Department website: http://liberalarts.utexas.edu/aads/

The graduate program in AADS provides students with the skills and analytical frameworks necessary to engage interdisciplinary approaches for examining the lives of people of African descent throughout Africa and the African Diaspora, including the United States, the Caribbean, and Latin America.

AADS students interrogate understandings of Blackness and how it is expressed throughout the Diaspora, while engaging in subfields of critical race theory, Black queer theory, Black political theory and economics, Black arts and performance studies, Black diaspora history and anthropology, and Black feminisms. Students also critically engage Black Studies within the contexts of areas such as healthcare, education, psychology, and sociology. The program's objective is to provide students with the broad foundational knowledge necessary to pursue an academic career or conduct scholarly research in Black Studies, African and African Diaspora Studies, Africana Studies and/or related fields

Graduate Handbook

Graduate handbook information is updated and maintained by each program. Graduate handbooks are available within each program's office and online. Please contact the program with concerns or questions.

Total Hours Required: 45

Requirements

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
AFR 390	Black Studies Theory I	3
AFR 391	Black Studies Methods	3
AFR 395P	Special Subjects in Professionalization in African and African Diaspora Studies	3
AFR 389	Academic Writing for Graduates	3
AFR 398T	Supervised Teaching in African and African Diaspora Studies	3
AFR 395Q	Qualifying Examination Preparation	3
AFR 699W	Dissertation	6
Subtotal		24
Additional Coursework		21
Subtotal		21
All students must also follow the requirements and policies below:
Graduate Liberal Arts Requirements
Graduate University Requirements
Total Hours		45

Additional Requirements

Coursework for the PhD varies based on a student's preparation in the field of Black Studies and/or their research interests. This most often affects students entering with a graduate degree; students who enter without a graduate degree must complete the African and African Diaspora Studies (AADS) MA degree requirements before taking the PhD qualifying examinations. Each student's degree plan will be determined by the AADS Graduate Studies Committee (GSC), the AADS graduate advisor, and the student's faculty advisor upon entry to the program. Students must complete required hours in core and supporting coursework in addition to professional development, qualifying exam, dissertation prospectus and dissertation reading, writing and completion. Core coursework explores the theoretical and methodological foundations of Black Studies.

Candidacy

To advance to candidacy for the doctoral degree, all PhD candidates must pass qualifying examinations. Upon successful completion of the PhD coursework and qualifying examinations, students may apply to advance to doctoral candidacy and register for dissertation hours. The dissertation culminates in an original body of scholarly, independent research demonstrating the candidate's expertise in a selected area of concentration. In consultation with their faculty advisor, who serves as dissertation committee chair, the candidate selects a dissertation committee, including at least four committee members. At least three members of the full dissertation committee must be members of the AADS GSC, and at least one member of the committee must be from an outside department or program. More information about the doctoral coursework requirements, qualifying examinations, and dissertation process is available from the department.