Black Studies at 50: Politics, Prospects, and Problematics
Posted: 6 Nov 2018
Date Written: October 25, 2018
Abstract
The year 1969 marks the fifty-year anniversary of the formation of Black Studies programs, departments, and centers throughout the United States. A product of student, community, and faculty activism starting in 1968, these entities were formed based on demands for a more relevant education; more Black students, faculty, and administrators; a culturally significant curriculum; and more student and community control of educational institutions. A multitude of texts by scholars across the disciplines, including Martha Biondi, Stefan Bradley, Noliwe Rooks, Ibram Rogers, Joy Ann Thompson, and Fabian Rojas have documented this history, and several documentaries have been produced on the subject, signaling the ongoing significance of this topic. Likewise, several PhD programs have been formed within the past several years, underscoring the professionalization and institutionalization of Black Studies. Thus, this roundtable focuses on the history and politics of, and contemporary issues in, Black Studies. Themes will include the role of Black Power in the formation of Black Studies; the historical and contemporary role of activism and community engagement; ideological struggle within in the discipline; the continued attack on and defunding of Black Studies; the different approaches to the discipline at PWIs, HBCUs, research-1, and liberal arts institutions; and visions for the discipline over the next fifty years. Intergenerational discussants include Graduate Student AJ Rice, Assistant Professor Charisse Burden-Stelly, Associate Professors Cedric Johnson and Lester Spence, and Professor and Associate Dean Rita KiKi Edozie. Professor Ricky L. Jones, Chair of Pan-African Studies at the University of Louisville, will serve as the moderator/chair.
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