Bachelor's in in African American and African Diaspora Studies

The Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in African American and African Diaspora Studies (AADS) examines how people of African descent have shaped our world.

Located in a city with a history of Black sociopolitical movements in society, UNCG’s AADS program provides a forum to engage the complexities of Black life across African diasporas.

AADS students explore race, gender, sexuality, class, and religion as they intersect with topics including history, culture, politics, and social justice.

African American and African Diaspora Studies PROGRAM DISTINCTIONS

• Award-winning and renowned AADS faculty provide a robust interdisciplinary perspective.
• The program’s annual Conference on African-American and African Diasporic Cultures and Experience (CACE) draws presenters from across the nation. Previous conferences have focused on themes like “The Year of the Black Woman” (2021), “Black Studies Matters, Black Stories Matter! Black Knowledge Practices, Black Futures”(2024), and “Global Ecologies: Growing the World We Want” (2025).

THE African American and African Diaspora Studies STUDENT EXPERIENCE

African American and African Diaspora Studies offers courses in 11 different fields and disciplines to complete your degree, including:

• Choose from concentrations in Black Popular Culture or Indian Ocean Studies to further focus your studies.
• Internal and external internship opportunities provide real-world experience.
• Opportunities to present original research at national conferences and UNCG’s own conference, CACE. Current research and scholarship initiatives include the Ethiopian, East African, & Indian Ocean Research Network and the Afro-American/Latinx Studies Project.
• Join the active African American and African Diaspora Studies Student Club which regularly hosts events for students and the community.  
• Small class sizes foster close faculty-student mentoring opportunities.
• Study abroad opportunities are available through partnerships with universities in Botswana, South Africa, the United Kingdom, South Korea, and more. 

Skills You’ll Gain With AADS 

The B.A. in African American and African Diaspora Studies is grounded in essential liberal arts coursework that broadens your horizons and prepares you for a range of careers. Become an engaged global citizen and changemaker with the skills you’ll develop in AADS, including: 

• Diplomacy: How to handle sensitive or delicate situations sensitively, tactfully, professionally, and effectively. 

• Cultural and multicultural awareness: How to understand, respect, and engage with diverse cultures and beliefs, and adapt behaviors and communication styles to bridge divides. 

• Intercultural competence: The skills to communicate effectively and work collaboratively and productively across cultures. 

• Critical thinking: Analyzing and evaluating information to make informed judgments and drive action. 

• Analytical skills: Understanding, analyzing, and synthesizing information from multiple sources to identify patterns and connections. 

Some of the courses you can take with aads

AADS offers a range of truly interdisciplinary courses that connect to explore the richness and diversity of Black life. Some of the highlights include:

• ADS 210 Blacks in American Society: Social, Economic, and Political Perspectives: Examines social, political, economic experience of Blacks in the United States. Topics include the Black family, the civil rights movement, Black politicians, and Blacks in the labor market. 
• ADS 356 The Making of the African Diaspora: Explores the making of the African Diaspora in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean worlds through a combination of historical and ethnographic studies. 
• ADS 330 Black Music as Cultural History: 1960-1980: Examines African American urban music from the 1960s and 1970s as cultural history and as a reflector of social, political, and economic movements of the era. 

Find a full listing of your available AADS courses here.

AFTER GRADUATIng with your African American and African Diaspora Studies degree

African American and African Diaspora Studies graduates pursue a range of careers, including:

• Medicine
• Law
• Marketing
• Public relations
• Nonprofit management
• Teaching
• Activism
• Project management

The B.A. in African American and African Diaspora Studies program is excellent preparation for graduate and professional study, such as law school. Many AADS graduates continue their studies in prestigious graduate and doctoral programs at Duke, Vanderbilt, Rutgers, UC Berkeley, and more. The department offers a wealth of resources to help you continue your academic and professional journey beyond graduation.

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