News & Events Archive: 2013

October 9, 2013

            30 YEARS LATER On October 19, 1983, the 4-year-old Grenadian revolution, the only Black revolution in the English speaking Western world, was effectively halted by an internal coup followed six days later by an American military invasion.The United Nations General Assembly condemned the invasion. The ostensible reason for the incursion carried out under President Ronald Reagan, was to stabilize the country and save American students studying at an American offshore medical school in Grenada. The Reagan administration had been hostile to the revolution from its inception. Reagan’s expressed fear was that Cuba (helping Grenada build…

October 9, 2013

The VèVè Clark Institute for Engaged Scholars in African American Studies will hold a recruiting event on Thursday, October 24 from 4-6pm in Barrows 652. We hope to bring in freshman and sophomore majors or intended majors to enjoy a lovely dinner and hear from our current scholars and faculty mentors about the benefits and rewards of becoming involved.

September 26, 2013

The new book by UC Berkeley African American Studies Lecturer Dr. Rickey Vincent is coming out on October 1st.   (It is available on amazon.com now, from Lawrence Hill Books) “PARTY MUSIC: The Inside Story of the Black Panthers Band and How Black Power Transformed Soul Music” is a groundbreaking first hand account of the Black Panther Party’s foray into Rhythm and Blues, as well as an analytical treatment of the intersection between Soul Music and Black Consciousness.   Here is an interview/discussion of the book with Davey D on KPFA: http://www.kpfa.org/archive/id/95603   PARTY MUSIC reviews   From Publishers Weekly: Party Music:…

September 13, 2013

It is with great pleasure that we share with you that Aya de Leon has been appointed as a Continuing Lecturer in African American Studies.  Join us in congratulating Aya on this accomplishment.

April 30, 2013

BLACK FOLK HERE AND THERE: EXPLORING THE LIFE & HISTORY OF THEN & NOW

March 26, 2013

By Cathy Cockrell, NewsCenter | March 26, 2013 BERKELEY — There’s the joke about a fast-food-chain hire hunting high and low for something referred to in the employee manual as a “spatula.” And the one about paying Western Union $9 to send Michelle Obama $5 for her husband’s election campaign. As Edwin Okong’o knows firsthand, the immigrant experience includes “a lot of suffering,” but it’s also “a gold mine” for humor. Put fellow Africans “through the journey” again — whether as featured funnyman on the Africa Channel’s “Africa Laughs,” or as the night’s entertainment at an African-immigrant community event —…

March 12, 2013

Film - Documentary | March 14 | 6-8 p.m. | Banatao Auditorium, Sutardja Dai Hall (CITRIS) Sponsors: English Department, African American Studies Department, Geography Department, Townsend Center Panelists: Deborah Thomas (film director; Anthropology, UPenn); Nadia Ellis (English, Berkeley); Joshua Jelly Schapiro (Geography, Berkeley); Donald Moore (Anthropology, Berkeley) In 2011 renowned anthropologist and African Diaspora scholar Deborah Thomas co-directed Bad Friday, a film documenting a largely forgotten event in modern Jamaican history and the development of Rastafari culture. During the so-called Coral Gardens “incident” in 1963, Jamaica’s newly independent government rounded up, jailed, and tortured a large group of Rastafarians. Thomas…

March 12, 2013

By Sean Wagner-McGough | Staff It’s not everyday Isiah Thomas and Jason Kidd are in the same room. It happened on Sunday night though, right here at Cal. In Memorial Stadium, the two NBA greats lent their voices in an effort to raise money for the African American Studies department and the campus for the Renaissance Night Gala. While the two stars were tasked to speaking to the guests at the Gala, the two were made available to a shockingly small media gathering. Both their messages were simple throughout the gala: value your education. “We as athletes, celebrities, role-models —…

March 5, 2013

The Department of African American Studies presents a talk by visiting scholar   Heike Raphael-Hernandez University of Maryland University College, Europe / University of Potsdam, Germany    "Literate Agency: Black Caribbean Empowerment & 18th c. Moravian Church Mission Documents"   Discussant: Professor Ugo Nwokeji, Department of African American Studies Abstract: A letter written in 1739 to the Danish king, Christian VI., by enslaved Afro-Caribbean Moravians, in which they protest plantation owners’ continued harassment and mistreatment of their missionary work among fellow slaves… Interviews about their former daily lives back in Africa before their captivity… Letters of encouragement and greetings to…

February 20, 2013

Hip Hop artist Jinho "Piper" Ferreira plays 15 characters that show the intersections between law enforcement, the media, and the Black community.