UC Berkeley African American Studies Alumna J Finley began her career researching reparations and the legacy of slavery. But after studying how Black people navigate and resist oppression, she was eventually drawn to a subject – and a form of resistance – that was personally meaningful to her: comedy. As someone long drawn to comedy shows, Finley committed herself to collecting and honoring the stories Black women tell about themselves by becoming an audience member, critic and comedian herself.
About the Program
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.
News
April 7, 2025
April 4, 2025
Berkeley News
Black women's humor is “an embodied expression of resilience at the moment of crisis," says J Finley, an associate professor at Pomona College and author of the 2024 book Sass
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April 1, 2025
This month's departmental spotlight by Endria Richardson features graduating senior and Clark Scholar Amber Griffin-Royal.
Tell me about your work. What do you care about in the world, and how did you come to care about it?
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