Program in Africana Studies
The Program in Africana Studies offers a multicontinental and interdisciplinary approach to the study of black culture, literature, and politics. The Master of Arts program prepares students for further research leading to the Ph.D. degree in history, literature, American studies, anthropology, political science, sociology, and cinema studies, and for careers in education, cultural institutions, and public affairs. Students may choose one of two tracks: Pan-African history and thought or black urban studies.
Faculty
J. Michael Dash, Professor, French (Africana Studies). Ph.D. 1973, B.A. 1969 (modern languages), West Indies (Mona, Jamaica).
Francophone Caribbean literature; comparative Caribbean literature; translation from French to English.
Manthia Diawara, Professor, Comparative Literature (Africana Studies); Director, Institute of African American Affairs. Ph.D. 1985 (comparative literature), Indiana; M.A. 1978 (literature), B.A. 1976 (literature), American.
Black American film; literary and cultural studies; black film in Africa and Europe.
Deborah Willis, Professor, Photography and Imaging, Tisch School of the Arts; Interim Director, Program in Africana Studies. Ph.D. 2002, George Mason; M.A. 1986, CUNY; M.F.A. 1980, Pratt Institute; B.F.A 1975, Philadelphia College of Art.
Art history; museum studies; photography; African American photography and visual culture.
AFFILIATED FACULTY
Renée Blake, Assistant Professor, Linguistics. Ph.D. 1997 (linguistics), M.A. 1993 (linguistics), B.S., 1987 (biology), Stanford.
Urban sociolinguistics; African American vernacular English; language and culture in the Caribbean.
William Easterly, Professor, Economics. Ph.D. 1985 (economics), Massachusetts Institute of Technology; B.A. 1979 (economics), Bowling Green.
Economic development; economic growth; African development; ethnic conflict; American race relations; foreign aid; international macroeconomics.
Michael Gomez, Professor, History, Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies. Ph.D. 1985 (African history), M.A. 1982 (African history), B.A. 1981 (U.S. history), Chicago.
African diaspora; Islam in West Africa; African American social movements; Islam in the Americas; Islamic Iberia; slavery, colonialism, liberation.
Ed Guerrero, Associate Professor, Cinema Studies. Ph.D. 1989 (ethnic studies), California (Berkeley); M.F.A. 1972 (filmmaking), San Francisco Art Institute; B.A. 1972 (English), San Francisco State.
Black film criticism, history, and theory; cinematic aesthetics of “difference”; critical economies of emergent cinemas; fantastic otherness in sci-fi and horror.
Clyde Taylor, Professor, Gallatin School of Individualized Study. Ph.D. 1968, Wayne State; M.A. 1959, B.A. 1953, Howard.
Politics of representation; vernacular modernisms; cinema and society; African American and African literature; cultural symbolism; African diaspora film and literature; cultural criticism; modernism and aesthetics.
Leonard Wantchekon, Associate Professor, Politics. Ph.D. 1995, Northwestern; M.A. 1992, British Columbia and Laval.
Political economy, development; applied game theory; comparative politics; political methodology.
OTHER AFFILIATED FACULTY
Gerard L. Aching, Spanish and Portuguese Languages and Literatures; Awam Amkpa, Tisch School of the Arts; Thomas O. Beidelman, Anthropology; Derrick Bell, School of Law; Kamau Brathwaite, Comparative Literature; Paulette Caldwell, School of Law; Arlene Dávila, Anthropology (American Studies); David Dent, Journalism; Angela Dillard, Gallatin School of Individualized Study; Troy Duster, Sociology; Ada Ferrer, History; Phillip Brian Harper, English (American Studies); Martha Hodes, History; Richard Hull, History; Adelbert H. Jenkins, Psychology; Walter Johnson, History; Barbara Krauthamer, History; Paule Marshall, English; Elizabeth McHenry, English; Pamela Newkirk, Journalism; Yaw Nyarko, Economics; Jeffrey Sammons, History; Mary Schmidt-Campbell, Tisch School of the Arts; John Singler, Linguistics; Robert P. Stam, Cinema Studies; Constance Sutton, Anthropology; George Yúdice, Spanish and Portuguese Languages and Literatures (American Studies).
