The *Department of Africana Studies at Brown University* offers a
graduate program leading to the *Ph.D. in Africana Studies. *Graduate
students in the program receive rigorous training in the discipline of
Africana Studies and the theories and methods of interdisciplinary
scholarship. The graduate program trains students to become skilled and
informed scholars poised to make significant contributions to academic
and nonacademic communities and initiate cultural, economic, political,
and social policies informed by critical thinking and global
perspectives on social and human development.

The graduate program features three areas of emphasis:

  * *Studies in History, Politics and Theory*

    Studies in History, Politics, and Theory focuses on the
    institutional, theoretical and material expressions of Africana
    culture, experience, and thought.  Graduate students with research
    interests in this area will draw on theories, methods, and
    approaches in Africana Studies as well as Africana philosophy,
    critical theory, feminist theory, political theory, history,
    religious studies, and sociology in developing innovative research
    projects that engage past and present social and political
    formations, the production and reproduction of critical knowledges,
    and the representation of historical and political ideas and
    formations.

  * *Studies in Literary, Expressive, and Performance Cultures*

    Studies in Literary, Expressive and Performance Cultures focuses on
    the critical study of visual culture, performance, and the literary
    arts that critique the contributions and (self) representations of
    people of African descent in global and contested societies.
    Graduate students with research interests in this area will draw on
    the methods and theories in Africana Studies as well as engage
    scholarship in aesthetic theory, cultural studies, literary theory
    and criticism, media studies, and performance studies.

  * *Studies in Feminism, Gender, and Sexuality*

    Studies in Feminism, Gender, and Sexuality focuses on the cultural,
    ideological, political, and theoretical implications of feminist
    consciousness, practices, and theories, constructions of gender as
    well as critical understandings and analyses of sexuality throughout
    the Africana world.  This area of emphasis also stresses the
    critical examination of the complex interrelationships between
    feminist theory, constructions of gender and sexuality, and the
    constructions and operations of legal systems and public policy.
    Graduate studies with research interests in this area will
    critically engage concepts, methods, and theories developed in
    critical theories of race, diaspora studies, feminist studies,
    masculinity studies, queer theory, and womanist theory to examine
    historical and contemporary forms and formulations of feminism,
    gender, and sexuality across various Africana social, cultural,
    economic, political, and theoretical formations.

Within these three areas Africana Studies graduate students are be able
to explore the breadth and depth of the discipline while developing
capacity and competence in distinct areas of scholarship.

The department offers graduate students the opportunity to study and
research for one semester or one year at one of its trilateral research
consortium partner institutions – the Centre for African Studies at the
University of Cape Town or the Centre for Caribbean Thought at the
University of West Indies, Mona.  These institutions offer extensive
faculty expertise, course offerings, and research resources relevant to
Africana Studies.

The goal of the graduate program in Africana Studies at Brown is to
rigorously prepare students to develop new and innovative scholarship
that explores and analyzes the distinct contributions of Africana
cultural, intellectual, political, and artistic productions as well as
critically investigate and develop new methods and theories of critical
interdisciplinary scholarship.

*Admission Information*

*Writing Sample*: Required (20-25 pages)
*GRE General Subject* : Required
*GRE Subject* : Not Required
*Application Deadline* : January 2, 2012

Visit the***Brown University Graduate School at
http://brown.edu/gradschool/apply/online-application
for application information and procedures.

For more information about the Department visit us at
http://brown.edu/Departments/Africana_Studies/.