الماجستير في الدراسات الأفريقية العالمية

The program requires a total of 36 credit hours for completion. To be recommended for graduation with an MA in Global African Studies, students must satisfactorily complete formal courses in the following categories:

• 6 credit hours of Common Core required courses
• 18 credit hours of Specialization Core courses from their chosen track
• 6 credit hours of Electives

The curriculum also requires students to achieve a ‘Pass’ grade in elementary, intermediate, and advanced levels of the language courses, as well as in the internship program. Additionally, students must complete 6 credit hours of thesis, submit a written thesis evaluated by an examination committee, and successfully defend their thesis in a viva format

The major components of the MA in Global African Studies program are summarized in the table below:

Knowledge

On successful completion of this program, the graduate will be able to:

• Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of key historical and theoretical foundations, while critically engaging with the most pressing and current debates in Global African Studies.
• Demonstrate proficiency in interdisciplinary research principles, approaches, and methods, with the ability to generate new, interconnected insights in African and African diaspora studies.
• Critically evaluate intellectual and artistic productions and representations of Africa and its diaspora, moving beyond dominant area studies models.

Skills

On successful completion of this program, the graduate will be able to:

• Develop advanced critical thinking and interdisciplinary research skills by analyzing and synthesizing complex cultural, historical, and political issues of Africa and its multifaceted connections with the world.
• Communicate research findings, whether one’s own or others’, effectively to academic colleagues, peers, and the general public, through both spoken and written means, in-person or digitally.

Competence

Upon successful completion of this program, graduates will be able to:

• Autonomy and Responsibility: Function autonomously and take responsibility for designing and managing interdisciplinary research projects.
• Self-development: Self-evaluate and take responsibility for critically assessing their own research work as well as that of others.
• Role in Context: Collaborate effectively with individuals from diverse disciplinary and cultural backgrounds, while demonstrating leadership and effective communication in complex settings.

The Africa Institute (GSU) has developed a set of foundational courses and common experiences. All MA students are required to take the following courses:
 

• GAS 601: Theory and Method I (3 credits)

This compulsory seminar is the first of a two-semester program that highlights the study of Africa and its diaspora through diverse academic disciplines. The course is intended to introduce graduate students to the structures and institutions and to the social, political, cultural, and artistic formations that constitute the dynamic worlds of Africa and its diasporas, past and present. The course also introduces students to theories that engage social relations and social change, the economy, the inequalities of culture, and knowledge production. While the course proceeds from Africa and its encounters, its orientation is global.

Topics include themes drawn from the humanities and the social sciences and will be taught by a rotating faculty or guest speaker who will share their unique disciplinary perspective and methodological approach to studying Africa and its diaspora.

The course will explore the relationship between theory and methods in addition to introducing students to the mixed-method approach to research. There is a long tradition of debate in the history and philosophy of the social sciences and humanities about the relationship between theory and methods, between explanation and interpretation, and over the techniques used to generate conceptually informed observations. These controversies have influenced and shaped the way that research is designed and which particular analytical strategies are adopted. The course will therefore afford students a wide exposure to the works and research programs of different scholars working within the field of African studies and with scholars in critical theory of the social sciences and the humanities.

• GAS 602: Theory and Method II (3 credits)

This course is a continuation of Theory and Method I. This compulsory seminar is the second of a two-semester program that highlights the study of Africa and its diaspora through diverse academic disciplines. The course is intended to introduce graduate students to the structures and institutions and to the social, political, cultural, and artistic formations that constitute the dynamic worlds of Africa and its diaspora, past and present.

The course also introduces students to theories that engage social relations and social change, the economy, the inequalities of culture, and knowledge production. While the course proceeds from Africa and its encounters, its orientation is global.

Topics include themes drawn from the humanities and the social sciences and will be taught by a rotating faculty or guest speaker who will share their unique disciplinary perspective and methodological approach to studying Africa and its diaspora.

The course will explore the relationship between theory and methods in addition to introducing students to the mixed-method approach to research. There is a long tradition of debate in the history and philosophy of the social sciences and humanities about the relationship between theory and methods, between explanation and interpretation, and over the techniques used to generate conceptually informed observations.

These controversies have influenced and shaped the way that research is designed and which particular analytical strategies are adopted. The course will therefore afford students a wide exposure to the works and research programs of different scholars working within the specified field and with scholars in critical theory of the social sciences and the humanities.