African and African Diaspora Studies | College of Liberal Arts
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African Studies Certificate

Undergraduates who are not AFR majors can earn a transcriptable certificate in African Studies from the African and African Diaspora Studies (AADS) department; the certificate takes 18 hours to complete.

The African Studies certificate allows students to engage with scholarship on African peoples, cultures, and history through the theoretical lens of Black Studies.  Through the certificate, undergraduates develop interdisciplinary expertise in African Studies related to the student’s personal field of interest. The AADS undergraduate advisor is available to steer certificate candidates towards areas of interest, which can include: Expressive Cultures, Gender and Sexuality studies, Literature, Language, History, Politics, and Society as these topics relate to theories of Blackness on the African continent.

To Apply:

To apply for the program, please download the African Studies Certificate Interest Form. Once you have completed the fillable .PDF file, please either email it to afr@austin.utexas.edu or return it to the Advising Office in the Gordon-White Building (210 W. 24th Street, Austin, TX 78712) GWB 2.112. 

Certificate Requirements:

The certificate program requires eighteen semester hours of coursework, including at least nine semester hours completed in residence.

Students must fulfill the following requirements:

  • The requirements of an undergraduate major
  • African and African Diaspora Studies 304: Introduction to African Studies, or an alternative course taken with approval from AADS
  • African and African Diaspora Studies 310K: Introduction to Modern Africa, or an alternative course taken with approval from AADS
  • Twelve additional semester hours (upper or lower division) chosen from courses on an approved list, or with prior approval from AADS
  • One of the courses listed in requirement 4 must carry a Writing Flag from the School of Undergraduate Studies and/or place an emphasis on research and writing such as AFR 372G or an alternative course taken with approval from AADS
  • Earn a grade of at least a C in each of the courses taken to fulfill the African Studies certificate requirements

Approved Courses:

Approved courses for the African Studies Certificate can be found on the African Studies Certificate Interest Form.

Courses the student has completed at the time of application to the program may be counted toward the certificate. A student may not earn a certificate in the same field of study as her or his major, and at least one course counting toward this certificate must be taken outside of the requirements of the student’s undergraduate degree.

Certificate Completion:

Students may apply for completion of the transcript-recognized undergraduate academic certificate either (1) at the time they complete their undergraduate degree or (2) at the time they complete the certificate program requirements. Transcript recognition is awarded at the end of the semester in which you apply.

For official transcript recognition, students must:

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