BLACK STUDIES OR AFRICANA STUDIES

Hello, and welcome to African Elements. I'm Darius Spearman. In this episode, what is Black
Studies -- also referred to as Africana Studies? We look at the origins of a relatively new
academic discipline. How did Black Studies come about and how is it distinct from other
academic disciplines? Also, what are the challenges faced by scholars, academics and students of
Black Studies in higher education? All that coming up next. Black Studies is a relatively new
academic field. It spans across disciplines encompassing the social sciences such as history,
sociology, psychology, and political science as well as the humanities, including music, art,
literature, and religious studies.
Different academic institutions may use different terms to describe it depending on their
particular focus, but, whether it goes by the name Black Studies, African-American Studies, or
Africana Studies, the discipline is generally rooted in a radical movement for fundamental
education reform. No matter what one may call it, the discipline of black studies is a direct
challenge to the European cantered framework and its justification of the subjugation,
enslavement, and colonization of African people and their descendants throughout the world.
The reframing of the world through a European lens has confronted people of African descent
and even people on the continent of Africa with an identity crisis as the continent has been
transformed by colonization and Black people have been stripped of their cultural heritage,
history, and language. Black Studies, then has become a way of reshaping and reframing the
experience of Black people as opposed to having their experience as well as their very identities
reframed and viewed through the lens of their colonial oppressors. The comments of well-known
18th century philosopher David Hume are fairly typical as an example of how Africa and its
people were framed in the eyes of the European colonizers. As a footnote in his Essay and
Treatises written in 1768, he writes: I am apt to suspect the negroes ... to be naturally inferior to
the white.
There never was a civilized nation of any other complexion than white, nor even any individual
eminent either in action or speculation. No ingenious manufacturers amongst them, no arts, no
sciences. The need to reclaim one's heritage in the face of such a disparaging mainstream
narrative is at the very core of the development of black studies as an academic discipline. What
has been the impact of the reframing of African identity through European eyes? Malcolm X
explains: Why should the Black man in America concern himself -- since he's been away from
the African continent for three or four hundred years -- why should we concern ourselves? What
impact does what happens to them have upon us? Number one, first you have to realize that up
until 1959 Africa was dominated by the colonial powers. And by the colonial powers of Europe
having complete control over Africa, they projected the image of Africa negatively. They
projected Africa always in a negative light: jungles, savages, cannibals, nothing civilized. Why
then naturally it was so negative [that] it was negative to you and me, and you and I began to
hate it. We didn't want anybody telling us anything about Africa, much less calling us Africans.
In hating Africa and in hating the Africans, we ended up hating ourselves, without even realizing
it.
Because you can't hate the roots of a tree and not hate the tree. You can't hate your origin and not
end up hating yourself. You can't hate Africa and not hate yourself. You show me one of these
people over here who have been thoroughly brainwashed, who has a negative attitude toward
Africa, and I'll show you one that has a negative attitude toward himself. You can't have a
positive attitude toward yourself and a negative attitude toward Africa at the same time. To the
same degree that your understanding of and attitude toward Africa becomes positive, you'll find
that your understanding of and your attitude toward yourself will also become positive. And this
is what the white man knows. As we can see, the critical issue here is the power to define.
Since historically the black experience has been defined through the European lens (at least over
the past four hundred years or so) Black Studies is largely an effort to reclaim and redefine the
experience of persons of African descent. That's exactly the reason why naming is so important.
The different departments that have of sprung up throughout the country do vary in the terms
they use to describe themselves. Whether they go by the name Black Studies, Africana Studies,
or African-American Studies, the process of naming is very deliberate and carries a particular
meaning for the individuals who undertook to establish the various academic departments. The
different focus that each of these departments may have makes naming a matter of political
control, which is a critical principle of self-determination and self-definition. "African American
Studies" focuses on persons of African descent throughout the Americas, including North,
Central, and South America, the Caribbean, as well as northern countries like NewFoundland
and Greenland. So, the term, "African American" makes "African American Studies" a more
historically specific branch of the discipline that describes the experience of Africans in the
western hemisphere with a relatively narrow lens.

