What is the black studies program like at "University of Kansas"?
Introduction
The slave ships that arrived in the American soil decades back have defined and shaped the course of history. The struggle of freedom from slavery has been fought through the 18th century through the 19th century; even the 20th and 21st century has had incidences of slavery. Today, there exists a new form of slavery that is referred to as modern-day slavery. Understanding the past has always been crucial in planning for the future and anticipating for any possible occurrences. The past defines the present and creates an avenue of insightful information for discerning the future. United States of America is among the countries that have the largest number of races from the world around. The Red Indians were the original inhabitants of this continent, but this has slowly faded with time. No race can claim to be most prominent to the world. With each entry into the American continent, every race faced its fair share of tribulations before it adapted and survived and even thrived in the U.S. the world today is aware of African-Americans, a name coined so as to escape the racist outlook it previously had of black Americans. The words to describe the black race have evolved with time and today, the black race stands equal chances and opportunities in the American society. Misconceptions, false information and myths have been developed around the topic of black history and its people. Failing to understand the truth about the history and development of the black society is in itself a social injustice. It is in this light that the University of Kansas has developed a program that aims at demystifying the black race history and establishing facts to help the American community and world at large get to understand it better.
History of program
There has been an outcry through media reports that black studies programs are slowly disappearing from the American institutions. People are becoming complacent and embracing togetherness, but it does not necessarily mean that they should forget their past. Understanding the past and becoming aware of the historical facts is not racists, but only a means of unravelling the past to understand the past. Black study development has been gradual but consistent over time. The study has evolved through three stages, the first being that it began as a social movement that was against racism in higher learning institutions. It also advocated for the development of a field that would help the United States in dealing with and overcoming racism. Later on black studies became a reputable academic field that people began pursuing professions around it. Finally, with the advancement of technology, a digital aspect was introduced to the black studies. A digital knowledge network was developed and it catered for a constant supply of information to the society.
Academic description
A. Requirements of the Program
The main approaches in the empirical study of the field of Black Studies have been the use of case studies and comparative case studies on a regional basis. All interdisciplinary minors in Black Studies are required to take Introduction to Black Studies, ordinarily during their first two years, and four additional courses listed in the catalogue that earn Black Studies credit. Honors minors must complete a 2-credit honours thesis as one of these additional courses. Of these four additional courses, at least one of them must be outside of the departmental majors, and nothing else other than one course may be taken outside of the University of Kansas. To be accepted into the minor (beginning in 2010), a GPA of 3.0 (in Black Studies related courses) is usually required. Students are usually strongly advised to take a course in African or African diaspora history.
All the students that participate in the Honours Program are usually invited to define and do a minor in the Black Studies Program. On the other hand, honours minors in the field of Black Studies do a single, 2-credit preparation. This preparation is a 2-credit thesis written under program supervision. Students doing honours minors must meet all and show aptitude in all the other requirements of the interdisciplinary minor in course. In addition to all the above stated, a 2-credit honours thesis must include work done for the interdisciplinary minor and should also entail some unifying or integrative principle of coherence.
B. Curriculum of the Program
This field was founded as Black Studies, a confrontation with the institutionalized white racism that controlled higher education. Black was capitalized as it was the assumed to be name of a nationality. This practice continues to make sense given the reality of racism in the USA. Additional names for the field are reflected in the 361 units. Development and Its Discontent, African Dance I, Performance Dance: Repertory, African, Labor and Social Economics, Urban Education, Black Culture in a "Post-Soul" Era, Black Cultural Studies Seminar, Theatre d'ecritures francophone, Western Africa during the Era of the Slave Trade, 1500-1850, Race and Poverty in the United States: 1960-Present, African American English: Culture and Linguistics, Historical and Comparative Linguistics, Politics of Punishment, Urban Underclass and Public Policy, Introduction to Race and Ethnicity in the United States.
C. Program Staff and Personnel
Shawn Leigh Alexander is an Associate Professor of African and African American Studies at the University of Kansas. He presents a unique mix to the African American study as a specialist in Afro-American studies.
Dr. Dorthy Lee Pennington, a graduate from the Rust College and the University of Kansas, she is an associate professor of African and African-American Studies, and Communication Studies she lectures mostly on Arabic related history but still an integral and crucial member of the American studies fraternity.
Jessica Gerschultz is an Assistant Professor of African and African-American Studies. With a Ph.D. in Art History from Emory University, she brings on board a rich experience in research and teaching interests. Her specialty is majorly on modern and contemporary art in Africa and the Middle East. She is an expert with the linkages between the textile’s industry, gender, and materiality, and also the social and political dynamics of artists’ networks.
Yacine Daddi Addoun is an Assistant Professor of African & African-American Studies at the very University of Kansas. He has his Ph. D. degree from York University in Toronto, Canada. His completed his undergraduate studies in Algeria. His research mainly focuses on and revolves around the issues of slavery, how it was conducted and how its abolition can be effected in Algeria.
Clarence Lang is an Associate Professor of African and African-American Studies at The University of Kansas. He is a former Langston Hughes Visiting Professor in the field of African-American studies. He has a Ph.D. in History from the University of Illinois and his contributions go a long way in shaping and defining this black studies department in the University of Kansas.
Liz MacGonagle on the other hand, is an African historian in the Departments of History and African & African American Studies. She is also the current Acting Director of the Kansas African Studies Center (KASC) for 2013-14. In her numerous research work, she has encountered historical, geographical, and theoretical boundaries and with this she can comfortably link nation, culture, and ethnicity to processes and identify formation in African and Diaspora settings around the world.
Beverly Mack is a distinguished Professor of African Studies in the Department of African and African American Studies and also the Director of the University of Kansas African Studies Centre (KASC). She often teaches a number of varying courses. Women and Islam and Muslim Women's Autobiography are her common specialties. African Women Writers and Islamic Literature has also been her area of specialization and lecture basis.
Program assessment
The purpose of this field of study is to develop a culture of free flow of information in the field of history, but most importantly in the field of black history. The program as stated above began as a social movement and later developed into a full time profession. The ability of a student to discern and meticulously come up with chronological information regarding the different aspects of black history is the ultimate goal. The students learn to integrate and master existing theories regarding black race history. This information that they learn is used by the students to cultivate a consistency in the historical perspective of the black race. The fields that are studied range from, history, economics, to education and other aspects of African history that can be studied. The interesting part comes in from the fact the students have to use the information from all the available data they learn to create links and establish similarities or differences in among the black societies.
Summary
Curious minds often exist in this world, and it is from such minds that ideas, some true and some false, crop up. Understanding the concept of black history will help the world, through the students that develop and learn tremendous amounts of information. In defining the future we have to have the past as a foundation, it is with this line of thought that the Kansas University developed an education program that would cater for the needs of the current generation and those of the future generations through the provision of quality and credible information regarding the black history. The fact is that, from the various researches conducted it is evident that black studies are here to stay. The popularity and permanency that is currently seen regarding the Black Studies in both public and private institutions proves that the field is here to stay. Departments have been established in institutions of higher learning to deal with specifically black studies, and this, in itself goes to show the state that this field has assumed in modern world of academia.
Bibliography
Kansas University . http://afs.ku.edu/faculty/. n.d. http://afs.ku.edu/faculty/ (accessed April 14, 2014).
