What Can I Study?
Our Foundation Certificate in African History is a multidisciplinary programme that allows students to take courses in history, political thought, and history teaching.
All of our courses are pan-African in nature meaning that you will explore how the key concepts in a course apply to both continental and diasporic histories. Each course runs for 12 weeks and you will complete four courses over the course of the year. In this article, we’ll explore the courses in each stream.
History Courses
Courses in the History stream cover over three hundred years of African history and allow you to gain an understanding of political developments across the pan-African world.
Courses run in the past include:
- Historiography and Historical Methods
- The Making of Modern Africa
- The New African Intelligentsia
- The New African Republics
What distinguishes historical studies at the African History Project from other institutions is the embedded pan-Africanism of our approach to the exploration of historical narratives. Whether you are looking at nation-building in the 17th century or labour disputes in the 20th century, students are encouraged and facilitated to look at events across national boundaries, tracking the ebbs and flows of people and ideas between different parts of the pan-African world.
In addition to this, the historical literature of the African experience is championed in reading lists that feature not only the works of leading political change agents but also the works of pioneers in African history writing from the 18th to the 21st centuries. We aim in the options run each year to not only introduce students to specific histories but to the art of history story telling within the African tradition. Social utility and epistemic compassion and humility are central to our approach to the excavation of Africa’s past. Using both oral and written sources, students will learn to critique the narratives of others while learning how to develop robust narratives of their own.
Political Thought Courses
The academics at the African history project are primarily political, legal, and intellectual historians. As a result, the history of political thought is central to much of the research undertaken within the Project and many of the courses on the Foundation Certificate. The courses in the Political Thought stream, though firmly employing methodologies of historical enquiry, allow students to more directly consider the contemporary implications of the topics they cover.
Courses run in the past include:
- African Religion
- Pan-Africanism and Nationalism
- African Political Philosophy
- African Literature, Music, and Visual Culture
The aim of the courses in this stream is to explore the history of different conceptual institutions and consider what they can teach us about the modern world. From religion and political theory to philosophy and the creative arts, you will study how political ideas have been generated, preserved, and disseminated using different mediums across the Pan-African world over the last three hundred years.
The courses in this stream particularly allow students to engage with a wide range of source materials, from political essay and radio broadcasts, to music and poetry, literature in all its guises are dissected for their political dimensions to track the inculcation of ideas within political consciousness as well as the movement of ideas between communities. We aim in the options we run each year to challenge students to re-think not only various political structures, but the linguistics and semantics of political discourse within the African experience.
Related Article: 5 Reasons to Study African Traditional Religion
Education Courses
As a committed public history institution, our academics are at the forefront of innovation in digital pedagogies as well as being innovators themselves in developing new ways of facilitating engagement with African historical narratives. Our history teaching courses are aimed at passionate educators looking to explore African philosophies of, and approaches to, education while also honing their African history subject knowledge.
Courses run in the past include:
- Teaching African History
- Teaching Black British History
- Public History
- Race and Global Citizenship in the Classroom
These courses combine advanced subject knowledge and professional development, allowing you to develop your skills as an educator while exploring different aspects of African history. Our public history course is the first of its kind in the world run by an educational institution specialising in African history. You will learn how to use new media to understand the knowledge needs of the community and formulate strategies to meet these needs.
The courses in this stream are particularly appealing to history subject teachers, whether still undertaking their teacher training or seeking promotion to senior management. The courses are also ideal for those with an interest in starting supplementary schools, instituting an education programme within a cultural institution, or otherwise interested in education policy as it pertains to African history teaching and African students in the classroom.
Find out more
If you would like to learn more about how you can enrol on the Foundation Certificcate, please drop us an email to info@africanhistoryproject.org or send us a message using the form below.
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