While there tends to be some focus on the continent of Africa there is no specific focus on
persons of African descent in Europe or Asia. The term, "Black Studies" represents a more
politicized vision of the discipline. As we will see, the institutionalization of Black Studies -- that
is, the formal establishment of Black Studies within academic settings -- came about largely as a
result of what was known in the 1960s as the "Black Power" movement. Malcolm X and The
Nation of Islam, in an attempt to reclaim their sense of self-definition urged the "so called
Negro" to become "Black." Black became redefined as a popular, a positive affirmation of self.
"Black Studies" reflects the politicization of the discipline in that it is largely aimed at the
discovery and dissemination of information pertaining to what Black people have undergone and
achieved, and the use of education and knowledge to defend and vindicate the race against its
detractors. This reframing was a symbolic victory for the masses of Black people, but it also
carries with it certain problems and challenges as we will see later. Like Black Studies, Africana
Studies is not limited to the experience of persons of African descent on the continent of Africa
or the western hemisphere, but is much broader and focuses on the African Diaspora as a whole.
The African Diaspora of refers to the disbursement of persons of African descent throughout the
globe. It is well known that persons of African descent had a presence in ancient Greece and
Rome as well as widespread contact between Africans and Asians via the Indian Ocean. There is
some evidence to suggest that there was a pre-Columbian disbursement of Africans across the
Atlantic well before 1492. Systematic and widespread dispersal of Africans throughout the
globe, however, took place on a far more massive scale in the past 400 years as a result of the
Atlantic slave trade and the subsequent colonization of the continent of Africa. Africana studies
focuses on the Pan-African links and experiences of persons of African descent not only on the
continent of Africa and in the Americas, but in places like England, France, Germany, Spain,
Italy, as well as Russia and various other parts of Europe and Asia. It does so, however, without
the political context that you find in the "Black Power" movement. Aside from the terminology,
Black Studies, African American Studies, and Africana Studies are similar in that they came
about largely in response to a systematic misrepresentation of the experience of persons of
African descent in such a way as to popularize the notion that they are inferior.
It is in response to miseducation, which, as Malcolm X explained, has redirected the world view
of black people in such a way as to prevent them from identifying with their true history, culture
self-awareness, and well-being; and miseducation, by which black people have been deprived of
access to education altogether. As such, a core value is an underlying social mission that requires
the application of theory to methodology and the combination of knowledge to activism toward
the practical resolution of issues in the Black community. That is the reason why Black Studies
always has historically been so closely aligned with activism and social justice. Key
developments in the establishment of Black Studies include a period of renewed hope between
1945 and 1955. During that time, legal victories such as the Supreme Court's Brown vs. Board of
Education decision of 1954 which struck down segregation, gave blacks a sense of optimism in
terms of the direction the country was going.
Additionally, the GI Bill allowed many African Americans who were returning from World War
II as veterans to have most, if not all, of their college tuition paid by the federal government.
Within the first few years of its passage, the reality of a college education combined with
growing desegregation of public institutions led to unprecedented growth in the number of
African American students. Along with the influx of African American students and the gradual
breakdown of legal barriers, however, a number of other factors combined that encouraged the
institutionalization of Black Studies in higher education. Why would the power structure which
had been so resistant to curricular and structural change now all of a sudden seem so much more
open to change? The gains of the civil rights movement that is the desegregation of the armed
forces and the Brown vs. Board of Education decision among many other efforts combined with
two other forces (civil unrest and the Cold War) brought about a shift with regard to the stance
that academia in general held toward the establishment of Black Studies as a discipline. The
period of civil rights also overlapped a period of militancy, unrest, sit-ins, and demands for
acknowledgment and justice on college campuses, which increased between 1966 and 1968.
In May 1967, students at Jackson State College in Mississippi fought with police for two nights.
The National Guard was called, and one person was killed. On March 19, 1968, a sit-in at
Howard University became the first building takeover on a college campus. By this time, the
philosophy of the Black Power movement, and Black Nationalism were about as firmly
entrenched in the black community as the civil rights movement as a response to racism and
systematic oppression. Uprisings in the Los Angeles community of Watts in 1965 and in Newark
New Jersey in 1967 as well as uprisings in cities nationwide in the wake of the assassinations of
Malcolm X and Martin Luther King and 1965 and 1968 respectively had the effect of reframing
Black Studies as a national security issue. Perhaps some systematic change would be necessary
in order prevent widespread unrest in what were formerly exclusively white institutions that were
increasingly becoming desegregated. Another national security threat also loomed that forced or
at least encouraged academic institutions to consider implementing Black Studies into their
curricula.
