STUDY

The Ph.D. program in Global Studies is a five-year program that entails two years of coursework and three years of dissertation research and writing.

The program is divided into two specialization tracks. The first track covers historical, political, and social studies, exploring the dynamics and structures shaping societies globally. The second track centers on cultural, visual, and literary studies, exploring the role of culture, art, and literature in the global experience. Graduate students have the flexibility to select elective courses from a broad range within social sciences, humanities, and the arts, allowing them to tailor their learning to their specific research interests.

The Africa Institute’s postgraduate curriculum is designed to promote interdisciplinarity and interconnectedness, encouraging a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of global issues. The curriculum seeks to address the most vital and pressing questions related to Global Studies, spanning the full breadth and depth of the humanities and social sciences. It blurs traditional disciplinary boundaries, advancing interdisciplinary methodologies and thought processes by identifying key, intersecting thematic fields and areas of study. Moreover, with its emphasis on the research and teaching of non-Western languages and translation to its students and that of other universities in the country and the public at large, The Africa Institute provides its graduates with a vital understanding of local contexts, relevance, and deep-rooted connections.

Because the most urgent questions of the moment often necessitate trans- or interdisciplinary collaboration, we are assembling a faculty that has the requisite agility to work in, between, and across disciplines. In addition to our commitment to crossing disciplinary boundaries as a necessity of academic inquiry, the Institute embraces new forms of graduate pedagogy, which assure that our students leave our program knowing: how to work collaboratively; how to write for and speak to a range of different audiences (not just academic); how to do effective and impactful public facing work; and how to work with big data and digital platforms. The institute is also actively engaged in global conversations in the humanities and social sciences aimed at expanding the definition of the capstone doctoral project beyond the classic dissertation and at developing criteria for its evaluation and circulation.