The Centre of African Studies will in October 2010 launch a new nine-month MPhil course in African Studies. Our aim is to offer students a window into the cultural, intellectual, and political dynamism of African societies. At a time when Africa is often represented a place in need of outsiders' benevolence and direction, we hope to give students the linguistic and interpretive tools to study African societies on their own terms. The degree will provide an excellent foundation for those who wish to expand their knowledge of Africa, and particularly for students entering positions in the arts, the media, NGOs, and other professions.

There are four elements comprising the MPhil course in African Studies:

• A core seminar;
• A discipline-specific seminar in African History, Social Anthropology, Geography,
• African Politics or Commonwealth and International Literature;
• Language training in Swahili or, by arrangement, in another African language; and
• A dissertation of 15,000 words.

The course is organized in two parts. In the first part of the course, students will enrol in the weekly core seminar, where they will be guided through a body of literature concerning Africa's history, geography, politics and anthropology. Students will, at the same time, attend one of several discipline-specific seminars, chosen according to their particular interest. In Lent term students will write two 5,000 word essays based on their work in the core seminar and in the discipline-specific seminar.

In the second part of the course students will focus their attention on a research project. They will develop a topic in conversation with a supervisor, conduct research, and write intensely during Lent and Easter terms. Students will discuss their work regularly with a supervisor, and will present their research results in the core seminar.

Throughout the year students will attend biweekly classes in Swahili language. Other African languages may be taught by arrangement.

Students who complete the degree to a sufficient standard may apply for admission to doctoral programmes in History, Politics and International Studies, Divinity, English Literature, Anthropology, Geography or in another field. (The Centre of African Studies does not at present offer PhD training). Staff with expertise in African Studies supervise doctoral theses in all of the main disciplinary faculties of the university, and students can continue to work with the same supervisor who guided their MPhil work.

Teaching for the MPhil course will be conducted by a group of fifteen lecturers and post-doctoral researchers connected with the Centre of African Studies. Further information on the staff involved in the teaching programme can be found elsewhere on this website.

The Centre has very strong links with African universities, and each year it hosts a group of five Visiting Fellows from Africa, who come to Cambridge for six months of coordinated research. MPhil students will have many opportunities to interact with, and learn from, the African Visiting Fellows. The Centre's 35,000 volume library, newly housed in the Mond Building, offers rich resources; and MPhil students will in addition have access to the University Library, which holds more than eight million volumes. MPhil students will make particular use of the Library's extensive archival holdings: the Royal and Commonwealth Society's papers and photographs; the Churchill College archives; the British and Foreign Bible Society's papers; and other collections.

MPhil students will be made members of one of Cambridge's thirty colleges, where they will be provided with accommodation and meals.

Specific inquiries can be directed to the Centre, at afrenq@hermes.cam.ac.uk

For information about eligibility for the course, click here
For the MPhil course prospectus, click here
For list of Supervisors, click here

Useful links
Board of Graduate Studies : www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/gradstud/admissions/index.shtml
Funding and Financial Assistance : www.hist.cam.ac.uk/pgadmissions/funding/index.html