Africa
Globalization and an increasing appreciation of ethnic diversity at home bring new importance to the study of Africa and to the heritage of the African Diaspora. The promise and challenge of Africa today cannot adequately be appreciated without a realization of the depth and complexity of African History, a history which reaches far back beyond colonialism and the Atlantic slave trade to the origins of civilization itself. Several faculty members, Professors James R. Brennan, Kenneth Cuno, David Prochaska, and Dave Roediger, teach courses and direct research into the social, cultural, economic, and political history of Africa. Their research interests cover urban, economic, family, gender, social and labor history, cultural history and cultural production, land use and agricultural production, the colonial period, colonialism and Islam in Africa.
They are particularly strong in North Africa, East Africa, and Egypt in the Ottoman and modern periods. Graduate study in African History takes place within a rich environment.
Outside the department, students may draw on the support of the Center for African Studies, one of the centers top rated by the US Deparment of Education, an outstanding library with a fulltime Africana bibliographer, and on the expertise of Africanist scholars in such departments as anthropology, English, French, geography, linguistics, political science, religious studies, and sociology. In addition to sources of funding from the Graduate College and the department, graduate students in African History may compete for FLAS fellowship support from the Center for African Studies. FLAS fellowships provide generous stipends together with tuition and fee waivers.