Research

Research and scholarship in a multidisciplinary field such as African American Studies reflects myriad philosophical and methodological approaches to generating and disseminating new knowledge. Our faculty are grounded in a variety of ideological and conceptual traditions, including Africentrism, Black feminism, egalitarianism, post-positivism, and Pan Africanism. A wide-range of methods are used to generate new knowledge and facilitate its dissemination, including: ethnography, narrative analysis, grounded theory, quantitative and qualitative methods, and Participatory Action Research (PAR). These theoretical frameworks and methods are used to make meaning and provide context to the experience of African people in the Diaspora.

Highlights of the scholarly interest of faculty may provide a glimpse into the exciting nature of the research activity taking place in our department. Faculty research is focused on populations throughout the Diaspora, including South Africa, West African, the Caribbean, and the Americas. There is a heavy focus and concentration on health-related issues affecting African people, including HIV/AIDS, public policy and health care, African Americans with disabilities, mental health issues, and the psychological and physical effects of race-related stress. A number of faculty are engaged in social justice research and community activism. Other areas of inquiry include religion, ethics, systems, African American music, mechanisms of social control, slavery in the U.S. and transatlantic world, and African American family systems.

Research activities in the department have resulted in public and private grant funding, peer-reviewed publications, and book-length manuscripts published by major academic presses. Furthermore, students have been involved the majority of faculty efforts, thereby strengthening their preparation for graduate training in the humanities and social sciences. Much of the research being conducted in the department involves collaboration with a community partner. It is through these community-based PAR activities that the department’s commitment to community engagement is reaffirmed.