Masters program in Global African Studies:
The MA program in Global African Studies engages the most important, pressing questions in the study of Global Africa, across the breadth and depth of the humanities and social sciences. The program is designed to promote interdisciplinarity and interconnectedness, encouraging a deeper, more comprehensive understanding of topics related to Africa and the African diaspora in a global context, with the aim of training a new generation of critical thinkers. It blurs traditional disciplinary boundaries, advancing interdisciplinary methodologies and thought processes by identifying key, intersecting thematic fields and areas. Major cross-cutting thematic fields to be explored include intellectual thought, the Indian Ocean world, Afro-Arab relations, the Muslim world, gender studies and feminist futures, and diaspora. Because the most urgent questions of the moment necessitate trans- or inter-disciplinary collaboration, the institute has assembled a faculty that has the requisite agility to work in, between, and across disciplines to run the program.
The MA curriculum is clustered into three specialization tracks, namely:
1. Museum and Critical Heritage Studies,
2. Afro-Arab Relations, and
3. Diplomacy and Africa’s International Relations
African Languages and Translation
The Africa Institute, an interdisciplinary academic research institute, proudly presents four immersive language courses in Arabic, Amharic, Hausa, and Kiswahili, designed for non-native speakers. These courses, offered by our African Languages and Translation Program, provide an in-depth study of less-commonly taught languages and a unique window into the diverse cultural mosaic of the UAE and the African continent.
Each language offers eight-week-long elementary, intermediate, and advanced level courses with expert faculty, innovative teaching approaches, flexible learning options both in person and online, immersive cultural experiences, and certification awarded by The Africa Institute and the Sharjah Private Education Authority (SPEA).
Fellowship Programs
1. OPEN CALL FOR SENIOR AND POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP 2025- 2026
The Africa Institute, Global Studies University is a globally oriented center for research, documentation, study, and teaching of Africa and its diaspora in the humanities and social sciences. It hosts a series of senior and post-doctoral fellowships, awarded through its Research Fellowships Program.
Conceived as a research-based think-tank and a postgraduate studies institution, the Institute offers both masters and Ph.D. programs dedicated to training a new generation of critical thinkers in African and African diaspora studies and evolving a new model for academic research, teaching and documentation in the field.
In advancing these goals, The Africa Institute offers the following has inaugurated senior fellowships named in honor of the late Toni Morrison, an acclaimed literary icon known as the first African American woman to win the Nobel Prize in literature, and the esteemed late professor of African studies Ali A. Mazrui. In addition to these, there are two postdoctoral fellowships named for the scholar, curator, and art critic Okwui Enwezor and for world-renowned Moroccan scholar Fatema Mernissi.
Please visit our website to learn more about the criteria and eligiblity for applying and the dealine for submitting your application. https://www.theafricainstitute.org/
2. Global African Translation Program
3. Tejumola Olaniyan Creative Writers-in-Residence Fellowship
GSU’s mission is to serve as hub for critical engagement in global studies within the arts, humanities, and social sciences, producing new knowledge and nurturing the next generation of critical thinkers to address global complexities and interconnectedness through knowledge production and postgraduate training. GSU is conceived as a multi-institute entity focusing on Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe, Oceania, and other key regions of the world.
Coming Soon! Admissions for Spring 2025 Masters Programs
OPEN CALL FOR SENIOR AND POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP 2025- 2026
Please visit us in Ru’ya 2024 from 24-26 September! We will also be in Sharjah from November 14th -16th to attend a conference titled, New Directions in African Political Economy, focusing on the late Professor Thandika Mkandawire’s legacy and scholarship, and December 6th – 8th to attend the conference titled, Intertwined Ecologies and Interconnected Histories: The Indian Ocean Rim, which sheds light on the effects of climate change on the regions of the Indian Ocean Rim. We look forward to meeting you!