Deparmental News

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.

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. 

September 30, 2021

Job #JPF03100 African Am Studies / College of Letters & Science - Social Sciences / UC Berkeley POSITION OVERVIEW Position title: Non-Senate Lecturer Salary range: Salary is dependent upon qualifications and years of college-level teaching experience. Starting minimum full-time equivalent annual academic salary is $56,945. Percent time: Positions may range from 33% to 67% time (one to two courses). Anticipated start: Applications are typically reviewed for summer session course needs in April, fall course needs in May, and in November for spring course needs. Position duration: Positions typically start at the beginning of the semester (mid-August for Fall Semester; mid-January for Spring Semester), and appointments…

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…

January 19, 2021

By Ivan Natividad| JANUARY 15, 2021 Article Link here

January 13, 2021

The Department of African American Studies at Berkeley is proud to be one of 16 college and university recipients of the Andrew A. Mellon Foundation's new Just Futures grant, which will support our multidisciplinary, humanities-led teams working to address racial inequality. Learn more [press release below]   UC Berkeley’s Department of African American Studies Awarded $2.8 Million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation   The Department of African American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley is excited to announce that we have been selected as one of sixteen recipients of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s Just Futures grant. This…

December 1, 2020

By Ivan Natividad | DECEMBER 1, 2020 UC Berkeley African American Studies professor Nikki Jones has won the 2020 Michael J. Hindelang Award. The national honor given by the American Society of Criminology (ASC), recognizes a book published within the past three years that makes the most outstanding contribution to research in criminology. Jones recently received the award for her book The Chosen Ones: Black Men and the Politics of Redemption. Through the use of ethnographic interviews with inner-city police officers and recordings of police encounters collected by and alongside law enforcement, the book delves into the reasons why violence…