Black Critical Theory Initiative

Henry Washington, Jr.

Initiative Founder and Convener: Professor Henry Washington, Jr.

Black Critical Theory Initiative

Launching in fall 2025, the Black Critical Theory Initiative advances sustained inquiry into the enduring problem of antiblackness in the modern world. In particular, it offers graduate students and the broader community opportunities to engage the critical-theoretical approaches through which black being and black suffering are being reconceptualized within contemporary black studies. Hosted by the Department of African American Studies and African Diaspora Studies at UC Berkeley—one of the foremost institutional bases for black study today—the initiative is meant to affirm the importance of theory to the political-intellectual work of black studies in the present. Our department has worked diligently to establish its commitment to the mutual cooperation between the black academy and “the black community” since its conceptualization, and this work has suggested that any meaningful shift in black people’s lives will require a shift in the very terms of order. With this initiative we reiterate our vision of a black studies project that is at once grounded in materiality and rigorous and unflinching in its analyses of our present conditions. Over a three-year period, we will host a reading group, graduate student workshops, and public lectures by junior faculty experts in this area of inquiry according to an annual theme.

Themes

Topics

Black Critical Theory Initiative topic page