Bachelor of Arts in African Languages and Cultures
Some time ago, the internationally acclaimed journal The Economist proclaimed Africa the ‘emerging continent’. That statement confirmed what Africa experts have been predicting for years. New Africa experts are therefore more than welcome! You will come to understand Africa from current affairs, historical, cultural, literary and linguistic perspectives.
What
Ghent University's African Studies programme is unique in Belgium. Only at our university can you take the entire programme. Another distinctive feature of our programme is its interdisciplinarity: you will come to understand Africa from a current affairs, historical, cultural, literary and linguistic perspective. You will learn Swahili and Lingála, two languages with millions of native speakers across Eastern and Central Africa. Through language acquisition and linguistic analysis, you will gain a deep understanding of their grammatical structures. This will help you acquire other African languages.
In addition to the linguistic richness, you will also study Africa’s cultural diversity and the diaspora, including topics such as diversity and identity, religion and art, and politics and globalisation. The programme also focuses on the history of Africa and its interaction with other continents. This will help you understand today’s European society and its often stereotypical image of Africa.
Additionally, you will learn how language shapes daily life in Africa, how it brings together communities, and how the linguistic landscape was affected by colonisation. In course units such as African Literature, you will uncover how authors reflect on topics such as migration, racism, and gender. You will also learn to make connections between language, culture and society.
For whom
Are you interested in learning about the languages and cultures of Africa from an unbiased, critical perspective, with an academic approach? Are you curious about the African continent and its current struggles, and how these can be historically explained? Are you willing to travel to Africa to take classes, undertake a work placement, or conduct research? Then our study programme is the right choice for you! No specific prior knowledge is required, but an innate interest in Africa is essential!
Structure
Bachelor
The study programme is based on three cornerstones: African Languages, African Cultures, and Language, Culture and Society in Africa. These, in turn, contain six clear curricular strands: language acquisition, linguistics, anthropology, history & current affairs, literatures, and methods. You will also learn how to study Africa and its languages and cultures by engaging with academic literature and by conducting research and fieldwork in Africa during a proper Africa term. You choose an elective set, in which you learn to look beyond your own discipline.
In the first year, you take various general course units together with students from other study programmes. Alongside these, you begin by studying African languages and cultures. You will learn two African languages, Swahili and Lingála, and be introduced to African linguistics. We will also introduce you to how language, culture and society in Africa interact, and you will take introductory course units in anthropology and African history.
In the second year, you will deepen your knowledge of Swahili and Lingála, and take course units on language and history, language documentation and language description in Africa, as well as cultural anthropology in Africa. In addition, we will introduce the methodological aspects of African Studies in a course unit on fieldwork. You will expand your knowledge of African literatures and work with historical sources. The two-yearly course unit Africa: Current Affairs, Discourse and Imaging furthers your knowledge of the relationship between language, culture and society.
The third year contains an ‘Africa Term’, which you can spend at one of our African partner universities or at a European university with a strong African Studies Department. You continue with your elective set, as well as with Lingála and the two-yearly course unit Anthropology of Visual and Material Cultures in Africa. You will be introduced to theories on multiculturalism and religion. In addition, you will have the opportunity to choose from a wide range of elective course units, such as Arabic. You finalise the third year by writing a Bachelor’s paper.
Master
Completion of the Bachelor’s programme gives access to the one-year English-taught African Studies Master’s programme. The programme comprises three thematic course units: Language, History, and Identity; Literature, Media and the Arts; and Conflict and Society. It also includes discipline-specific course units (African Anthropology, History and Current Affairs, Literature, Linguistics, Archaeology) and a number of elective course units. You conclude your Master’s programme with a Master’s dissertation on a topic of your choice.
- Your bachelor's degree also provides access to other master's programmes beyond those mentioned above, including a Master’s Programme in Teaching (in Dutch: een educatieve master). You can find an overview under the 'Further Studies' tab.
Labour Market
The African Studies programme does not lead towards a specific profession. Surveys among alumni show that most students find a job soon after graduation. Most of them actually apply their knowledge of Africa in their jobs. Our graduates end up in the integration and diversity sector, tourism, the socio-cultural sector, the business world, the government or foreign aid sector, and in academic research.
Quality Assurance
At Ghent University, we strive to educate people who dare to think about the challenges of tomorrow. For that purpose, we provide education that is embedded in six strategic objectives: Think Broadly, Keep Researching, Cultivate Talent, Contribute, Extend Horizons, Opt for Quality.
Ghent University continuously focuses on quality assurance and quality culture. The Ghent University's quality assurance system offers information on each study programme’s unique selling points, and on its strengths and weaknesses with regard to quality assurance.
