Welcome to African American Studies

About the Program

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Leigh Raiford and Delphine Sims in conversation.

"When Home is a Photograph, Leigh Raiford and Delphine Sims in Conversation," April 2026.

Petra Rivera-Rideau in conversation with a guest.

Ph.D. program alumna Dr. Petra Rivera-Rideau and co-author Vanessa Díaz with their book, "P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance," April 2026.

Brandon Archer and Irene Ross.

Graduate students Brandon Archer and Irene Ross, co-organizers of the St. Clair Drake Symposium with Professor Michael Cohen, May 2026.

Akinyele K. Umoja and Lisa Williams.

Akinyele K. Umoja and Lisa Williams in conversation about "The Memoirs of Robert and Mabel Williams: African American Freedom, Armed Resistance, and International Solidarity," October 2025.

Upcoming Events

The Department of African American Studies is an intellectual community committed to producing, refining and advancing knowledge of Black people in the United States, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe and Africa. A key component of our mission is to interrogate the meanings and dimensions of slavery and colonialism, and their continuing political, social and cultural implications.

Our faculty is drawn from disciplines as diverse as anthropology, cultural studies, linguistics, literature, history, sociology, performance, and creative writing. We are united by a relentless commitment to pushing the boundaries of knowledge through excellence in scholarship and pedagogy that are at once interdisciplinary and innovative.

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News

The Black Studies Podcast - Leigh Raiford

July 27, 2026

Today’s conversation is with Leigh Raiford, who teaches in the Department of African American Studies at University of California, Berkeley. In addition to a number of critical essays in edited collections and journals, she is co-editor of Migrating the Black Body: The African...Read more about The Black Studies Podcast - Leigh Raiford

Berkeley Talks: The making of a pioneering Black feminist

July 24, 2026

UC Berkeley Professor Ula Taylor reads excerpts from her book project on activist Frances M. Beal, whose life and politics helped forge modern social justice movements.Read more about Berkeley Talks: The making of a pioneering Black feminist

California Has Extreme Income Inequality. Why Do We Treat It As Normal?

July 13, 2026

California is one of the most unequal states in the country with extreme disparities between people living in poverty and those at the top of the income spectrum. Given the visibility of the problem, with homeless encampments and multimillion dollar houses populating our landscape while...Read more about California Has Extreme Income Inequality. Why Do We Treat It As Normal?

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