Graduate Certificate

We offer a Graduate Certificate in African & African American Studies for students enrolled in doctoral and master's programs at Duke. The curriculum includes course work, teaching and research. The award of a graduate certificate is carried on the student's official transcript upon completion of the program. Students enrolled in the graduate program are eligible to apply for AAAS teaching assistantships and research funds.

Recommendations & Requirements

Graduate students enrolled in the program are encouraged to participate in all African & African American Studies program events, including the program's lecture series and symposia. African & African American Studies at Duke has a specific interdisciplinary focus on Diaspora Studies and Gender Studies. This emphasis characterizes both our faculty's strength and the curriculum's critical interdisciplinary strategy. AAAS at Duke University is committed to a new model of Black Studies, one which sees race as inevitably intertwined with other social hierarchies and one which forces attention to continuities and disjunctures of social experience across the Diaspora.

Certificate Requirements

  • Complete the Program Application and Ph.D. Graduate Certificate Application
  • Required Courses*:
    • AAAS 699S—Gateway Seminar
    • 3 additional graduate-level courses (500-level or above), 2 of which must be taught by AAAS core faculty. The third course must be cross-listed with AAAS and approved by the DGS.
  • Select either Option A or Option B:
    • Option A: A teaching assistantship or instructorship in an AAAS-related undergraduate course. Assistantships must be supervised by an AAAS core or secondary faculty member. Instructorships msut be sponsored by AAAS or an AAAS primary or secondary faculty member.
    • Option B: A fifth graduate course, approved by the DGS, and the submission of a course proposal with syllabus for a related AAAS undergraduate course. The proposal and syllabus must be submitted prior to the dissertation defense and approved by an AAAS core faculty member.
  • Your Dissertation:
    • A dissertation in an AAAS area with core or secondary faculty represented on the dissertation committee.

*Note: a maximum of 2 course appeals may be approved.

  • Complete the Program Application and Master's Graduate Certificate Application
  • Required Courses*:
    • AAAS 699S—Gateway Seminar
    • 2 additional graduate-level courses (500-level or above), taught by AAAS core faculty
  • Independent Study:
    • An AAAS independent study developed in association with an AAAS core or secondary faculty member
  • Your Thesis/Project:
    • A final thesis/project (MALS students may complete LS 850), approved in advance by the AAAS DSG that addresses an aspect of the program's scholarly mission. An AAAS faculty member must serve as the final reader of the thesis/project or as an examiner in its final review.

*Note: a maximum of 2 course appeals may be approved.