The period immediately following World War II through the 1980s ushered in the era of the Cold
War. As most of Europe and much of Asia lay in shambles, the United States and the Soviet
Union emerged from the conflict as the world's two emerging superpowers -- and as bitter rivals
to one another. As the two superpowers competed on a global scale for strategic and economic
dominance, the United States became increasingly concerned about supporting regimes friendly
to its capitalistic interests in order to undercut its communist rival. At home, the United States
became increasingly concerned -- some might say paranoid -- over the threat of communist
infiltration within the country. As a result, efforts of US Government agencies to systematically
root out the communist threat from within took the form of the infamous McCarthy hearings of
1954 and FBI counterintelligence programs intended to disrupt and destroy organizations it saw
as subversive such as the Black Panther Party.
At the same time, implementing programs of Black Studies in higher education was seen as a
necessary concession in order to keep black students from "going communist." It is within that
context that Merritt Community College in Oakland, California established the first organized
Black Studies curriculum in the 1965-1966 academic year. San Francisco State University
approved the nation's first four-year curriculum in Black Studies in the 1967-1968 academic
year. As a relatively new and still developing discipline, Black Studies faces many challenges,
dilemmas and paradoxes that scholars, students and academics must grapple with. Among them:
Given that Black Studies is both a response to and a means of addressing social inequality how
we get around the fact that social inequality is largely a barrier between black studies those
whose needs it is intended to address? How do we achieve and educational impact on a critical
mass of people in the face of disproportionate access to higher education? What is or should be
the relationship between black people inside the universities and those who may never make it
that far? How is it possible for Black Studies departments to remain institutionalized in higher
education and still preserve their own set of core values? What is the cost of integration -- being
seen as "legitimate" in the eyes of the establishment? Does institutionalization and
mainstreaming of Black Studies compromise a Black Studies agenda especially given that black
studies place an emphasis on solutions to group problems in the context of a social climate that
values individual success as opposed to group liberation?
What about gender? If Black Studies was established as a means to address to the disservice of
Euro-Centric, male dominated thought and social practice, patriarchal male dominance within
Black Studies must also be addressed if Black Studies is not to fall victim to this same type of
disservice. Patriarchal male dominance is part of problem that I've referenced earlier in terms of
the political vision of Black Studies and the Black Power movement. If Black Studies and Black
Power are response and remedy to Euro-Centric notions of power, then how do we respond
without simply becoming a mirror image of the oppressor? If the goal is to be equal with whites,
does that mean adopting the same notions of power? Top down? Male dominated? Or can we
develop notions of power that are independent of Euro-Centric and oppressive colonial models
of power? What is a responsible Black Studies research agenda? Who has the power to decide?
Who sets the priorities and determines the means to carry them out?
Lastly, Black Studies programs were developed as a challenge to what remains a western
dominated Euro-Centric vision of higher education, yet it is these very institutions where Black
Studies resides. A problem with Black nationalism in general, is that given that it was established
as a means to develop autonomy and self- determination, how was that possible given that Black
Studies in higher education relies exclusively on allocations from established institutional
budgets? Consider the case in 2008 of Karen Salazar. The Los Angeles School teacher who was
fired for being too Afro-Centric: AG: Protests in support of dismissed Los Angeles School
District high school teacher Karen Salazar have increased this week. She is a second-year
English teacher at Jordan High School in Watts. Last month, she was told her contract would not
be renewed, because she was presenting a biased view of the curriculum and indoctrinating her
students with Afrocentrism. Her course material included board-approved texts like the writings
of Malcolm X and Langston Hughes.
Last week, a student took issue with the negative characterization of Salazar's teaching.
STUDENT: She encourages her students to continue on. She gives them the push. She doesn't
give up on her students. She says, "OK, you're struggling in my class. I will take time off. I will
help you after school." Most teachers don't even do that. And the fact that she's teaching us about
our culture and things that are relevant to us, that's what they're afraid of. They're scared of a
teacher who does that, because that involves critical thinking. They don't like students who
question or to think critically. They just want students to absorb everything and then to
regurgitate back to them.
