among communities of African descent within the Americas, as well as their connections with Africa and with Europe. These general points can be illustrated by various iconic examples: Marcus Garvey, the founder of the largest African American mass political movement in the first half of this century was a Jamaican; Alexander Crummell, who was born in New York, was shaped by his experiences as one of the founders of the University of Liberia; the decolonization of Africa and the presence of African diplomats in New York at the United Nations affected the politics of the Civil Rights movement.

It is this interdisciplinary, comparative, cross-national approach to African American subjects in the humanities and the social sciences that makes our PhD program unique. Students study these topics from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, participating in graduate seminars in anthropology, government, history, literature, and sociology, for example. Thus, they are able to ask and answer questions from a wider variety of perspectives than traditional disciplinary approaches allow. This interdisciplinary approach enables a student to produce richly contextualized analyses while retaining a principle focus within one discipline. The core seminar assures that students have familiarity with the essential social, political, economic and cultural background, and a body of established questions central to the field.

African Studies

African Studies has existed as a field at the university level for almost 50 years now, contributing rich insights and novel paradigms to the humanities and social sciences through its interdisciplinary approach and careful attention to history, culture and lived experience. Emerging at the time of Africa’s political independence, the field has matured at a period of monumental challenges in the continent’s quest for development in the face of marked resilience and creativity on the part of African peoples. In the past five decades, paradigms have shifted in the study of Africa in developmental economics, understandings of state and society, ethnicity and identity, religion and daily life, environment and constructions of environmental sustainability, health and the burden of disease. Since Harvard was the pioneer among American universities in the study of Africa at the beginning of the 20th century, there are strong intellectual and historical reasons for having a strong African Studies program here. The study of Africa is in fact already part of the literature and discourse across many disciplines in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Historians have long studied African history, ranging from pre-colonial studies drawing on both oral traditions and written sources to exploration of colonial and post-colonial periods. In the fields of literature, music, and art, African creativity is of interest in terms of their central roles in African societies as well as their diasporic circulation and influence on expressive culture worldwide. For anthropology, sociology, and political science, Africa has provided major subjects of research and study as well as a source of comparative data. In economics, law, political science, public health, and medicine, Africa has contributed striking new data that has re-aligned thinking in these fields as well as provided grist for comparative studies.

African Studies incorporates concerns with many of the central issues and problems of present-day scholarship. The history of the continent, in particular the impact of the colonial period on indigenous peoples and polities, demands close attention as it constructed borders and boundaries in relationship to indigenous ethnic, religious, or national identities. Many disciplines have begun to recognize the importance of indigenous African knowledge systems and practices to the global discourse in areas of natural resources, environment, healing practices, spirituality, and cultural creativity. Work in African Studies brings to the fore questions about well-worn categories such as tradition, modernization, westernization, and secularization-.

The Harvard Graduate Program emphasizes both the local and global dimensions of African Studies, at once seeking to convey a broad understanding of African history and culture while addressing a wide array of peoples, languages, and societies past and present on the continent. The program also seeks to recognize important national and regional entities in Africa. The curriculum focuses on individuals and institutions important to Africa’s past and present as it explores the relationship of the continent to the wider world, including the historical African diaspora that emerged in the wake of the slave trade and the late 20th-century movement of African peoples after African independence.

The Harvard Graduate Program in African Studies is interdisciplinary and comparative. In particular, it seeks to look closely at the on-going dialogue between Africa and the West, most especially the American diaspora, both as historically constituted and as newly formed by waves of immigration in the late 20th century. It seeks both to train scholars across the disciplines and to produce individuals who will in the future contribute to the discussion of social, cultural, and economic development and growth on the African continent. It seeks to incorporate individuals from the widest range of disciplines and experiences, and to engage them with the larger African Studies community at Harvard.

Our curriculum conveys a broad understanding of African history and culture while addressing a wide array of peoples, languages, and societies past and present on the continent and in the African/black diaspora. In this respect, we seek to grasp the African and African American experience in a single, unifying perspective that endows this experience with its full historical significance. Thus, our conception of the African diaspora extends beyond the Atlantic paradigm that has dominated academic and intellectual discourse concerned with the black experience, in order to project a larger, more comprehensive view that embraces the Indian Ocean, the Pacific area (Peru, Colombia) and the Trans-Saharan-Mediterranean.

