The request to establish a Graduate Certificate in Africana Studies

Date: May 19, 2011
To: College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
From: Clarence Greene, Faculty Governance Assistant
Approved On: May 4, 2011
Implementation Date: 2011

Note: Deletions are strikethroughs. Insertions are underlined.

Catalog Copy

Program Description—requirements for completion of the program

The Graduate Certificate in Africana Studies is designed for students interested in the global African and African Diaspora experience, with emphasis on history, culture, and social policy. The program provides advanced credential of analytical knowledge and skills in any area of Africana Studies. The certificate can be earned either as a freestanding course of study or in conjunction with master’s or doctoral work in a wide variety of subjects, especially in the Humanities, Social Sciences, Arts and Architecture, Education, and Health Sciences. The graduate certificate curriculum is interdisciplinary and courses offered will provide students with advanced knowledge of the intersecting issues of race, identity, culture and aesthetics, history, globalization, development, and social policy.

To obtain a Graduate Certificate in Africana Studies, admitted students will complete 15 credit hours. It is required that students complete a three-credit hour course in Diaspora and Transnational Theories (AFRS 6610) within the Department of Africana Studies, and another three-credit hour course in one of the following: AFRS 6620 – Advanced Readings in African Modernities; AFRS 6630 – Graduate Colloquium; or AFRS 6901 – Directed Readings/Research. The remaining nine credits may be selected from the list of electives in Section D below or from any of the other UNC Charlotte graduate courses relevant to Africana Studies, as approved by the Department’s Graduate Studies Coordinator.

All or part of the 15-hour credit courses may count towards the M.A. or Ph.D. program in which the student is enrolled, provided that the courses are approved for that purpose by the advisors of that program. Students must have a minimum grade point of 3.0 in each course that counts towards the certificate. The award of the graduate certificate is carried on the student’s official transcript upon completion of the program. Students in another degree programs must enroll concomitantly in the certificate program. The certificate will not be awarded retroactively.

Admission Requirements

Applications for admission to the Graduate Certificate in Africana Studies will be considered as they are received, and admissions will be ongoing. To be considered for admission, an applicant must (1) hold a bachelor’s degree from an accredited university, and with a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.0 (based on a 4.0 scale); or (2) be enrolled and in good standing in a graduate degree program at UNC Charlotte. If the applicant has earned or attempted a post-baccalaureate degree (i.e., master’s, doctoral, or other), grades in that program will also be taken into consideration.

In addition to the general requirements for graduate certificate programs as explained in the Graduate School Catalog, an applicant must provide official transcripts, three letters of recommendation from persons familiar with the applicant’s personal and professional qualifications, and a two-page statement of purpose explaining his/her educational and work background, interests, and plans, with an emphasis on how this certificate will enhance, complement, or advance the applicant’s professional goals and/or personal education.

Required Courses (6 credit hours)
AFRS 6610 Diaspora and Transnational Theories (3)

and one of the following:
AFRS 6620 Advanced Readings in African Modernities (3)
AFRS 6630 Graduate Colloquium (3)
AFRS 6901 Directed Readings/Research (3)

Elective Courses (9 credit hours)*
AFRS 5000 Special Topics in Africana Studies (3)
AFRS 6620 Advanced Readings in African Modernities (3)
AFRS 6630 Graduate Colloquium (3)
AFRS 6901 Directed Readings/Research (3)
ANTH 5090 Topics in Anthropology [when topic is related to Africana Studies] (3)
CSLG 6145 Multicultural Counseling (3)
ENGL 5155 Pan-African Literature (3)
ENGL 5156 Gender and African American Life (3)
ENGL 5157 African American Poetry (3)
ENGL 5158 African American Literary Theory and Criticism (3)
ENGL 6070 Topics in English (3) (Selected topics of literature, rhetoric/writing, and language, when topic is related to Africana Studies)
ENGL 6147 Perspectives in African-American Literature (3)
LTAM 5600 Seminar in Latin American Studies (when topic is related to Africana Studies) (3)
LTAM 6251 Colloquium on Colonial Latin American History (when topic is related to Africana Studies) (3)
LTAM 6252 Colloquium on Modern Latin American History (when topic is related to Africana Studies) (3)
HIST 5000 Problems in American History (when topic is related to Africana Studies) (3)
HIST 5002 Problems in Non-Western History (when topic is related to Africana Studies) (3)
HIST 6000 Topics in History (when topic is related to Africana Studies) (3)
HIST 6601. Graduate Colloquium (when topic is related to Africana Studies) (3)
PHIL 6050 Race and Philosophy (3)
TESL 6204 Multicultural Education (3)

*Other elective courses may be selected, with the approval of the Department’s Graduate Studies Coordinator, from any UNC Charlotte graduate courses relevant to Africana Studies.

Proposed Catalog Copy

AFRS 5000. Special Topics in Africana Studies (3)

Intensive survey of a topic in African, African American, or the broad African Diaspora studies, depending on the needs of student and staff resources. May be repeated for credit as topics vary. (3 cr.; on demand; no prerequisite; lecture/seminar; evenings)

AFRS 6610. Diaspora and Transnational Theories (3)

The course focuses on the dialectical relationships between the social theories of nation, state, ethnicity, identity, race, and culture on one hand and the emerging theorizing of the diaspora and transnational networks on the other. The historical contexts that have shaped the African Diaspora and the more recent global transnational networks will be emphasized throughout the course. (3 cr.; Fall; no prerequisite; seminar; evening)

AFRS 6620. Advanced Readings in African Modernities (3)

The advanced seminar explores the meanings, character, complexity, and consequences of modernity in Africa. The interdisciplinary readings and the analyses that derive from a wide range of disciplines – philosophy, history, anthropology, politics, literature, and the arts – will be deployed to understand the African realities of modernity as a product of 500 years of history from the Atlantic Slavery through colonialism, to the present. (3 cr.; Spring; seminar; evening; prerequisite: three credits of Africana Studies course(s) at the graduate-level or approval of the graduate director)

AFRS 6630. Graduate Colloquium (3)

Focuses on an interdisciplinary theme that combines two or more of the following: literature, language, politics, health issues, social policy, education, popular culture, history, performance theory, pedagogy, etc. Students will write short papers and reports directed toward developing breadth in the theoretical and empirical understanding of a topic in Africana Studies using interdisciplinary approaches. May be repeated for credit as topics vary. (3 cr.; on demand, evening; seminar; prerequisite: prior written permission of instructor and graduate coordinator)

AFRS 6901. Directed Readings/Research (3)

A directed research on a specific theme in Africana Studies. Students will produce a publishable essay at the end of the semester based on original research. The goal is for students to develop research, theoretical and analytical depth in an area of study in Africana Studies. May be repeated for credit as topics vary. (3 cr.; on demand; evening).

Prerequisite: prior written permission of instructor and graduate coordinator.