Research Guides: African American and Black Diaspora Studies: Home

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This guide presents a selection of African American and Black Diaspora studies resources available through NYU Libraries and beyond. It is by no means exhaustive and will be updated overtime.

What is African American and Black Diaspora Studies?

Black studies and its variants, African American studies, Afro-American studies, African and African American studies, Africana studies, Pan- African studies, diaspora studies, or the more recent Africology, Africa New World studies, and black women diaspora studies, have emerged since the 1960s as full-fledged academic departments in colleges and universities in the United States and abroad. Black studies is the systematic study of the knowledge, thoughts, and modes of being of African people in both their current and historical manifestations. It intersects various methodologies and perspectives; its unit of analysis is the black world, but it also engages white hegemonic powers and their history of exclusion and dominance.

Citation
Michel, Claudine. "Black Studies." Oxford African American Studies Center. 1 Dec. 2009; Accessed 3 Oct. 2024. https://oxfordaasc.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195301731.001.0001/acref-9780195301731-e-45290.

Related Research Guides

Related NYU Research Centers

Center for the Study of Africa and African Diaspora (CSAAD)
The mission of CSAAD at NYU is to advance cutting-edge, multi-disciplinary research on both Africa and its diaspora in ways that bring that scholarship into sustained conversation.
Hemispheric Institute
The Hemispheric Institute gathers artists, scholars, writers, learners, and activists from across the Americas. Research is focused on social justice, politically engaged culture and performance i.e. blackness, migrations, indigeneities, and ecologies.
The Institute of African American Affairs (IAAA) & Center for Black Visual Culture (CBVC)
IAAA’s mission continues to research, document, and celebrate the cultural and intellectual production of Africa and its diaspora in the Atlantic world and beyond with a commitment to the study of Blacks in modernity through concentrations in Pan-Africanism and Black Urban Studies. The CBVC, is a space for scholarly and artistic inquiry (framing and reframing) into the understanding and exploration of images focusing on black people globally with critical evaluation of images in multiple realms of culture, including how various archives and the development of visual technologies affect the construction of representations..
The Latinx Project
The Latinx Project at New York University explores and promotes U.S. Latinx Art, Culture and Scholarship through creative and interdisciplinary programs.
Urban Democracy Lab
The Urban Democracy Lab promotes critical, creative, just, and sustainable forms of urbanism through engaged scholarship, collaborative undergraduate and graduate coursework, creative public programming, and active publication.

Professional Organizations

African American Intellectual History Society (AAIHS)
AAIHS is an independent scholarly organization that aims to foster dialogue about researching, writing, and teaching black thought and culture.
Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH)
ASALH is a learned society dedicated to the study and appreciation of African-American History.
Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora (ASWAD)
ASWAD is a not-for-profit organization of international scholars seeking to further their understanding of Africa and the African Diaspora.
Black Women's Studies Association (BWSA)
The Black Women’s Studies Association is a professional organization dedicated to scholars engaged in research about Black women.
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
Home of grassroots activism for civil rights and social justice.
National Council for Black Studies (NCBS)
NCBS was established in 1975 by African American scholars who recognized the need to formalize the study of the African World experience, as well as expand and strengthen academic units and community programs devoted to this endeavor.

Stay Up to Date on What's Happening in the Field

The Black Studies Podcast
The Black Studies Podcast is a Mellon grant sponsored series of conversations examining the history of the field.
New Books in African American Studies
Interviews with Scholars of African America about their New Books. Support our show by becoming a premium member!

African American and Black Diaspora Studies

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