Requirements for the Degree

Advising

In their first year, students are advised by the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS), who serves as their mentor until they choose an advisor, generally before the beginning of their second year. After consulting with the DGS, a student may change advisors. Students are encouraged to discuss their interests outside of the primary field with faculty from other departments. This process enables students to develop relationships with various faculty members from whom the student will ultimately select a dissertation committee.

Academic Residence

A minimum of two years of full-time study (14 half-courses or equivalent) is required.

Program of Study

Students must take a combination of 14 courses of which eight must be courses in a primary field.

The distribution of courses in the first three years of study is as follows:

First Year

African and African American Studies 301/302
This yearlong course is co-taught by the faculty of the program. It aims to introduce students to central topics and themes in African and African American studies and to major theories and debates. The first term focuses on issues in literature, philosophy, and culture, including: the concepts of race and ethnicity, slavery and the slave narrative, debates about African literature, the American literary canon, the African and the American in African American culture. The second term focuses on issues in the social sciences and public policy concerning African and African American peoples, including such topics as African languages, nationalism, colonialism and decolonization, varieties of religious experience, aspects of intellectual history, ethnic conflicts and governance, strategies of economic development, and public health (e.g. HIV/AIDS, sickle-cell anemia, malaria, and the politics of science practice) as well as race and class in America, the role of race in the political system, the study of racial attitudes, racial discrimination, affirmative action, criminal justice, and redistricting. There are two required final presentations to the faculty at the end of each term, one on a humanities topic, the other on a social science topic.

In addition, students must ordinarily take at least six other courses of which at least two must be in the Department of African and African American Studies and two in the primary field.

Second Year

Students must ordinarily take at least six courses in their second year.

Students will ordinarily be required to take all of the following courses or their equivalents by the end of their second year:

African and African American Studies 218
— Topics in African and African American History (or applicable graduate seminar in another department encompassing a broad survey of African, African American, or Caribbean History)
One graduate seminar in African and African American Literature

African and African-American Studies 241
— Topics in African and African American Social Science (or applicable graduate seminar in another department focusing on Social Science methods)

By the end of the second year, the total number of courses taken in African and African American Studies and the primary field should be 14, including at least eight in the primary field. In particular, students should take all courses required for an AM in their primary field.

Students specializing in African or African American Studies may substitute other appropriate courses with the approval of the DGS. Students who have already done an equivalent course at other institutions may be permitted to substitute graduate level work at Harvard in African and African American history, literature, and social science, respectively, for these courses, with the consent of the DGS. (The department will require both a copy of the syllabus of the course at the undergraduate institution and an oral or written examination of the student administered by an appropriate member of the department’s faculty.)

Third Year

By the end of the fall term of this year students must have completed the oral exam described below. Students who at this stage have not yet produced a seminar paper deemed of publishable quality must enroll in a graduate course in which they produce a paper of publishable quality. This can be the 14th required course. (This may be taken through African and African American Studies 391 – Directed Writing.)

Students must have completed all course work by the time they are admitted to candidacy.

Master of Arts (AM)

The department does not admit candidates for a terminal AM degree, but students who have met all the course requirements for the degree may petition to be awarded an AM in African and African American Studies. (Students may also find that they can meet the requirements for the AM in their primary field. Students should consult with the DGS in their primary field if they wish to pursue this option.)

Other Requirements

Languages

The student’s advisor will identify the language requirements appropriate for the student’s research in the primary field. In general, these requirements reflect the language requirements of the graduate program in their primary field. However, the DGS and the student’s primary advisor may propose modifications of these requirements if, in their judgment, a different language requirement is more suitable. The student’s orals committee is responsible for determining whether the student has met an appropriate language requirement before proposing a candidate to the graduate committee for admission to the doctorate. Students in African Studies are required, in addition to a major European language, to take at least one African language to the level at which they reach proficiency.

Grade Requirements

Students must maintain a grade average of B+ or better in each year of graduate work. Where the primary field requires either that all courses be passed at or above a certain grade or that the student’s average grade be higher than B+, the student will be required to meet that requirement for courses in the primary field.

