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Overview

As an interdisciplinary graduate program, the African American Studies (AAS) Ph.D. Program—the first program of its kind in the U.S. Southeast—is a highly selective course of study combining the expertise of an esteemed group of more than 50 core and affiliated graduate faculty with research specializations in disciplinary and interdisciplinary fields such as African & African American Studies, American Studies, Anthropology, Art History, Comparative Literature, Creating Writing, Educational Studies, English, History, Music, Political Science, Religious Studies, Sociology, and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. The program provides rigorous training and preparation for Ph.D. students interested in careers within and outside of academe. Our program is organized around the four pillars upon which AAS as a field rests: interdisciplinarity, intersectionality, community engagement, and transnationalism. In addition, each student enrolled in the program will be equipped with specialized training in AAS through one of three cognate fields: Gender & Sexuality, Social Justice & Social Movements, and Expressive Arts & Cultures.

 

Program Details

Beginning with the first AAS Ph.D. cohort in Fall 2023, we will enroll 4-5 new Ph.D. students each year. We also anticipate that each student will complete the degree within 5-6 years. All Ph.D. students are fully funded for 5 years with an annual stipend of at least $37,467, a full tuition remission, and a 100% health insurance subsidy. Though each student is guaranteed funding and support for 5 years, funding for a 6th year—if needed—is possible.
Charles Jackson Headshot

Graduate Program Coordinator

Charles Jackson
404-544-1494
Walter C. Rucker Headshot

Director of Graduate Studies

Walter C. Rucker
Goodrich C. White Professor of African American Studies and History
AAS Graduate Handbook
Mission Statement
W.E.B. Du Bois, a scholar-activist and one of the early forerunners of Black studies, insisted on the essential link between social justice and rigorous scholarship. In keeping with this mandate, the African American Studies Ph.D. program provides interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary, intersectional, and transnational training to tomorrow’s leading researchers of African-descended people in the United States and beyond. Our curriculum offers expertise in the cultural practices, visual arts, histories, intellectual traditions, and politics accentuating the global importance of the field and its attendant systems of knowledge production.