The World-Building Potential of Black Studies

In colleges and universities where African American or Black Studies programs exist, they are often interdisciplinary—blending academic disciplines ranging from history and anthropology to the arts, and more. As a field unto itself, Black Studies is both nascent and revelatory: What Black Studies teaches us about Black life and liberation reveals deep insights into the American story writ large.

Black Studies as a field emerged out of student protest, taking shape on both campuses and in Black communities. And while it has become increasingly recognized as a formal program on many college and university campuses, opportunities remain to return to Black Studies’ founding ethos—not only by expanding the program into other academic settings, but also by breaking out of the classroom and entering communities with the tools to reimagine racial justice.

So says Leigh Raiford, professor of African American Studies at the University of California Berkeley. In response to the racial reckoning of 2020, the Black Studies Collaboratory, which Raiford co-leads with Tianna S. Paschel, has emerged as a convener of artists, activists, and scholars who gather to envision a just society where Black lives are affirmed and brought to the forefront of how we examine historical and present-day societal challenges. This hybrid form of scholarship, in which scholars work with activists and artists in a multidisciplinary setting, offers us a window into the world-building potential of Black Studies as it fosters new and compassionate modes of knowledge production, scholarly engagement, and community practice.