More information:
Unique Selling Points
- The African Studies programme focuses on languages and cultures: You learn two African languages (Swahili and Lingála) and you are introduced to Africa’s high linguistic diversity. Through course units on anthropology, history and literature you will also immerse yourself in the continent’s rich cultural diversity. Gradually, you will come to understand the interaction between language, culture and society.You will also become acquainted with decolonial thinkers, providing you with the tools to frame current debates and developments in a knowledgeable and nuanced way.
- Building bridges: Multidisciplinarity and multiperspectivism. In addition to the African Studies core course units, you will choose a minor with a broadening and/or professionally oriented focus, or with a focus on advanced studies. We offer a choice between Arabic and Islamic Studies, Archaeology, Literature, Economics and Business Management, Globalization and Diversity, Political and Social Sciences, or Education. You acquire the skills necessary for creative and problem-solving thought and action.
- Internationalization at home and abroad is one of our programme’s key aspects. The so-called ‘Africa term’ is an excellent opportunity for acquiring fieldwork experience abroad, and is structurally embedded in the curriculum. You spend a term abroad, either at one of our African partner universities or at a European university. Naturally, our fully English-taught Master’s curriculum in great part realizes our programme’s Internationalization@Home component. This is further enhanced by frequent international guest lecturers and guest speakers. All of the above contributes to a honing of your linguistic and social competencies.
- Talent development: By balancing practice-oriented course units with course units on research and methodology, and leaving room for choices based on personal interests, our curriculum stimulates talent development. You learn to assume a critical and academic attitude.
- Broad career perspectives: Our alumni combine advanced knowledge of their discipline with a solid methodological skills set, which opens up broad career perspectives. The English-taught Master’s programme is a further asset on the national and international labour market.
Strengths
- The African Studies programme boasts a dedicated team of lecturers, who combine their teaching practice with conducting internationally acclaimed research. Teaching assistants often have a unique connection to the work field and the language(s) they teach. Lecturers often use new media and active teaching forms in their classes. Additionally, we stimulate immediate and intensive personal contact between our lecturers and our students. We coach and closely monitor our students throughout their entire study trajectory.
- From the first year onwards, you are given internationalization opportunities by participating in summer schools in Africa on a voluntary basis. Additionally, you become acquainted with speakers from the African diaspora in Belgium. In the third year, the so-called ‘Africa Semester’ makes possible longer stays abroad at one of our international partner universities (in Tanzania, Kenia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, Ethiopia, Namibia, Senegal, Mozambique, Uganda, or at a European university). During your stay abroad, we also encourage you to conduct fieldwork.
- The programme brings together a broad range of insights and perspectives. In so doing, we capitalize on our students’ diverse talents and interests, and stimulate multiperspectivism and talent development. You can tailor your curriculum according to your own interests.
- Our study programme boasts strong ties between research and education, and teaches our students how to create new academic knowledge. The curriculum stimulates critical thought, specialization and knowledge creation.
- The African Studies programme – with its Africa Term, fieldwork, minors and English-taught Master’s curriculum – offers broad career perspectives, and prepares you for positions in the (inter)national public and private sector. The knowledge of specific languages and cultures combined with broad academic skills form a preparation for the labour market or advanced studies that not many other programmes offer.
- Benchmarking: Compared with other Africa-courses abroad, we can boast a sharp insight in our curriculum. We continually work to integrate good practices into our programme.
Challenges
- Stakeholder involvement in striving for excellent education, involvement of our students, alumni and the professional field deserves increased stimulation. We want to achieve this by (1) introducing prospective students with alumni, by (2) continuously encouraging students to participate in meetings, surveys and focus groups, and by (3) keeping in touch with the local and international professional field to keep in tune with the labour market.
- Good communication: The quality and the quantity of student influx needs to be maintained, and improved where possible. For that purpose, we already avail ourselves of promotional yet correct information during study information days (SID-ins) or other information days, in brochures, on websites and on social media, in web and open classes, lecture series, and classes for a secondary school audience. We want to reach yet a bigger group of young adults to emphasize the impact and importance of African Studies and put our programme in the picture.
- We want to prepare our students even better for their future careers. We have taken initiative in that regard, and statistics show that most of our students find a job without any problems. Still, we think it’s important to connect the expertise of our students to potential employers.
- We want to pay more attention to the flow of students between the Bachelor’s programme in African Languages and Cultures, and English master in African Studies.
Accreditation
This study programme is accredited by the Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders (Dutch: NVAO). Accreditation was extended following the positive outcome of the institutional review in 2022. Programme quality was validated by a quality review, i.e. a screening of the Education Monitor by the Education Quality Board. The Quality Assurance Resolution (in Dutch) can be found here.
This information was last updated on 01/02/2023.
In case of questions or suggestions with regard to the publicly available information, please contact the study programme.