Graduate Certificate in African Diaspora Studies

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A graduate certificate in African Diaspora studies in the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies at UMass Amherst will introduce students to the current scholarship on the African Diaspora as well as a basic grounding in the historical, political, literary, and cultural responses of African peoples to their diasporic conditions.  A successful recipient of a graduate certificate in African Diaspora studies from UMass Amherst would be expected to have acquired the following knowledge: 

  • Grounding in the complex political and historical development of Pan-Africanism and the African Diaspora in the Americas

  • Conceptual strategies and critical apparati for engaging with a variety of discourses on the African Diaspora

  • Working knowledge of the issues, themes, and concepts informing the current scholarship in African Diaspora Studies, especially a critical engagement with issues such as refugee status, exile, migration, immigration, transnationalism, and expatriation

  • Critical knowledge of the scholarship in at least one aspect of African Diaspora studies

Application information & deadlines

Please consult the program.

African Diaspora Studies

Gain an introduction to the historical, political, and cultural circumstances of peoples of African descent located primarily in the Western Hemisphere.