PhD in American Studies
Students in our graduate programs explore connections across boundaries of all kinds: across national borders, continents, and oceans; across lines of social identity; across time; between humanity and the natural environment; across the disciplines; between theory and practice; and between research and social engagement. Transnational analysis is a crucial feature of our program.
Beyond intellectual rigor, our courses also regularly give students hands-on opportunities to develop as future leaders in civic engagement and public policy. To sustain the cross-fertilization of cultural, intellectual, and political projects, we believe in forging and sustaining links with institutions and scholars nationally and internationally. As such, the Department seeks to build on its wider cognition as a center of interdisciplinary and global studies.
About the PhD Program
American studies is home to an interdisciplinary group of faculty and students committed to rigorous, socially engaged scholarship. We take a global and hemispheric approach to the study of the Americas, examining local cultures, nations and regions within their larger geopolitical contexts. Building on our traditional strengths in American Indian studies, critical race theory, feminism, class analysis and community engagement, we encourage scholarly work on history, politics, visual cultures, literary and oral cultures, environmental and agricultural practices, religions, gender, sexuality, kinship systems, geography and economics.
Degree Requirements
Coursework
A total of 72 credits are required for the PhD degree in American Studies, of which at least 40 must be beyond the MA level. Students usually take between five and seven years to complete the doctoral program.
Core Requirements
Fieldwork Methods – 3 credits
Requests from students to take a Field Methods course not offered by the AAS Department, must be approved prior to enrollment by the Director of Graduate Studies or the Chair of the Department.
Cultural History – 6 credits
- AMS 503
- AMS 504
Note: It is strongly recommended that the students take these two courses within the first year of matriculation.
10 Seminars – 30 credits
Any course taken outside requires prior approval from the DGS or department Chair, and must complete the Petition for approval of course for degree credit.
- Comprehensive exams, a dissertation prospectus, and an oral defense of the written dissertation.
Meet Our Students
Contact Us
We encourage prospective students to complete an information request form to learn more about pursuing graduate work in the Department of Africana and American Studies. Current students may contact their faculty advisor or the Director of Graduate Studies with questions.
Sharon Beckford Foster
Director of Graduate Studies
Associate Professor
sbeckfor@buffalo.edu
Katherine Phillips
Program Coordinator
kp58@buffalo.edu
Research Areas
Department of Africana and American Studies operates in a unique niche between theory and practice, research and social engagement, and humanity, and the environment. Students in our graduate programs analyze pressing social issues with a transnational focus. Our research seeks to reclaim the voices, histories and cultures of marginalized peoples in the U.S. and around the globe. Here, you will have the freedom to design an educational pathway that meets your needs, your way. Students may focus on one or a combination of the following areas of research interest:
- American Studies (Broadly interdisciplinary)
- Indigenous Studies
- Black Studies
- Transnational Studies
- Decolonization and Critical Studies
- Diversity and Social Justice Studies
- African and African American Studies
- Caribbean and Latin American Studies
- Latino/a Studies
- Canadian Studies
- Other (to be discussed with your advisor)
Major Concentration
The PhD program requires a student to design, in consultation with their academic advisor(s), a coherent interdisciplinary program. Students can take courses from a wide range of other UB department and schools.
For additional guidelines and specific information regarding academic planning. Doctoral students should consult the AAS Graduate Handbook and their academic advisors.
Comprehensive Examinations
The goal of this exam is that the student demonstrates a comprehensive, broad knowledge of the field(s) on which their dissertation will focus. As this degree program is interdisciplinary in nature, the student should also demonstrate the ability to make interconnections with other fields of study. All doctoral students must successfully complete a comprehensive examination involving both written and oral components.
For more information regarding comprehensive examinations, doctoral students should consult the Graduate Handbook and their academic advisors.
Dissertation Committees
The Dissertation Committee is composed of at minimum three members of the UB graduate faculty. Students may add additional non-UB faculty members. Students work closely with their Dissertation Committee in the fulfillment of all major degree requirements.
For specific information regarding academic planning, dissertation preparation, and defense, doctoral students should consult the Graduate Handbook and their academic advisors.