We are excited to announce that the Departments of African American Studies and Gender and Women's Studies at UC Berkeley, in collaboration with Adrienne Torf, Raymond O. Caldwell, and the Fountain Theater of Los Angeles, are hosting a performance of the award-winning Poetry for the People: The June Jordan Experience in Berkeley in February 2026. This theater piece is an intimate portrait of the late poet, UC Berkeley professor, and activist June Jordan, told largely through her own poetry, essays, memoir, and interviews. In conjunction with the production,...
Stephen Small, African American Studies professor, speaks about his book, In the Shadows of the Big House.
In this interview, Stephen Small shares the inspirations behind In the Shadows of the Big House(link is external), a compelling and deeply researched work that examines the representation of slavery in contemporary heritage tourism. Drawing from decades of...
The 2026 St. Clair Drake Conference will be held on May 7th, 2026 at the David Brower Center in Downtown Berkeley. Please see our event page for more details. The conference will celebrate the 15th anniversary of the VèVè A. Clark Institute for Engaged Scholars of African American Studies.
Our April 2026 Departmental Spotlight features Darieck Scott, professor in African American Studies, interviewed by graduate student Endria Richardson.
Who do you love? Writers, thinkers, artists, parents, friends—who has inspired you to be in the world the way that you are?
I’m going to answer this in terms of who has inspired me specifically as a writer and scholar. Anyone, undergrad or grad, who’s taken a class with me for the last ten years can probably guess the primary answer: Toni Morrison. I started reading...
Join Professor Leigh Raiford at an event this spring to celebrate the publication of her new book, When Home is a Photograph: Blackness and Belonging in the World from Duke University Press.
March 27th, Spelman College, Atlanta, GA, in conversation with Dr. Cheryl Finley April 1st, ...
AFRICAM 119: Language Politics in Africa's Digital Age, Instructor: Dr. David Kyeu, Session D, TWTh 10-1230, in person, CN: 15902
This course explores the intersections of media, digital platforms, and language politics in Africa, with a focus on how language shapes access, representation, and power in the public sphere. Students will analyze both traditional and digital media to examine how these spaces reinforce or challenge linguistic...
Our February 2026 Departmental Spotlight features Roderick Jackson, a Ph.D. student in African Diaspora Studies, interviewed by graduate student Endria Richardson.
Tell me about your work. What do you care about in the world, and how did you come to care about it?
My doctoral research examines the intersections of race, class, gender, and peri-urban space by interrogating the value of Black male labor in post-industrial Northwest Indiana. Focusing largely on Gary, Indiana—the former steel capital of the United States—I...
"Harriet, Her Nelson, and the North Star Kiss" was inspired by my deeply held respect for Harriet Tubman and the endearing Kerry James Marshall’s Still Life with Wedding Portrait.
"Harriet, Her Nelson, and the North Star Kiss"
Dedicated to all who know how to embrace, treasure, and love a fierce Black woman.
Twice “married,” fierce navigator of the night sky
Our January 2026 Departmental Spotlight features our undergraduate advisor, Francisca Cázares, interviewed by graduate student Endria Richardson. Francisca also serves at the undergraduate advisor for Gender and Women's Studies.
Tell me about your work. What do you care about in the world, and how did you come to care about it?
Shortly after I graduated from Berkeley in the 90s, I returned to campus to work in my first full time career position where I advised prospective graduate students and managed admissions for the School of Education. And I...
