MA Black British History

This MA stimulates new knowledge and understandings about the understudied and often marginalised experiences of black Britons.

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.
• 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 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 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.