M.A. in African American Studies
The Master of Arts degree program is focused on building conceptual and research skills that will allow students to become lifelong critical investigators of cross-cultural interactions. While our focus is on the African American experience, our program approaches that experience in the context of global processes and in terms of its relationship to other groups such as Latinos, Asians, European Americans, Africans, and Native Americans. Applications are due on January 19, 2024. Click here to view admission requirements.
Admissions Tests and Prerequisites
Candidates for the Master of Arts in African American Studies must hold a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution. Because of the broad focus of this program, there are no specific undergraduate concentration requirements except that the student must have completed some study in both the humanities and the social sciences. Graduate Record Examination (GRE) General Tests are required of all applicants.
Course Requirements
The course requirements for the master’s degree in African American Studies consist of GRS AA 871 African American History, GRS AA808 Seminar: Ethnic, Race, and Minority Relations, and CAS AA 591 Black Thought plus five additional courses in African American Studies, for a total of eight courses or 32 credit hours:
• CAS AA 500: Topics in African American Studies
• CAS AA 501: Topics in African American Literature
• CAS AA 502: Topics in African American Literature
• CAS AA 507: Literature of the Harlem Renaissance
• CAS AA 514: Labor, Sexuality, and Resistance in the Afro-Atlantic World
• CAS AA 517: Urban Politics and Policy
• CAS AA 519: Inequality and American Politics
• CAS AA 523: Race, Ethnicity and the History of Childhood in the U.S.
• CAS AA 538: Studies in West Indian Literature: Caribbean Poetry
• CAS AA 580: The History of Racial Thought
• CAS AA 588: Women, Power, and Culture in Africa
• CAS AA 590: The World and the West
• CAS AA 591: Black Thought: Literary and Cultural Criticism in the African Diaspora
• CAS AA 620: African American and Asian American Women Writers
• GRS AA 656: Religion in the Digital Age
• CAS AA 677: Critical Studies: Diaspora
• GRS AA 683: African Diaspora Religions
• GRS AA 716: African Diaspora Arts in the Americas
• GRS AA 740: Science, Technology, Media: Race and Contemporary Criticism
• GRS AA 804: Seminar: The Family
• GRS AA 808: Seminar: Ethnic, Race, and Minority Relations
• GRS AA 871: African American History
• GRS AA 882: History of Religion in Pre-Colonial Africa
• GRS AA 885: Atlantic History
Unlisted professional courses may be selected, in consultation with the director, for graduate credit as part of the African American Studies Program.
Students are also expected to produce two major research papers, one of which must be orally defended during the last semester in residence. The two papers should not be undertaken during the same semester. Each paper should be completed as part of the requirements of a graduate course, with the consent of the professor.
Language Requirement for the M.A.
All students must demonstrate proficiency in one foreign language. This can be done by having completed at least two years of study in a foreign language at the undergraduate level, by passing a language examination administered by the program on the first Friday of the first semester, or by successfully completing a language reading course numbered 621 offered through the Graduate School.
Doctoral Work in African American Studies
Although Boston University does not currently offer a PhD major in African American Studies, it is possible to pursue a concentration within a related PhD program, such as History or American & New England Studies.