Top Universities offering Masters program in African Studies - Updated 2020

What do you learn in an African Studies graduate program?

African Studies is the study of African society through the lenses of art, history, language, literature, politics, and religion. Additionally, this program often spends a portion of time studying contemporary issues in Africa, including development, health, and the environment. Your program may also allow you the option to study the African Diaspora, therefore expanding your focus to include the societies of African descendents scattered throughout the world. A graduate in African Studies will have a deep understanding about Africa’s central role in world history, especially in relation to colonialism and globalization. This is a largely interdisciplinary degree, as it integrates many different fields into the study of a single continent.

With a Master’s in African Studies, you will be prepared for a career as a public relations consultant, international trade policy officer, social policy researcher, reporter, journalist, or foreign service officer. Additionally, you have the option to obtain a PhD in African Studies to become a specialist or historian.

There are 3 schools offering graduate degrees in African Studies. Yale University had highest number of international students receiving a Master's degree. Yale University had the most women graduates in this program.

Princeton University

Ranked as: #1 in Best National University
Tuition: $49,450
State: NJ
Students entering the program may come from any department in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Students wishing to obtain a graduate certificate in African American Studies are encouraged to consult with the Director of Graduate Affairs, ideally during their first year, to plan their course of study.

African American Studies

Harvard University

Ranked as: #2 in Best National University
Tuition: $46,384
State: MA
The Department of African and African American Studies offers a graduate degree in African and African American Studies. The program offers rigorous interdisciplinary training in the humanities and the social sciences, with a focus in a disciplinary field, leading to the PhD. Students must take a combination of fourteen courses of which seven must be courses in a primary field.

African and African American Studies

Yale University

Ranked as: #3 in Best National University
Tuition: $42,100
State: CT
African Studies considers the arts, history, cultures, languages, literatures, politics, religions, and societies of Africa as well as issues concerning development, health, and the environment. Considerable flexibility and choice of areas of concentration are offered because students entering the program may have differing academic backgrounds and career plans. The Program in African Studies also offers two interdisciplinary seminars to create dialogue and to integrate approaches across disciplines. In addition to the M.A. degree program, the Council on African Studies offers students in the University’s doctoral and other professional degree programs the chance to obtain a Graduate Certificate of Concentration in African Studies by fulfilling a supplementary curriculum. Joint degrees are possible with the approval of the director of graduate studies (DGS) and the relevant officials in the schools of Forestry & Environmental Studies, Law, Management, and Public Health.

African Studies Yale University