Overview
The field has developed exciting insights as well as firm intellectual and empirical foundations for the systematic study of the experience of communities of African descent in the United States and elsewhere and, through such study, for a greater understanding of local, national, transnational, diasporic, and global dynamics, their histories and intersections. From its beginnings, the field has been strongly interdisciplinary, bringing the perspectives of different disciplines to bear on understanding black life especially in the United States. The Department of African American Studies exemplifies these traditions and strengths and, through its courses, provides opportunities to explore the richness and diversity of the black experience in a meaningful and coherent way.
The African American Studies Department at Northwestern University offers courses comparing the black experience in various parts of the world, allowing students to learn to analyze identity, race, and racism as formations that change over time and space. This broad study of the black experience is one of the key features of the Department, distinguishing it from similar departments at other institutions.
Major themes in the curriculum include:
- the nature of colonization and its impact on the colonizer and the colonized
- the advent, implications, and legacies of trans-Atlantic slavery
- racism and its effects on society as well as on scholarship
- the makings and conceptualizations of the black diaspora
- the importance of oral language, history, and tradition in the black experience
- the roots and development of black music, literature, and religious styles
- black politics and social movements, and black radicalism
- the analysis of key institutions and topics such as the family, gender and class relations, and sexuality.
Programme Structure
Courses include:
- Race, Class and Gender
- Hip-Hop Music and Film: The Golden Age
- Unsettling Whiteness
- Topics: "Feeling Black/Black Feeling"
- Black Historiography
- Black Diaspora and Transnationality
Key information
Duration
- Full-time
- 48 months
Start dates & application deadlines
- Starting
- Apply before
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Language
Credits
Delivered
Disciplines
Area & Cultural Studies Language Studies View 3067 other Bachelors in Area & Cultural Studies in United StatesAcademic requirements
We are not aware of any academic requirements for this programme.
English requirements
Other requirements
General requirements
- Common Application or Coalition Application*
- Official secondary school transcript and school report
- Counselor recommendation
- At least one teacher recommendation
- SAT or ACT scores†
- Official TOEFL or IELTS scores‡ (ONLY required for international applicants whose first language is not English or whose schooling has not been in English)
- Nonrefundable application fee of $75 or application fee waiver
- Early Decision Agreement (ONLY Early Decision applicants)
- Midyear transcript
- Music audition (ONLY School of Music applicants)
- Required for homeschooled applicants ONLY: 3 SAT subject tests
Tuition Fee
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International
62391 USD/yearTuition FeeBased on the tuition of 62391 USD per year during 48 months. -
National
62391 USD/yearTuition FeeBased on the tuition of 62391 USD per year during 48 months.
Living costs for Evanston
The living costs include the total expenses per month, covering accommodation, public transportation, utilities (electricity, internet), books and groceries.
Funding
Studyportals Tip: Students can search online for independent or external scholarships that can help fund their studies. Check the scholarships to see whether you are eligible to apply. Many scholarships are either merit-based or needs-based.