Departmental News

November 12, 2024

Robert Allen and The Black Scholar: A Tribute By Laura Chrisman Robert Allen’s life with The Black Scholar began in February, 1972, when his first article for the journal came into print. He was 29 years old. By September of that year, he had not only become Associate Editor of the journal, but had also been elected Vice-President of the Black World Foundation,--the non-profit that published and governed the journal. And by late December that same year, he, as member of the Venceremos Brigade, introduced my father to Cuba, having organized a three-week tour that was to be a formative,…

November 12, 2024

By Livy Onalee Snyder, Punctum Books, Associate Director for Community and Library Outreach Darieck Scott’s The Dream-Slaves is a queer, science fiction odyssey that pulses with themes of liberation, identity, and survival amid dystopian forces. Published by Punctum Books in September 2024, Scott’s novel transports readers to Norio—a city where reality and magic blur, and the boundaries of humanity itself are contested. The Dream-Slaves is now available for review, and we hope you'll consider diving into this immersive, thought-provoking journey. The Dream-Slaves depicts a world where only memories remain of a dead universe, survival means navigating an empire ruled by those who…

October 15, 2024

Stephen Small, Professor of African American and African Diaspora Studies (AAS) and Director of the Institute for the Study of Societal Issues (ISSI), is retiring in December 2024 after 30 years as a faculty member at UC Berkeley.

July 26, 2024

Call for Applicants: Assistant Professor of Caribbean Studies The Department of African American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley seeks a tenure-track Assistant Professor whose work demonstrates contributions to Caribbean Studies. Applications are due Monday, September 2, 2024 at 11:59 pm P.T. 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. The Caribbean has been central to the founding of our department and doctoral program…

July 25, 2024

A Tribute to Journalist, Scholar and Selfless Civil Rights Activist, Dr. Robert L. Allen - May 29, 1942-July 10, 2024 By Daphne Muse “A North Star for how I make my way through the world” - Former student and Co-founder of Art Aids Art, Dorothy Yumi Garcia (Mills College, 1979). After decades of appeals for official pardons to exonerate the 50 Black sailors charged with the 1944 mutiny at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine on the shores of Suisan Bay in Port Chicago, Contra Costa County, Northern California, the long-overdue official exoneration of 256 Black sailors was issued by Secretary…

July 23, 2024

He wrote of how 50 Black sailors were court-martialed for refusing to keep loading munitions onto cargo ships in 1944 after explosions had killed hundreds. They were exonerated this month.

June 28, 2024

From UC Berkeley Public Affairs:  Berkeley Talks: Reconsidering Black America’s relationship to the plantation By Public Affairs June 28, 2024 Follow Berkeley Talks, a Berkeley News podcast that features lectures and conversations at UC Berkeley. See all Berkeley Talks.   Alisha Gaines, a professor of English at Florida State University, gave a talk, “Children of the Plantationocene,” at UC Berkeley in April. Gaines is the first scholar-in-residence of Berkeley’s Banned Book Project.Courtesy of Alisha Gaines In Berkeley Talks episode 203, Alisha Gaines, a professor of English and an affiliate faculty member in African American studies at Florida State University, discusses why it’s important for Black America to “excavate and reconsider”…

June 28, 2024

Lecturer Amlaku B. Eshetie was interviewed by VOA Amharic about teaching Amharic at UC Berkeley (note: the interview is in Amharic).

May 13, 2024

Professor Tianna Paschel and Project Manager Barbara Montano present to the Public Humanities Network of the Consortium for Humanities Centers and Institutes.

May 1, 2024

The VèVè Clark Institute for Engaged Scholars of African Studies receives the 2024 Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Education.