Black British History MA

Goldsmiths, University of London

The MA in Black British History is an exciting opportunity to study and research the histories of Africans and African-descended peoples in the United Kingdom.

Why study MA Black British History at Goldsmiths?

• Most studies of black history are concerned with US Civil Rights. This programme's focus on the black British experience is an important step in changing that conversation and diversifying the curriculum.

• This programme will teach you key concepts and methods for writing, researching, teaching, and sharing Black British histories.

• You’ll gain a firm understanding of the histories of Africans and African-descended peoples in the United Kingdom as well as of the ways that diasporas, empire, and patterns of migration have shaped Britain.

• You'll study a range of historical periods, ideas and figures including the black Tudors; accounts of former slaves; abolitionism; black Victorians and Victoriana; religious experiences; black involvement during the First and Second World Wars, and African and West-Indian immigration to Britain.

• You’ll learn important theories and methods from a range of fields and consider how they relate to the Black British experience. These theories and methods will include African diaspora studies and Black European studies; histories of colonialism, slavery, and emancipation; histories of the African continent and the Caribbean region; as well as postcolonial theory, Black studies, critical race theory, and contemporary debates about race and ethnicity. The programme will also include modules that allow students to learn about Black British history in global, national, regional, and local perspective.

• You’ll not only learn about Black British histories, which have been marginalised from our public understandings of British history and are too often invisible in education and in the media, you’ll also join in the work of researching and sharing the histories of Black people in Britain.

• You’ll learn how to critically engage with historical records, artefacts, and writings, as well as the established and emerging scholarship on Black Britain.

• You'll learn important theories and methods from the fields of race/ethnic studies and postcolonial theory alongside the histories of colonialism, slavery, and the Caribbean, and how these relate to the black British experience. The programme also pays close attention to questions of power and asks, for example, how race and sexual orientation throughout history and around the world have often become interlinked in oppressive ways.

• Our location in South London is extremely important to us. You'll be able to engage with the rich local history around Goldsmiths, from the shipyards of Deptford through to the sites of the Battle of Lewisham and the Black People’s Day of Action.

• You'll be part of a rich academic heritage - we've been researching in the areas of Black area of black experience and race studies for decades. Goldsmiths offers an MA Black British Writing programme and an MA Race, Media and Social Justice course from which students can elect to take a relevant module as part of their programme of study. We're also home to the Centre for Caribbean and Diaspora Studies which is actively involved in the local community. It's one of the only Caribbean-led Research Centres within a University environment.