Announcements

March 27, 2024

From the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation: By Anthony Balas March 26, 2024 The University of California, Berkeley, is making a hopeful case for African American studies amid attacks on academic freedom.  Critical as they are to a healthy democracy, open conversations at public universities on race, history, and freedom are increasingly threatened by an array of attacks—from cuts to funding for humanities departments to legislation that restricts higher education institutions from incorporating topics like racial injustice into curricula.  To Nikki Jones, who is a professor and chair of the Department of African American Studies at UC Berkeley, these attacks can be understood,…

March 27, 2024

UC Berkeley’s African American Studies (AAS) Department launched a groundbreaking project this week with a $100,000 Affirming Multivocal Humanities grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The Banned Scholars Project is a direct response to increasing restrictions on academic freedom, particularly in the fields of critical race theory, DEI and gender studies. It was spearheaded by AAS professors Michael M. Cohen, Tianna S. Paschel and Ula Taylor; department chair Nikki Jones; and managed by staffer Barbara Montano.

November 3, 2023

Black Graduation 2024 May 17, 2024 9:00 am  Zellerbach Auditorium  Berkeley, CA Registration TBA

September 5, 2023

Assistant Professor-Afterlives of Slavery–African American Studies–University of California, Berkeley The African American Studies Department at UC Berkeley seeks a tenure-track Assistant Professor whose work demonstrates prior or potential contributions to the study of the Afterlives of Slavery. Expected start date: 07/01/2024. To apply visit https://aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF03886. This recruitment closes at 11:59 pm (PT) on 9/28/2023. For questions, contact lanihunt@berkeley.edu. UC Berkeley is an AA/EEO employer. UC Berkeley is an AA/EEO employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, or protected veteran status.

August 17, 2023

Victoria Netanus Grubbs, a former postdoctoral fellow at the Black Studies Collaboratory and lecturer in African American Studies, recently appeared on the Matrix podcast to discuss her research on Rwandan popular music. Featuring clips from musical artists across the country, Grubbs discusses the project of diasporic music, national identity, and resistance to state projects.    Check out the interview here: https://matrix.berkeley.edu/research-article/listening-to-rwandan-popular-music-with-victoria-netanus-grubbs/

January 13, 2022

Save the date! This year Black Grad will be held on Sunday, May 22nd at 2:00pm. More details to follow. 

October 6, 2021

Small Grants Program – Spring 2022 Due: October 29th, 2021 The Black Studies Collaboratory in the Department of African American Studies at UC Berkeley is currently accepting applications from undergraduate and graduate students as well as faculty and staff for financial support for research up to $5,000. We will provide small grants for research, teaching, curriculum development, and related projects to faculty, undergraduates students, graduate students, and staff, either as individuals, teams, or as representatives of a UC Berkeley program, department, or unit. We welcome proposals from across campus that center blackness, especially teaching and research endeavors that are collaborative,…

August 23, 2021

The History of the Modern Civil Rights Movement   ENROLL   About this course:  The objective of this course is to examine the modern Civil Rights Movement. As traditionally understood, this period began with the May 17, 1954, "Brown vs. Board of Education” Supreme Court decision and ended with the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This course will expand this time frame and seek to place this movement in the context of global developments and the broad sweep of United States History. Assigned readings consist of historical and autobiographical texts. Lectures will contextualize the readings by placing…

May 6, 2021

The Department of African American & African Diaspora Studies is proud to announce that our Director of Administration, Sandra Richmond, is a recipient of the Excellence in Management 2021 Award. Congratulations, Sandy! 

February 22, 2021

The Department of African American Studies plans on hosting our annual Black Graduation ceremony, which is open to all majors and degree programs across the campus. Black Graduation 2021 is being planned for Wednesday May 19, 2021 at 2:00 pm.  This will be a virtual ceremony.  We are inviting all Spring and Summer 2021 degree list candidates who are interested to participate.  if you plan on participating in Black Grad 2021, please use this form to provide us with your basic contact information.  Once we have an official registration portal that works with central campus', we will invite everyone to register.  So,…