Law and Africa and Black Diaspora

Law is among the most intellectually demanding of university disciplines, training you to read with precision, argue with rigour, and understand the rules and reasoning that govern how societies organise themselves and resolve disputes. Africa and Black diaspora studies brings a necessary corrective to mainstream legal education, examining how colonial legal systems were imposed, how they shaped African and diaspora societies, and how African and Black legal scholars and activists have challenged, reformed, and reimagined legal orders in the service of justice and self-determination.

At the School of Oriental and African Studies, this combination is offered in an institution with unparalleled expertise in Africa, Asia, and the Global South, and with a longstanding commitment to centring non-Western and postcolonial perspectives in the social sciences and humanities. You will study core legal subjects alongside African and Black diaspora history, culture, politics, and thought, developing a critical perspective on law that takes seriously the experiences and intellectual traditions of communities often marginalised in mainstream legal education. The programme includes a foundation year and runs over three or four years full-time.

Graduates of law and Africa and Black diaspora studies programmes pursue careers in law, human rights, international development, NGOs, journalism, education, and cultural institutions. The critical perspective the degree develops is particularly valuable in roles concerned with racial justice, international human rights law, decolonisation, and the governance of African and diaspora communities. Many graduates go on to postgraduate legal study, practitioner training, or academic research in law, African studies, or postcolonial studies.