Graduate Studies
Interdisciplinary Graduate Concentration in Black Studies
This concentration offers Masters and Ph.D. students a unique opportunity to complement the graduate coursework in their home department with interdisciplinary training. It is designed to provide graduate students a deeper understanding of scholarship and research methods in Black Studies and to foster participation in an interdisciplinary community of young scholars engaging with faculty experts. The concentration will enable researchers and practitioners with a wide range of intellectual and professional interests to develop expertise in race, culture and politics before they embark on their careers.
Black Studies is a robust interdisciplinary area of study that is informed by traditional disciplines including history, literature, sociology, philosophy, political science, and psychology, as well as newer and emerging fields including gender studies, postcolonial studies, disability studies, and Asian American, Latinx, and indigenous studies. Drawing on hybrid and innovative methodological and theoretical approaches, the department provides courses across historical periods and locations—from a focus on the city of Chicago to black cultures and communities in the Caribbean, Africa and Europe, as well as North America.
Concentration Requirements Heading link
| BLST 501: Interdisciplinary Seminar in Black Studies | 4 hours |
|---|---|
| BLST 502: Graduate Colloquium in Black Studies | 1 hour |
| Elective or BLST 503: Topics in Black Studies | 4 hours |
| Elective | 4 hours |
| Elective | 4 hours |
| Total Credit Hours | 17 hours |
Concentration Contacts Heading link
Ainsworth A. Clarke
Phone:
Email:
Core Courses in the Black Studies Concentration Heading link
BLST 501
Course Description: This course is designed to introduce a diverse range of students to the history, traditions, theories and methods of the field. We will encounter foundational texts and new scholarship that include essays and commentary as well as empirical research and synthesis. Topics will address many of the critical issues in the Black American experience, all underscored by a spirit of resistance and a commitment to intersectional analysis. We will also consider how Black Studies responds to and is dialogue with Black communities beyond the academy. While the course primarily focuses to Black life in a U.S. context, we will devote some attention to the intersections of Black American and diasporic Black thought and culture. Students will be able to articulate the principles and important contributions of Black Studies and identify scholars, writers, artists, and activists that have shaped the field. Students should understand the ways Black Studies scholars have approached their research and contributed to an understanding of Black life in all its varied manifestations. It is expected that students’ research will be strengthened and informed by using Black Studies approaches.
Semester Offered: Spring
Selected Readings: W. E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folks; James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time; Anna Julia Cooper, A Voice from the South, by a Black Woman of the South; Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches; Cedric Robinson, Black Marxism: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition
BLST 502
Course Description: The purpose of this one-credit hour course is to introduce MA and PhD students across different departments to some of the key research questions and areas of debate within the interdisciplinary field of Black Studies. Over the course of the semester, faculty members from the Black Studies department will visit the class to speak about topics ranging across the disciplines of Anthropology, Education, History, Political Science, Criminology, Law & Justice, Gender & Women’s Studies, Literary and Cultural Studies, and Sociology. In addition, some class sessions are reserved for student-led discussions and/or presentations.
Semester Offered: Fall – Wednesdays from 1-2pm
Professor: Dr. Ainsworth Clarke
Selected Readings: Frank Wilderson, Red, White, and Black
Become a Black Studies Graduate Concentrator Heading link
Please click on the link below to begin and submit your application. If you have any questions, please contact the Director of Graduate Studies at madhud@uic.edu.