No more than one Incomplete may be carried forward at any one time by a graduate student in African and African American Studies. It must be made up no later than six weeks after the start of the next term. In applying for an Incomplete, students must have signed permission from the instructor and the Director of Graduate Studies, or the course in question may not count toward the program requirements. If students do not complete work by the deadline, the course will not count toward the program requirements, unless there are documented extenuating circumstances.

Admission to Candidacy

Oral Examination
Once students have completed their course work, they begin to prepare for their oral exam in their primary field. For this purpose they require a committee, consisting of their major advisor and at least two others, at least one of whom should be a member of the discipline of the primary field. This committee, the student’s orals committee, meets with the student once his or her course work is complete, and defines a bibliography and a set of topics on which the student will be examined orally in the first term of the third year. Once the student has passed the oral exam, he or she prepares a written prospectus.

The Dissertation Prospectus
Ordinarily the orals committee then becomes the dissertation committee, but students may reform their committee at this stage. Students have flexibility in picking their major advisor at the stage that the dissertation committee is formed, since this is the right moment to identify the member of the faculty whose work is closest to theirs. The dissertation committee is responsible for approving the prospectus, and this should ordinarily be completed and accepted at the latest by the middle of their fourth year. The composition of the student’s orals and dissertation committees is subject to the approval of the Graduate Committee in African and African American Studies, though students are given great flexibility in choosing their advisors.

The prospectus is due at the latest by the end of the first term of the fourth year of residence. The student must discuss the prospectus with each member of the dissertation committee and then have a final oral exam on that prospectus: If the committee accepts the prospectus at the exam, the student is admit-ted to candidacy and begins research for the dissertation.

NOTE: Many departments and independent groups organize dissertation colloquia for students in their fourth, fifth, and sixth years, at which they may present and discuss their research.

Dissertation Review

During the period that a student is working on the dissertation, the student will have a primary advisor and a Dissertation Committee. Each term the student will consult with and report to the Dissertation Committee, which will in turn report to the Committee on Graduate Studies as to the progress toward completion of the dissertation. While the student’s principal advisor will ordinarily become the primary advisor and the Prospectus Committee will ordinarily become the Dissertation Committee, a student, in consultation with the DGS, may choose other faculty members. The Dissertation Committee must consist of a primary advisor and at least two others, at least one of whom must be a member of the discipline of the primary field. The primary advisor is the chair of the Dissertation Committee and must be a member of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. In addition, at least one other member of the Dissertation Committee must be a member of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Upon approval of the dissertation by the Dissertation Committee, the department, student, and the Dissertation Committee will agree upon a date for the dissertation defense. Completion of the dissertation is ordinarily expected by the end of the sixth year.

The Dissertation Defense is an oral examination open to any member of the University at which the Dissertation Committee leads in questioning the candidate on his or her work. Upon completion of the oral examination, the members of the graduate committee will consult with the Dissertation Committee and vote as to whether the candidate should be recommended for the PhD degree in African and African American Studies and whether the candidate passed with distinction.

Teaching

An important element of graduate education in the program is the experience of working as a teaching fellow in courses in African or African American Studies. The department also encourages students to seek teaching opportunities in their primary fields.

The graduate committee must verify that a student has had sufficient preparation in
teaching before voting him or her a degree. Students ordinarily teach at least two courses in African and African American studies and one in their primary field during their third and fourth years.

If designated as part of the student’s financial package, students are expected to teach in their third and fourth years at the rate of 2/5 per term. The department will assist the student in securing teaching positions. Priority for teaching fellow positions is given to students in their third and fourth years of graduate study.

Satisfactory Progress

The faculty monitors each student’s progress year by year. During the period between admission to candidacy and submission of the dissertation, the dissertation committee is asked whether the candidate is making satisfactory progress and has to certify in writing when the candidate has completed two draft chapters.

Summary of Requirements

14 courses, at least eight in the primary field.

African and African American Studies 301, 302, 218, 241, and one graduate seminar in African or African American Literature (or equivalent courses with approval of the DGS).

All courses required for an AM in the primary field.

Completion of one research paper of publishable quality (may be completed through AAAS 391).

