--Who: Center for African American Studies, Princeton University

--What: Panel Discussion between chairperson of the Departments of Africana and African

   American Studies of seven Ivy League Schools to discuss future of African American Studies

   particularly in the age of Obama

--When: Thursday, Dec. 10, 2009, 4:30p.m.

--Where: Betts Auditorium, Architecture School, Princeton University. Open to the Public

--Interviews: Eddie Glaude, Chair, Center for African American Studies, Princeton University

Description:

This year marks the fortieth anniversary of the founding of black studies within American universities.  Programs, departments, Institutes and Centers around the country are now looking back and assessing the unique journey of the field. Black studies in its many forms helped transform American universities and colleges, from student protests to an extensive bibliography that has impacted the very way knowledge is produced,  In turn, those programs have helped shape the national dialog on race for the past 40 years. The Center for African American Studies at Princeton University, one of the first African American studies programs in the nation, joins in this celebration.

However, the field of black studies stands at a crossroads.  Has the success of the field in obtaining high visibility on so many campuses begun to call its very relevance into question?  What will black studies look like in the age of Obama? Will universities and colleges continue to provide resources to support its development? How will we imagine the next forty years?

Black Studies at 40: The Ivy League calls together some of the brightest minds in the field. We will begin our multi-semester examination of the past, present and future with a public conversation between the chairs of black studies from Ivy League institutions. Subsequent panels will focus on black studies in liberal arts colleges, public institutions, private colleges and universities, and black colleges. Our overall aim is not only to celebrate forty years of insurgent and creative scholarship, but to think innovatively and imaginatively about the future – to chart a path for black studies in the 21st century.

Quote from Eddie Glaude, Chair of the Center for African American Studies at Princeton University:

“We wanted to commemorate the 40^th anniversary of black studies not simply by looking backwards and telling a story about the field’s beginnings and successes.  Instead, our aim is to think carefully about the future of  African American Studies – the next forty years—and its relevance to this moment of profound transition in the nation.  So, we’ve invited some of the brightest minds and leaders in the field to join us in a conversation about the future direction of African American Studies and the critical resources we offer the nation as we continue to grapple with the complexities of race in the age of Obama.”

Panelists:

--J. Martin Favor, Associate Professor of English and African and African American Studies

Chair, Department of African and African American Studies, Dartmouth College

--Eddie Glaude, William S. Tod Professor of Religion and African American Studies, Department of Religion, and Chair, Center for African American Studies, Princeton University

--Jonathan Holloway, Professor of History, African American Studies, and American Studies, Yale University

--Frederick Harris, Professor of Political Science and Director, Center on African-American Politics and Society, Columbia University

--Salah Hassan, Goldwin Smith Professor and Director of the Africana Studies and Research Center, and professor of African and African Diaspora art history and visual culture, Department of History of Art and Visual Culture, Cornell University

--Tricia Rose, Professor and Chair of Africana Studies, Brown University

--Tukufu Zuberi, Professor of Sociology and Director, Center for Africana Studies, University of Pennsylvania

--Moderator: Noliwe Rooks, Associate Director of The Center for African American Studies, Princeton University

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Contact: Jennifer Loessy, (609) 258-3216, jloessy@princeton.edu