Program
Princeton University's Program in African Studies is one of the most diverse in the nation. Truly an inter-disciplinary program, faculty from the humanities and social, natural, and engineering sciences play an active role in teaching and advising research at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.
The undergraduate plan of study typically commences with an introductory course that explores African issues from many perspectives and ends with a colloquium where students share their senior research with peers and faculty. In between these "bookends," students select coursework and design programs that can be as broad or as focused as their individual interests. Similarly, African studies at the Ph.D. level are pursued as an integral part of an individual’s course of study in a regular academic department. Study abroad opportunities at both the undergraduate and graduate levels include research, field work, and outreach.
On campus, the program offers a series of lunchtime research seminars and an Indaba--a breakfast meeting where informal discussions on matters pertaining to Africa takes place. It also sponsors a variety of other types of scholarly and cultural activities, many of which are initiated by its undergraduate student organization, Akwaaba, or its association of graduate students, Thingira.
Much is happening in Africa today and Princeton's Program in African Studies offers many exciting ways to explore the social, environmental, and political issues affecting Africa and the African diaspora.
Princeton in Africa
The Program in African Studies strongly encourages concentrators to study in Africa. Through a collaborative undertaking between the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, the Program in African Studies, the School of Engineering, and Kenyan institutions, Princeton University offers a spring semester in Kenya for juniors, "Tropical Biology in Kenya." Princeton also has linkage with the University of Cape Town to enable undergraduate study in South Africa for a semester or a year. Students are also welcome to study at other African universities, including Rhodes University, where an approved summer course is offered.
In addition, students interested in working in Africa for either a year after graduation or during a summer can apply to Princeton in Africa for internships. Princeton in Africa, an independent support organization of the University, was established in 2000 and seeks to encourage American/African collaboration, to provide effective assistance to the world's most underserved continent, and to create a constituency committed to the emergence of Africa as a full partner in the developed world.
2012 Certificate Recipients
Abiodun Oluwaseye Azeez, Woodrow Wilson School
"Equity of Access is Meaningless Without Equity of Success": An Examination of
Academic Development Programs as a Response to Underpreparedness
Among African Students in South African Public Higher
Education; Nannerl
Overholser Keohane
Brittany Marie Cesarini, Woodrow Wilson School
"As For Me and My House…": Engaging Religion in Addressing Intimate Partner
Violence Against Women (IPVAW) in Tanzania; Noreen J. Goldman
Trent Jared Fuenmayor, Religion
"God Helps Those Who Help Others": Religious and Secular Aid in East Africa;
Eddie Steven Glaude Jr.
Michael Derek Gideon, Comparative Literature
Strange Land: Poems; Michael Dickman and Wendy L. Belcher
Megan Marie Hogan, Comparative Literature
Dakar Dem Dikk; Jeffrey K. Eugenides and Wendy L. Belcher
Francesca Michaëlle McNeeley, Politics
The Power of Popular Music: Cultural Policy and Authoritarianism in Africa's
Post-Independence Era; Leonard Wantchekon
Eleanor Dharma Meegoda, Woodrow Wilson School
Steering an NGO: Navigating Between Donors and the State, Evidence from
Malawi; Georges R. G. Reniers
Ayenat Mersie Ejigu, Politics
Cruel and Unnecessary Choices: Political Repression and Economic Growth in
Contemporary Ethiopia; Leonard Wantchekon
Hilary Judith Moss, Art and Archaeology
The Art of Collaboration: An Analysis of the Group Studio Model in Kampala,
Uganda; Chika O. Okeke-Agulu
Sandra Namenya Pauline Mukasa, Sociology
A Litany for Survival: Survival and Resistance Strategies of Black Lesbian
Advocacy in South Africa; Tey Meadow
Julie-Irène Nkodo, History
The Forgotten Human Rights Campaign of the Early 20th Century: The Brutal Forced Labor System of the Congo Free State; Mariana Pinho Candido
Enny Omolara Oyeniran, Religion
A Place in the World: The Growth and Development of "Independent" Nigerian-American Pentecostal Churches; Jessica Delgado
Amira Rose Polack, Woodrow Wilson School
Enterprises for Equity: The Case for Social Enterprise and Development in
South African Township Tourism; Anne-Marie Slaughter
Ida Molloy Posner, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Elimination of Volatile Organic Compounds from Plant-Transpired Water;
Kelly K. Caylor and Eric F. Woods
Brett Adam Richter, Politics
Can Do-Gooders Do Good in Africa? The Impact of Human Resource
Contributions on International Networks and NGOs; Evan S. Lieberman
Michaela Kathleen Shaw, French and Italian
The French Third Republic and Governor-General Gallieni's Native Education
Policies in Colonial Madagascar, 1896–1905; Frank Thompson Nesbitt III
Kristen Kathleen Ward, Politics
The Impact of War and State Strength on Public Health Outcomes in
West Africa; Evan S. Lieberman
Elizabeth Claire Wesche, English
Silent Spring, Loud Response: The Public Mythologies and Political Impacts of
Silent Spring; Simon E. Gikandi
Gabrielle Rebecca Wilkerson-Melnick, Anthropology
"Good Hair Means Curls and Waves": An Ethnographic Study of African-
American Hair Care in the U.S. and Tanzania; Carolyn M. Rouse
