Department of African, African-American, and Diaspora Studies (GRAD)

The Department of African, African American, and Diaspora Studies offers M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Africana studies, as well as a graduate minor in this field.

The department’s geographical breadth covers Africa, North America, South America, and the Caribbean, and the disciplinary diversity of our faculty encompasses history, anthropology, political science, literature, ethnomusicology, performance and dance, and other fields. These specializations inform the tracks and concentrations of our new (fall 2025) graduate program. Additionally, the department has a long-standing and highly regarded language program that currently offers elementary, intermediate, and advanced language instruction in Swahili and Wolof. We began offering our first courses in Yoruba in spring 2022.

Our approach to graduate training bridges historical separations between African Studies and African American/Diaspora Studies and unites those fields within intellectual and methodological frameworks that focus on the experience and the agency of peoples of African descent in the modern world from a historical, cultural, and comparative perspective in general, and with respect to the impact of globalization on Africa and the African diaspora in particular. As such, we also aim to address major gaps in current studies of the global experiences of people of African descent.

Courses

Numbered 400-999:

• African, African-American, and Diaspora Studies (AAAD)
• Chichewa (CHWA)
• Lingala Language (LGLA)
• Kiswahili (SWAH)
• Wolof Language (WOLO)
• Yoruba Language (YORU)

The department has adopted the following numbering system for all AAAD courses numbered above 99:

• Courses ending in 00 to 29: African studies
• Courses ending in 30 to 59: African American studies
• Courses ending in 60 to 84: African Diaspora outside the United States
• Courses ending in 85 to 99: Courses that cross geography; dedicated courses whose numbers are reserved by the University Registrar, such as independent studies and internships.

Upon entry into the M.A. or Ph.D. program, students will be initially admitted into one of the following major geographic fields: (1) Africa, (2) African America, or (3) African Diaspora (non-North America).  For the purpose of deepening the major geographic field with multi-disciplinary and content-specific study, students—in consultation with their primary advisor and by the end of their third semester of enrollment—will also declare two major thematic concentrations within the major geographic field.  The options include: (1) Literary Studies and Cultural Production; (2) Gender, Sexuality, and Feminism; (3) Development, Public Policy, and Social Change; and (4) Histories and Africana Critical Theory.  Further, by the end of the third semester of enrollment, each student will select a minor geographic field to complement their major geographic field.  Students may take any configuration of courses in the minor geographic field to fulfill degree requirements and are not required to declare a thematic concentration in the minor geographic field.  The selection of the two major thematic concentrations within the major geographic field and the choice of minor geographic field should be informed by coursework taken in these areas.   

Professors

Claude A. Clegg III
Kenneth Janken
LeRhonda Manigault-Bryan
Eunice Sahle

Associate Professors

Maya Berry
Lydia Boyd
Brandi Brimmer
David Pier
Charlene Regester

Assistant Professors

Shakirah Hudani
​Kevin Irakoze
Nadia Mosquera Muriel
Petal Samuel

Teaching Associate Professors

Samba Camara
Joseph Jordan
Alicia Monroe
Mohamed Mwamzandi
Robert Porter

Teaching Assistant Professors

Victor Alabi
Raphael Birya

Adjunct Faculty

Fenaba Addo, Associate Professor, Public Policy
Anna Agbe-Davies, Associate Professor, Anthropology
Renée Alexander Craft, Professor, Communication
Shorna Allred, Distinguished Professor, Geography & Environment
Lisa Calvente, Assistant Professor, Communication
Youssef Carter, Assistant Professor, Religious Studies
Christopher Clark, Associate Professor, Political Science
Shannon Malone Gonzalez, Assistant Professor, Sociology
Sudhanshu Handa, Eminent Professor, Public Policy
Taylor Hargrove, Assistant Professor, Sociology
Sherick Hughes, Distinguished Professor, Education
Lauren Jarvis, Assistant Professor, History
Priscilla Layne, Associate Professor, Germanic and Slavic Languages
Lisa Lindsay, Professor, History
Todd Ochoa, Associate Professor, Religious Studies
Chaitra Powell, Curator, Southern Historical Collection
Danielle Purifoy, Assistant Professor, Geography
Antonia Randolph, Assistant Professor, American Studies
Victoria Rovine, Professor, Art
Tanya Shields, Associate Professor, Women's and Gender Studies
Karla Slocum, Professor, Anthropology
Michael Terry, Associate Professor, Linguistics