African Studies

Entry requirements

MA programmes normally require an upper second-class Honours degree or equivalent with some background in the disciplines to be studied. Applicants with a background in other disciplines, or with less traditional qualifications, may be accepted for the Diploma in African Studies.

Months of entry

September

Course content

The MA African Studies is a multidisciplinary programme focusing on contemporary Africa. It provides you with an understanding of major social, cultural, political and economic developments in Africa and the Diaspora. It also enables you to develop your critical and analytical powers in relation to current events in Africa, as well as your ability to approach contemporary African issues from interdisciplinary standpoints.

Programme content

The programme provides you with the research training necessary to undertake a broad-based, multidisciplinary study of contemporary Africa and enhances your ability to prepare and present to an audience material you have researched.

To achieve Diploma level, you will need to complete six taught modules. MA students will need to complete six taught modules plus a 15,000-word dissertation.

You will study two core modules:

• Research Skills and Methods in African Studies
• Advanced Perspectives on Africa

You will also choose four optional modules from a range which includes:

• African Fiction and its Critics
• Caribbean Fiction
• Caribbean Poetry
• Contemporary Gender Issues in Africa
• History and Politics of Southern Africa
• Independent Study Module
• Livelihoods and Development in Africa
• Media and Popular Culture in Africa
• Modern Ghana
• Reading African Poetry
• The Social Life of the Economy
• Trajectories of Emancipation in West Africa
• Yoruba Culture

One of your optional modules can also be taken from outside of African Studies, from within Arts or Social Sciences.

Fees and funding

For more information, please visit the University's Postgraduate Funding Database.