Venue: Russell Square: College Buildings

Start of programme: September

Mode of Attendance: Full-time or Part-time

Students must take 315 credits in total, comprised of 255 taught credits (45 of which are taught abroad as part of a Summer School) and a 60-credit dissertation as outlined below. 

In their first year, students on the two-year Intensive Language programmes take 60 credits of intensive language instruction and 60 credits in the discipline. During the summer, they participate in a Summer School abroad. In the second year, they take another 30 language credits as well as 60 credits in the discipline; they also complete their dissertation in the discipline. 

The Swahili component can be taken either at beginner or at intermediate level.

Please note that on all Area Studies degrees, including African Studies:

• a maximum of 60 credits can be taken in any one subject area
• a minimum of three subject areas must be covered.

For information on the programme structure for the four-year part-time version of the programme, please see the pdf programme specification at the bottom of this page.

Programme Specification

• MA African Studies and Intensive Swahili BEGINNER Programme Specification 2018/19 (pdf; 190kb)
• MA African Studies and Intensive Swahili INTERMEDIATE Programme Specification 2018/19 (pdf; 74kb)
• MA African Studies and Intensive Swahili Programme Specification (pdf; 248kb)

Important notice

Teaching & Learning

Contact Hours

One-year Masters programmes consist of 180 credits. 120 credits are taught in modules of 30 credits (taught over 20 weeks) or 15 credits (taught over 10 weeks); the dissertation makes up the remaining 60 units. The programme structure shows which modules are compulsory and which optional.

As a rough guide, 1 credit equals approximately 10 hours of work. Most of this will be independent study, including reading and research, preparing coursework and revising for examinations. It will also include class time, which may include lectures, seminars and other classes. Some subjects, such as learning a language, have more class time than others. At SOAS, most postgraduate modules have a one hour lecture and a one hour seminar every week, but this does vary. 

More information is on the page for each module.

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge

• Students will acquire knowledge and critical awareness of current issues and/or insights into Africa from the perspective of at least two social sciences and/or humanities disciplines.
• The student will have the opportunity of gaining knowledge or further knowledge of an African language.
• The student will gain specialized and in - depth knowledge in one particular area of the study of Africa and from disciplinary perspective.

Intellectual (thinking) Skills

• Students will develop a critical and analytical approach to issues relating to Africa in the disciplinary areas chosen.
• Students will develop skills of synthesizing materials from a variety of sources and presenting these in writing and orally in an academic context.
• Students will have the opportunity of researching topics which have been little commented on in the secondary literature and thus develop research skills by working on primary sources.

Subject -based Practical Skills

• Students will gain specific knowledge of aspects of African life, which will prepare them for working in Africa.
• The specialist knowledge developed in the individual courses will allow students to add an academically grounded perspective to their particular subsequent work context.
• If a student takes an African language they will have a strong practical skill, which will help them in any context where the language is used and which will also be of benefit if they need to learn another language in the future.

Transferable Skills

• Through managing their studies students will develop the exercise of initiative and personal responsibility.
• In researching and writing coursework and the dissertation students will develop research and writing skills.
• Students will develop the skills of independent learning required for continuing onto a research degree or for professional development.

A postgraduate degree in African Literature from SOAS provides students with competency in language skills and intercultural awareness and understanding.  Familiarity with the region will have been developed through a combination of the study of language, history, cinema, politics, economics or law. Graduates of this programme will develop their ability to engage with and explore relationships between indigenous African aesthetics and contemporary literary theories.  

Postgraduate students gain linguistic and cultural expertise enabling them to continue in the field of research or to seek professional and management careers in the business, public and charity sectors. They leave SOAS with a portfolio of widely transferable skills which employers seek, including written and oral communication skills; attention to detail; analytical and problem solving skills; and the ability to research, amass and order information from a variety of sources. A postgraduate degree is a valuable experience that provides students with a body of work and a diverse 
range of skills that they can use to market themselves with when they graduate.

Some graduates leave SOAS to pursue careers directly related to their study area, while others have made use of the intellectual training for involvement in analysing and solving many of the 
problems that contemporary societies now face. The MA African Literature can lead to further study and research, however there is also a range of opportunities in fields such as:

• Education
• Publishing
• Archive work
• Arts Management
• Media

For more information about Graduate Destinations from this department, please visit the Careers Service website.