AG: Jordan High School officials refused to comment when we contacted them and said the
issue was an internal matter relating to personnel. But the case of Karen Salazar is not unique. ...
We turn now to another story that could have a chilling effect on education in Arizona public
schools. A legislative panel in Arizona endorsed a proposal in April that would cut state funding
for public schools whose courses "denigrate American values and the teachings of Western
civilization." The measure would also prohibit students of state-funded universities and
community colleges from forming groups based in whole or in part on the race of their members.
Critics say the bill would essentially destroy the state's Mexican American or Chicano studies
programs, as well as student groups such as the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan, or
MEChA. ... Karen Salazar, tell us the latest. KS:
Hi. I guess the latest, as you said, yes, my contract has been denied for renewal, so effective June
30th, I will be out of a contract from LAUSD. The latest would be that about three to four weeks
ago, I received my official evaluation from the school, and it was actually a satisfactory
evaluation. It was a positive evaluation. Unfortunately, they never gave me a copy of that
evaluation, even though I signed it. So after, you know, pressing the administration to give me a
copy of that evaluation for weeks, and I had the union press them, as well, this week I was given
an evaluation. Unfortunately, it was not the evaluation that I signed. It was not the evaluation
that I signed. It was actually a different evaluation, a completely different form. My evaluative
marks of satisfactory had now been turned into unsatisfactory.
AG: And their major beef with you? KS: The major beef -- originally, they told me that the
reason for not renewing my contract was that I was presenting a biased view of the curriculum.
They later told district officials that I was indoctrinating students with Afrocentrism. Later, they
said that it was due to an over-teacher position, too many English teachers at my school.
Now, the latest is they're saying that I'm not teaching state standards. AG: Karen Salazar, can
you talk about the charge that your teachings were too Afrocentric? Talk about what you taught.
KS: Sure. There was actually one lesson in particular that's been extremely controversial. I used
a three-page excerpt from The Autobiography of Malcolm X, which is an LAUSD-approved text.
It's widely used around the country, in other countries, as well. I used a three-page excerpt,
standards-based. They never denied that it was standards-based. But the administrator who
observed my class...
AG: When you say "standards-based" and "LAUSD," Los Angeles United School District, but,
"standards-based?" KS: Standards-based for the California Content Standards for English
Language Arts.
AG: Go ahead. KS: So, it was a standards-based lesson. The administrator who came and
observed my class later wrote in an evaluation -- this is a written evaluation that goes into my
file -- that I was brainwashing students and imposing extremist views on them, based on this
lesson. So that's one of the controversial lessons, I guess, that I am being accused of
indoctrinating students with Afrocentrism with. I did have a mentor teacher observe the same
exact lesson that same day, just coincidentally, because she is my mentor teacher. She comes in
periodically to observe my lesson. And she took away something completely different from that
lesson than what the administrator did. AG: How many times where you evaluated compared to
other teachers?
KS: Well, this year alone, I've been evaluated at least fifteen times. Comparatively, the average
evaluations for teachers are between one and three times, so, you know, it's substantially more.
AG: Do you have any recourse to reverse your dismissal? KS: At this point, we are working --
students are organizing with the union. We're working with the Association of Raza Educators.
We're working to pressure the district to review this decision both at the school board level and
district official level. AG: Today is graduation? KS: Today is graduation, yes.
AG: Will you be there? KS: Yes, I will. Is it possible to challenge a western style curriculum with
its emphasis on tests, quizzes, and individual achievement with alternative African cantered
approaches that favour group discussion and peer to peer mentoring?
Is it possible to put forward that challenge from within the very westernized institutional setting
in which Blacks Studies resides? These are the challenges that Black Studies and this program,
African Elements, will be addressing. That does it for this show. Thank you for joining me and
be sure to check in with me next time for a look at the significance of Black Studies.
Is Black Studies only relevant to Black Students? What does Black Studies have to add to
academia as a whole? Why should Asian, Latino, or White students engage Black Studies? We'll
address that next time.