African Studies doctoral programs at The University of Texas at Austin

The African and African Diaspora Studies (AADS) Ph.D. program provides students with the necessary skills and analytical framework to engage interdisciplinary approaches for examining the lives of people of African descent throughout Africa and the African Diaspora, including the United States. Students will develop the broad foundational knowledge necessary to pursue an academic career and to conduct scholarly research in African and African Diaspora Studies and related fields.

The AADS Ph.D. program is the first Black studies program to grant Ph.D. degrees in the southern United States. Dedicated to recruiting and admitting exceptional Ph.D. students who are committed to the study of Black life, our students will learn the skills and perspectives necessary to engage in an interdisciplinary scholarly approach to examining the lives of people of African descent throughout Africa and the African Diaspora. The curriculum offered is methodologically pluralistic, with a thematic and comparative approach that allows for a multi-layered understanding of Black experiences.