Creative Arts and Africa and Black Diaspora

Creative arts and Africa and Black diaspora is a programme that brings together practice-based work in the creative arts with a rigorous intellectual engagement with the cultures, histories and contemporary experiences of Africa and African-descended communities around the world. The African continent and the Black diaspora have produced extraordinary artistic, literary and musical traditions that have shaped global culture in profound and often underacknowledged ways. Studying them alongside creative arts practice creates a programme that is both intellectually challenging and creatively expansive.

At the School of Oriental and African Studies, this three-year degree benefits from SOAS's distinctive position as a UK institution with particular expertise in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. The Africa and Black diaspora strand draws on history, literature, cultural studies, anthropology and politics to provide a deep and multi-disciplinary engagement with African and diaspora cultures, from pre-colonial societies through colonialism and its aftermath to contemporary African literature, music, cinema and political thought. The creative arts strand develops your practice across visual art, performance, film or other creative forms, providing both technical and conceptual development.

A foundation year is available for those who need additional preparation. The combination invites you to bring the perspectives of the Africa and Black diaspora strand into your creative work and to approach your academic study through a creative lens.

Soas's library, student body and research culture provide an unusually rich context in which to engage with these questions, and London offers further cultural resources in terms of galleries, communities and arts institutions.

Graduates go on to careers in the arts, cultural organisations, international development, journalism, education, policy and community work, often in contexts where knowledge of African and diaspora cultures is a specific professional asset. Further study in African studies, cultural theory, arts practice or diaspora studies is also a common route.