Language requirements as specified.

B+ average at the end of each year (and any other requirements of the primary field).

No more than one Incomplete outstanding at any given time.

Oral exam for admission to candidacy.

Teaching experience.

Prospectus exam.

Dissertation completion.

Dissertation defense.

Faculty in the Program

Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Victor S. Thomas Professor of History and of African and African American Studies (Chair)

Emmanuel K. Akyeampong, Harvard College Professor and Professor of History and of African and African American Studies

Robert H. Bates, Eaton Professor of the Science of Government and Professor of African and African American Studies

Homi K. Bhabha, Anne F. Rothenberg Professor of the Humanities, (on leave 2008-09)

Suzanne P. Blier, Allen Whitehill Clowes Professor of Fine Arts and Professor of African and African American Studies

Lawrence D. Bobo, W.E.B. Du Bois Professor of the Social Sciences
 
Glenda R. Carpio, Associate Professor of African and African American Studies and of English and American Literature and Language

Kimberly McClain DaCosta, Associate Professor of African and African American Studies and of Social Studies

Marla F. Frederick, Assistant Professor of African and African American Studies and of the Study of Religion (on leave 2008-09)

Duana Fullwiley, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and of African and African American Studies

Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher, Jr. University Professor
 
Claudine Gay, Professor of History and of African and African American Studies (on leave fall 2008 term)

Evelynn M. Hammonds, Professor of the History of Science and of African and African American Studies

Jennifer L. Hochschild, Henry LaBarre Jayne Professor of Government and Professor of African and African American Studies, Harvard College Professor (on leave spring term)

Francis Abiola Irele, Visiting Professor of African and African American Studies and of Romance Languages and Literatures

Biodun Jeyifo, Professor of African and African American Studies (Director of Graduate Studies, fall term)

Walter Johnson, Professor of History and of African and African American Studies

Jamaica Kincaid, Visiting Lecturer on African and African American Studies and on English and American Literature and Language

Michael R. Kremer, Gates Professor of Developing Societies

Michèle Lamont, Robert I. Goldman Professor of European Studies and Professor of Sociology and of African and African American Studies

J. Lorand Matory, Professor of Anthropology and of African and African American Studies

Ingrid Monson, Quincy Jones Professor of African-American Music, Supported by the Time Warner Endowment

Marcyliena Morgan, Professor of African and African American Studies and Executive Director of the Hip Hop Archive

John M. Mugane, Professor of the Practice of African Languages and Cultures and Director of the African Language Program

Susan E. O’Donovan, Associate Professor of African and African American Studies and of History

Jacob Olupona, Professor of African and African American Studies (FAS) and Professor of African Religious Traditions (Divinity School) (on leave spring term)

Tommie Shelby, John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences (Director of Undergraduate Studies)

Kay Kaufman Shelemay, G. Gordon Watts Professor of Music and Professor of African and African American Studies

James Sidanius, Professor of Psychology and of African and African American Studies
 
Werner Sollors, Henry B. and Anne M. Cabot Professor of English Literature and Professor of African and African American Studies (Director of Graduate Studies, spring term) (on leave fall term)

Doris Sommer, Ira Jewell Williams Jr. Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures and of African American Studies.

John Stauffer, Professor of English and American Literature and Language and Professor of African and African American Studies

David Williams, Florence Sprague Norman and Laura Smart Norman Professor of Public Health in the School of Public Health and Professor of African and African American Studies in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences

William Julius Wilson, Lewis F. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor

Other Faculty Offering Instruction in African and African American Studies

Ali S. Asani, Professor of the Practice of Indo-Muslim Languages and Cultures

Vincent Brown, Dunwalke Associate Professor of American History (on leave 2008-09)

Orlando Patterson, John Cowles Professor of Sociology

Mark R. Warren, Associate Professor of Education (Education School)

Further information regarding study in the program may be obtained by contacting:

Kathleen Cloutier
Graduate and Undergraduate Program Officer
Barker Center, Room 232
12 Quincy Street
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138
Telephone: (617) 384-7767
email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Applications for admission and financial aid may be obtained from the Admissions Office, Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Holyoke Center, 3rd floor, 1350 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138. We encourage online submission of the application.

 
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