About
African Studies @ The Mecca
We create, nurture and promote an educational and intellectual culture that provides opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to acquire knowledge and develop interdisciplinary skills that enable deeper and more productive understandings of Africa and Africans in both an historical and contemporary context and their role in and contribution to humanity and the global community.
Our undergraduate courses and graduate studies focus on contemporary Africa and cover multiple disciples.
Our faculty members are internationally recognized and well-published scholars in their respective fields, having collectively produced dozens of scholarly books and over 100 academic articles. Our faculty regularly work with respected scholarly associations (African Studies Association, African Studies Association in Africa, West African Research Association, Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa) and well known international organizations (the African Union, the United Nations, the U.S. State Department, Amnesty International, & the American Council for the Study of Islamic Societies).
With a strong faculty, at one of the most prestigious historically Black universities in the world, in an international city with a large and diverse African community and diplomatic scene, the African Studies Department has earned a reputation as one of the strongest African studies departments in the world.
Our Mission
Our program seeks to cultivate a cadre of African American, American, international and other minority graduates equipped with knowledge and interdisciplinary skills to engage in problem solving, teaching, research and professional careers in African and international affairs and development.
Our History
The Department of African Studies at Howard University is one of the oldest African Studies departments in the United States, housed in one of the largest historically Black institutions in the United States.
We offer B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in African Studies. Our department focuses on taking an interdisciplinary approach to the study of contemporary Africa.
The African Studies and Research Program was established in 1953 to offer the Master of Arts degree at Howard University.
In 1969, the unit was placed in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, offering both M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in African Studies.
Howard University is the first university in the United States to offer a Ph.D. in African Studies, and the only one to offer African Studies as an undergraduate major.
The mission of the Department of African Studies is to create, nurture and promote an educational and intellectual culture that provides opportunities for undergraduate students to acquire knowledge and develop interdisciplinary skills that enable deeper and more productive understandings of Africa and Africans in both an historical and contemporary context and their role in and contribution to humanity and the global community.
The program cultivates and promotes interdisciplinary approaches to studying African historical, political, economic, social and cultural issues and provides necessary skills for critically understanding, analyzing and addressing problems and potential solutions.
The department prepares undergraduate majors to undertake graduate studies and prepares all graduate as well as undergraduate majors for careers and service in local, national and international private, public and non-profit institutions and organizations.