Doctoral Portfolio Program
The objectives of the African and African American Studies Doctoral Portfolio are to use an advanced approach to interdisciplinary studies; a mapping of the intellectual breadth of African and African American Studies; the continued development of existing resources, including a sustained international and national reputation for intellectual rigor and productivity. The African and African American Studies Doctoral Portfolio will be administered by the Doctoral Portfolio Steering Committee that consists of Dr. Edmund T. Gordon (CAAAS Director), Dr. Joni Jones (CAAAS Associate Director), Dr. Jafari Allen, and Dr. Ruth McRoy. This Steering Committee will admit and advise students, as well as certify students' completion of the portfolio.
A Doctoral Portfolio in African and African American Studies will advance the development of a comprehensive research agenda for the study of African descended peoples; deeper appreciation of the social, political, and cultural cross-fertilization between African, Europe, the Caribbean, and the Americans; an understanding of the rich histories, political strategies, economic developments and cultural products of Africa and the Diaspora from the 15th century to the present; intellectual engagement that creates new ways of understanding global and local relationships, particularly how Africa and African Americans came to influence the Americas in general, and Texas, in particular; and recognition of the African influence on the wealth of expressive cultures in Africa, Europe, the Caribbean, and the Americas.
The objectives of course work in the African and African American Studies Doctoral Portfolio will be to sustain a rigorous dialogue about Africa and the African American Studies from a productive intellectual and methodological standpoint; develop, deeply understand, and build the University's resources through the development of interdisciplinary methodology; introduce students to the diversity of faculty specialties within African and African American Studies, and encourage competitive applications to the program: foster the University's national and international reputation as a recognized leader on African and African American Studies; and to instruct students in the application of the theoretical and conceptual tools of analysis and research on African descended peoples.
