Graduate Program

Director of Graduate Studies: 
Glenda Gilmore
203.432.1170

History and Structure

In 1993-94, African American Studies developed a unique graduate program in cooperation with a number of other departments and programs across the university. This program, which grew out of the M.A. program that African and African American studies had launched in 1978, now offers a Joint Doctoral Degree in African-American Studies and another field or discipline. The program became a department in July 2000.

African American Studies offers a combined Ph.D. in conjunction with several other departments and programs. Departments and programs which currently offer a combined Ph.D. with African American Studies are: American Studies, Anthropology, English, Film Studies, French, History, History of Art, Political Science, Psychology, Religious Studies, Sociology, and Spanish and Portuguese. Within the field of study, the student will select an area of concentration in consultation with the directors of graduate studies of African American Studies and the joint department or program. An area of concentration in African American Studies may take the form of a single area study or a comparative area study: e.g., Caribbean or African American literature, a comparison of African American literature in a combined degree with the Department of English; an investigation of the significance of the presence of African cultures in the new World, either in the Caribbean or in Latin and/or South America in a combined degree with the Spanish and Portuguese department. An area of concentration may also follow the fields of study already established within a single discipline, e.g., race/minority/ethnic studies in a combined degree with Sociology. An area of concentration must either be a field of study offered by a department or fall within the rubric of such a field. Please refer to the description of fields of study of the prospective joint department or program.

Special Admissions Requirements

Strong undergraduate preparation in a discipline related to African American studies; writing sample; description of the fields of interest to be pursued in the combined degree program. Additionally, please indicate both African American Studies and the second department/ program on all supporting documents (personal statement, letters of recommendation, transcripts, etc.).

Special Requirements for the Combined Ph.D. Degree

Students will be supervised jointly by the African American Studies Department and the participating department or program. The student's academic program will be decided in consultation with an advisor, the director of graduate studies of African American Studies, and the director of graduate studies of the participating department or program and must be approved by all three.

Students are required to take four designated core courses in African American Studies. Core courses are (1) Theorizing Racial Formations (AFAM 505a/AMST 643a), which is a required course for all first-year graduate students in the combined program; (2) American Legal History: Citizenship and Race (AFAM 829b/WGSS 715b), which is a required course for all first-year graduate students in the combined program spring term; (3) Race and Ethnicity (AFAM 814a/PLSC 823a), which is a required course for the fall term for all second-year graduate students in the combined degree; (4) Dissertation Prospectus Workshop (AFAM 895a and b), which is a yearlong requirement of all third-year graduate students in the combined program after completion of course work. 

The Dissertation Prospectus workshop is intended to support preparation of the dissertation proposal. Each student will be expected to present his or her dissertation prospectus during that year. The workshop will also feature seminars in which students present chapters of their dissertations-in-progress. The expectation is that this workshop will be voluntarily attended by students even during terms when they are not required to register for it. The workshop will be an important part of each graduate student's professionalization and will serve as a vital stimulus to intellectual activity.

Qualifying examinations and the dissertation proposal will be administered jointly by the program and participating department and must be passed within the time required by the participating department.

The total number of courses required will adhere to the requirements of the participating department or program. Each student must complete the minimum number of courses required by the participating department or program; African American Studies core courses (excepting the dissertation prospectus workshop) count toward the participating department's or program's total. For details of these requirements, see the special requirements of the combined Ph.D. for the particular department. Students will be required to meet the foreign language requirements of the participating department. Students will not be admitted to candidacy until all requirements, including the dissertation prospectus, have been met and approved by the Graduate Studies Executive Committee of the African American Studies Department and the participating department.

The faculty in African American Studies consider teaching to be an essential component of graduate education, and students therefore will teach in their third and fourth years.

Fellowships and Admissions Information

For inquiries concerning applications and fellowships, please visit the Graduate School Admissions Website or contact the Graduate School's Admissions Office at: Graduate School Admissions, Yale University, P.O. Box 208323, New Haven, CT 06520-8323. The online application is available in mid-August each year. For all other questions please contact the Director of Graduate Studies, or the Graduate Registrar, Janet M. Giarratano at 203-432-1170.

- return to the top