3 African-American Studies Masters Degree Programs

The program in African American and African Studies offers students an in-depth exploration of the history, culture, and social issues that shape the lives of Black communities across the Americas and...

The African-American Studies MA program is designed to provide graduate-level training in African-American studies to scholars, teachers, and professionals whose career or professional needs may be furthered or served by intensive scholarly engagement. The program provides students with a thorough grounding in the literature and research of African-American studies, and enables them to produce critical analysis and research about the complex and historically specific experiences of Africans in the Americas. Students also learn how those experiences have contributed to and been shaped by political, cultural, and economic forces both nationally and globally.

The MA program in American Studies is housed in the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race at Columbia University. From this unique institutional vantage, and with the foundation of a year-long course on the history and methods of American studies, students design their own interdisciplinary curriculum from course offerings across Columbia. The degree program culminates in a final research project undertaken with a faculty advisor. Students have traditionally written on American literature and history, but in recent years have begun to conceive projects that intersect with areas as diverse as comics studies, international relations, disability studies, and digital humanities.