Undergraduate Program of Study

Certificate of Proficiency

To obtain the certificate of proficiency, undergraduate students must complete the requirements in their major department as well as the following requirements of the program.

• Introduction to African Studies, AFS 200
• Four courses from an approved list
• Senior Colloquium where students discuss work-in-progress.
• A senior thesis on Africa or an African-related topic.

The Program in African Studies strongly encourages concentrators to study in Africa. Princeton has its own “Semester in Kenya” where Princeton faculty and Kenyan scholars teach a sequence of four courses that each lasts a week. A summer program of intensive Swahili instruction in Tanzania at the University of Dar es Salaam taught by Princeton and African instructors was initiated in the summer of 2007. Princeton also has a linkage with the University of Cape Town to enable undergraduates to study in South Africa for a semester or a year. Students are also welcome to study at other African universities, such as Rhodes University in South Africa, which offers an approved summer course.

2009-2010 Certificate Requirement Sheet

Certificate Courses

The undergraduate courses of interest to certificate students are offered by an array of departments.  Some courses, not on the list below, may also qualify for the certificate.  Please contact Rebecca Aguas with any questions.

Fall Semester 2009-2010:

Spring Semester 2009-2010:

Complete List of Certificate Courses

African Studies
301 African Economic and Political Culture
372 African Cultural Forms in Political Spheres
373 Race, Class and Inequality in Post-Apartheid So. Africa
374 African Development and Globalization
427 Conflict in Africa

Anthropology
314 The Anthropology of Development

Art and Achaeology
472 Igbo and Yorurba Art

Comparative Literature
332 Introduction to the African Novel
370 Topics in Comparative Literature

Economics
339 Introduction to Population Problems
351 Economics of Development

English
383 Topics in Literature and Nationality: Writing Race and Nation: The South African Example

French
317 World Literature in French
377 Women’s Speech: Literature, Gender, and the Francophone African Women’s Experience

History
314 Precolonial Africa315 Colonial and Postcolonial Africa
316 South African History, 1497 to the Present
496 Africa, Medical Pluralism, and the History of Health and Disease

Music
258 Music of Africa

Politics
351 Politics in the Developing Countries
366 Politics in Africa

Sociology
245 Social Change: Modernization and Revolution

Princeton in Africa

The Program in African Studies strongly encourages concentrators to study in Africa. Princeton has inaugurated the Tropical Biology Program in Kenya, where Princeton faculty and Kenyan scholars teach a sequence of four courses and which involves total immersion in the tropics. 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.