We are thrilled to announce that our new English-language Master of Arts programme in “African Studies: Critical Perspectives on Society, Politics and Culture” has officially launched. It will be starting in winter semester 2023/24 and is now accepting applications for admission from March 15 until July 15!
Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Chair in Epistemologies of the Global South with Emphasis on Africa and Vice-Dean of Research in the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence on the programme:
“Our Master in African Studies: Critical Perspectives on Society, Politics and Culture is top-class, well-conceived, with Africa and Africans at the centre not as objects but subjects of study. Africa is a legitimate epistemic site of knowledge and indeed the cradle of humankind, and this course enables an epistemic travel to Africa.
Interdisciplinarity is the driving force, decolonization and depatriarchization is in-built, and multiplicity of Africa is the intellectual adventure that you experience through and through.
The teaching staff is multi-disciplinary, affording and exposing you to diverse intellectual and academic traditions in African and Africanist scholarship. Thematically, you have a combo. Pedagogically, you will be taken through the pleasures of learning, unlearning and relearning.”
Profile of the master’s programme
The Master of African Studies offers students a uniquely interdisciplinary social sciences approach to the study of Africa. The programme critically engages the social, political and cultural dynamics shaping the region, its history and its entanglements in a globalized world.
It integrates the social science disciplines of social and cultural anthropology, sociology, political science and religion into one dynamic programme, while offering ample opportunity to specialize given the extensive Africa-related course selection available in each of the disciplinary areas. Students acquire an in-depth appreciation for diverse knowledge systems, multiple understandings of Africa, key debates in African Studies and current social and political developments on the continent, as well as the global processes and contexts that constitute them.
The guiding principle of the M.A. is that the generation of knowledge today can no longer be limited to the old intellectual traditions of Europe. The examination of knowledge production in Africa is exemplary for a decentered view of perspectives from and with the Global South.
African Studies in Bayreuth
The University of Bayreuth is one of the most important European locations for interdisciplinary African research with more than 40 professors and lecturers who have a research focus on Africa. Students are able to pursue a broad, interdisciplinary range of courses on Africa and Africa-related issues.
The “Africa Multiple” Cluster of Excellence and the Bayreuth Academy of Advanced African Studies make the University of Bayreuth a hub for African Studies. Successful graduates of the Master in African Studies also have the opportunity to pursue a doctoral degree through the Bayreuth International Graduate School of African Studies (BIGSAS).
More information & how to apply
If this programme sounds like a great fit for you or someone you know, check out our website and the study finder for more information and the application process. We can’t wait to hear from you!