Undergraduate
Undergraduate
The Department of African and African American Studies brings together scholars and scholarship from many disciplines to explore the histories, societies, and cultures of African and African-descended people. The field of African and African American Studies is not only interdisciplinary but also comparative and cross-cultural.
The Department offers students three paths of study within its concentration: the African Studies track, the African American Studies track, and the Afro-Latin American and Caribbean Studies track, each with its own set of requirements.
Since 2022, 30 undergraduate concentrators have graduated from AAAS, 28 of whom were joint concentrators who completed extensive senior thesis projects and received honors. An additional 42 students graduated with secondary fields in AAAS, and 22 graduated with citations in African languages (Afrikaans, Amharic, Gullah, Igbo, Swahili, Tigrinya, Twi, Yoruba, and Zulu, specifically). Our African Language Program is widely regarded as the best in the world, with more than 20 languages offered per semester.
Our faculty also teach some of the most popular courses on campus. On average, AAAS faculty are engaged in teaching 110 classes per semester across two dozen Harvard departments and schools. Courses taught by AAAS faculty reach approximately 850 undergraduate students per semester.
AAAS undergraduate students have also received highly prestigious academic prizes. For example, in the graduating class of 2022, Elijah Schimelpfenig won a Hoopes Prize, and Samantha O'Sullivan was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship.
We invite you to learn more about concentrating in AAAS below!
Concentration
African American Studies Track
Students who decide to pursue the African American Studies Track must fulfill the following requirements
African Studies Track
Students who decide to pursue the African American Studies Track must fulfill the following requirements:
Afro-Latin American and Caribbean Studies Track
Students who decide to pursue the African American Studies Track must fulfill the following requirements:
Senior Thesis Guidelines
This section provides basic guidelines and information on the senior honors thesis.
Declaring a Concentration or Secondary Field
This section provides basic guidelines and information on how to declare your concentration or secondary field
Secondary Fields in African, African American, and Afro-Latin Studies
This section provides basic information and the requirements for having a secondary field in African or African American Studies
Academic Contacts
Jesse McCarthy
jessemccarthy@fas.harvard.edu
Carla Martin
cdmartin@fas.harvard.edu
Keirsten Melbourne
keirsten_melbourne@fas.harvard.edu
African American Studies photo: Credit: Trent Bozeman, Heroes (Then And Now), 2022. Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Purchase through the generosity of Lisa Rich. Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
African Studies photo: Credit: Alexis Peskine, French, “Aljana Moons 3,” 2015. Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Richard and Ronay Menschel Fund for the Acquisition of Photographs. Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
Afro-Latin American Studies photo: Credit: Juan Roberto Diago, Sin Título (Untitled), 2011, Mixed media on canvas, 50” x 39.” Courtesy of Private Collection