Africa is a continent full of thousands of cultures and languages, which is a lot to cover in one major. If you’re considering studying Africa in college, you’ll want to look for programs that offer opportunities to niche down and zoom in, whether it be through a geographic focus, an issues-based focus, or another lens. We also recommend looking for programs that prioritize language studies and study abroad, and both of those are game changers when it comes to studying a place from afar — especially one you may have never visited!
To help you with your research, we’ve compiled our top ten African History and African Studies programs below, along with a little information on each so you can get a taste of what they offer.
If you’re interested in a history major but don’t know what school is right for you, send us an email. We help students chart a course to a successful future.
Howard University — Washington, DC
Howard is probably the most famous place to study Africa in the United States. They established their program in 1953, and at 70 years old it is one of the most firmly cemented programs in the country. Through courses like “Hip Hop & Popular Culture in Africa” and “Social Media & Political Change in Africa,” students “develop skills that enable deeper understandings of Africa and Africans and their contributions to humanity.”
Yale University — New Haven, Connecticut
Majoring in African Studies at Yale is a research-intensive experience designed to position students to continue on to graduate programs. Juniors and Seniors in the major conduct independent research, and all students take two years of language in one of the five most spoken African languages, such as Arabis, Twi, Wolof, or Kiswahili. Courses include “Pandemics in Africa: From the Spanish Influenza to Covid-19” and “Decolonizing Memory: Africa & the Politics of Testimony.”
Columbia University — New York, New York
Columbia houses their African Studies major in the department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies. Through courses such as “East Africa and the Swahili Coast” and “South African Literature and Culture: Apartheid and After,” students are immersed in a broad cultural, historical, and anthropological program. Like others, they require a minimum of two years of course work in Swahili, Arabic, Pular, or another African language, and students can access languages not taught at Columbia through the Shared Course Initiative.
Northwestern University — Evanston, Illinois
The African Studies major at Northwestern is an “Adjunct Major.” Students in it are required to combine it with another major, but it is more intensive than a minor (which they also offer). Students study African literature, history, anthropology, and politics, and are required to do a capstone senior research seminar. Students also do a practicum, which can consist of a study abroad experience in Africa, an internship with an approved research project, or independent research.
Brown University — Providence, Rhode Island
The Department of Africana Studies at Brown has served students and faculty interested in the “historical, literary, and theoretical expressions of the various cultures of Africa and the African Diaspora” since 1968. The undergraduate concentration, in particular, grapples with “how and in what ways slavery, colonialism, and conceptions of race have shaped the modern world.” Students are strongly encouraged to study abroad in Africa, the Caribbean, or Latin America during their junior year, as well as to study a language relevant to the concentration.
University of California - Berkeley — Berkeley, California
The Department of African American Studies & African Diaspora Studies at Berkeley takes a global perspective on African history, encompassing and prioritizing the diaspora over a specific geography. The program draws faculty from anthropology, cultural studies, linguistics, literature, history, sociology, performance, and education. The primary focus of the program is on the United States, but “the program’s conceptual framework places African Americans within a broader global, diasporic dialogue about the evolving function of race in history.”
Georgetown University — Washington, DC
The Certificate in African Studies in the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown is open to students in all majors. Courses across the university deal with African history, culture, language, economics, and policy, but this program zooms in tightly on the region. There are study-abroad opportunities in Kenya and Tanzania, and students are expected to reach at least the beginner level in an indigenous African language.
Harvard University — Cambridge, Massachusetts
The major in African and African American Studies at Harvard has had 50 years to become one of the top programs in the country. The faculty of the department draws on diverse topic-based and geographic expertise, “not only in the U.S. and the African Continent but increasingly in the Afro-Latin American world and the Caribbean.” There are two tracks of study, “African” or “African American,” and the African Studies track includes an African language requirement and students are encouraged to study abroad in Africa.
Stanford University — Stanford, California
Students in the African and African American Studies major at Stanford pick from one of seven thematic emphases: Politics & The Law; Historical Inquiry; Identity & Intersectionality; Art & Cultural Expression; Media, Science, & Technology; Education, Policy, & Reform; or Social Impact & Entrepreneurship. Through courses like “Race, Ethnicity, and Linguistic Diversity in Classrooms,” and “Black Matters: Introduction to Black Studies” students receive “an interdisciplinary introduction to the study of people of African descent as a central component of American culture.”
Duke University — Durham, North Carolina
Duke provides students in the African & African American Studies program opportunities for global education experiences in places such as Ghana, South Africa, Cameroon, Senegal, Morocco, Madagascar, and more. The DukeEngage programs offer further immersive opportunities through service-learning placements that combine studying Kenya or South Africa with working for impactful NGOs addressing inequities. Students interested in the major can learn more from Trinity Ambassadors for the program.
Nearly every top African History or African Studies program includes a few key things: language opportunities, study abroad opportunities, and a multi-disciplinary approach that makes connections between cultures, communities, subjects, challenges, and politics.
If you’re wondering which program is right for you, send us an email. We help students like you find, and get into, their perfect college.