Graduate Programs

The African Studies Center places strong emphasis on multidisciplinary education, language preparation, and active participation in the African Studies Center community. Students are able to choose from among 350 courses drawn from 14 departments of the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences and the schools of Education, Law, Theology, Management, Public Health, and Communication. The African Studies Center provides numerous opportunities for graduate students to enrich their knowledge of Africa through academic lectures, symposia, films, and other activities. We encourage graduate students to participate actively in the development of Africa-related programming, such as the annual Graduate Conference.

The African Studies Center does not grant degrees but instead offers a Graduate Certificate in African Studies for students pursuing master’s and PhD degrees. We seek to enrich the disciplinary and professional training of students with a focused multidisciplinary curriculum of African-content courses and therefore students in any of Boston University’s schools can earn a Graduate Certificate in African Studies. We offer funding to a limited number of graduate students whose work focuses on Africa and who are seeking to complete the Graduate Certificate.

Graduate Certificate Program

The Graduate Certificate in African Studies is available to U.S. and international graduate students who fulfill the basic requirements in African area studies within an existing degree program. It is a particularly useful certificate for students in law, management, fine arts, education, or medicine. To sign up for the Graduate Certificate Program please fill out the Certificate Program Form and return to Michael Diblasi for review and advising.

Language Study

We currently offer Amharic, Arabic, Hausa, Igbo, Swahili, Twi, Wolof, Xhosa and Zulu. Our African language program is the only one in the United States to offer instruction in reading and writing in Ajami, an adapted Arabic script, for Hausa and Wolof learners.

Annual Graduate Student Conference

This conference, wholly convened and organized by volunteer second- and third-year graduate students, will celebrate its twenty-second anniversary in 2014, a remarkable feat and a sign of the high caliber and energetic graduate student body affiliated with BU’s African Studies Center.