African history at the University of Chicago focuses on sub-Saharan Africa from the sixteenth through the twentieth centuries, with particular strengths in the social, cultural, and political history of West, Central, and Francophone Africa. Faculty research includes (but is not limited to), precolonial state-craft, gender, sexuality, urban history, and colonialism. Students who chose to pursue a specialty in Africa will be trained broadly in precolonial, colonial, and post-colonial African history and in the use of a variety of methodological tools and source materials. Graduate students pursuing a Ph.D. in African history are expected to undertake field work in Africa to research the dissertation, as well as acquire an African language. Prospective applicants are also strongly urged to have knowledge of at least one European language.
A distinguishing feature of this graduate program in African History is the opportunity it presents for interdisciplinary, comparative training. Students are encouraged to enrich their Africa focus by pursuing coursework in other fields, such as South Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean, whose historiography engage themes common to Africa. Students will also benefit from other faculty at the university who focus on Africa from a range of disciplinary perspectives, including Anthropology, Human Development, English, Linguistics, and Art History. Faculty and students from these various departments gather together in the intellectually rigorous African Studies Workshop, which meets regularly to read and discuss cutting edge research.