The interdisciplinary doctoral degree in African American and African Diaspora Studies (AAADS) focuses on the experiences of people of African descent in the United States, in the African Diaspora, and in the world. These shared experiences—among them, slavery, emancipation, imperialism, decolonization, and racism—warrant close attention, and mark this field (Black Studies/Africana Studies) as a discrete unit of study that bears directly and powerfully on world history, literature, and politics.

The doctoral degree offers you two different tracks or specializations to focus their course work—“Power, Citizenship, and the State” and “Race, Representation, and Knowledge Systems,” which reflect the current state of the field and take advantage of the traditional strengths of the department, its adjunct faculty, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Bloomington campus. Within each of these tracks, the degree examines the importance of transnational, global, and comparative perspectives, with an emphasis on the interdisciplinary analysis of race in the world. To provide meaningful support and guidance, this degree program offers supportive mentoring, a reflection of the department’s 40-year commitment to quality teaching.