African Studies (MA)
The master’s programme in African Studies, offered by the Faculty of Humanities and the African Studies Centre of Leiden University, is an advanced area studies qualification that combines leading Africanist scholarship with practice-based learning.
Why study African Studies at Leiden University?
The multidisciplinary master’s programme offers you an opportunity to learn about Africa from a wide range of angles, including historical, literary, cultural, socio-economic, and political. The programme offers a solid methodological and comprehensive programme with six cross-cutting themes: ‘Framing Africa’, ‘Developing?’, ‘Decolonizing?’, ‘Dwelling and moving’, ‘Caring’ and ‘World-viewing’. At Leiden, relevance and real-world issues are at the fore, which means that you get to critically analyse current events as they unfold, from a broad, comparative, and global perspective.
You will be taught by leading scholars of Leiden University and the African Studies Centre Leiden and gain access to the ASCL’s excellent library and high-profile events, such as the ASCL Seminar Series, giving you an opportunity to connect with world-renowned researchers in the field.
Embedded research project
An important part of the master's programme is a ten-weeks embedded research project with a societal organisation in Africa or Africa-related setting elsewhere. Here, you can test your new skills and ideas in practice while gaining invaluable cultural and professional experience. You will receive funding for your embedded research project.
Learn more about the study programme
Paula: My fieldwork in Uganda
In my research, I focused on how refugee children who are left without their parents experience life and education in the settlement. I chose this project in Uganda because I have always been interested in vulnerable groups, and Uganda hosts a huge refugee population. Besides, I joined Winnie Nakkatude's PhD project on access to education for refugee girls. Read more.
Career prospects
This programme prepares you for high-level roles in a variety of sectors. Graduates work in cultural organisations, education, policy-making, development, publishing, public relations, and journalism.
Examples of alumni roles include:
- Policy officer at an embassy in Ghana
- Teacher of African languages
- Journalist
- Curator at a cultural institution
- Manager of a translation/interpreting agency
- Project Manager at an NGO in Africa
- PhD candidate at the Centre of African Studies in Edinburgh
- Team leader at a human rights organisation
- Digital marketing manager at a translation agency
Is African Studies the programme for you?
If you’re curious about African cultures and societies and want to explore the continent’s history, literature, and political landscape, this programme could be a great fit.