REPORT ON EXTERNAL PROGRAM REVIEW
Department of African American Studies, GeorgiaStateUniversity
January 2005
Reviewers: James B. Stewart, Professor, Labor Studies and Industrial Relations, African American Studies, and Management and Organization, PennStateUniversity
Diedre Badejo, Professor and Chair, Department of Pan African Studies, KentStateUniversity
William E. Nelson, Research Professor of African American and African Studies and Professor of Political Science, OhioStateUniversity
INTRODUCTION
Our External Review Committee was invited to GeorgiaStateUniversity to assist with the periodic program review of the Department of African-American Studies (DAAS). The external review constitutes one part of GeorgiaState’s academic program review process and the roles and responsibilities of the external review committee are set forth in university documents. Within the context of these guidelines our Committee has attempted to conduct an in-depth, thorough examination of the Georgia State University Department of African American Studies and to provide detailed feedback on that program’s strengths and weaknesses. We endeavor to provide information and offer recommendations to support the University’s stated commitment to improving this program’s excellence and visibility in teaching, learning, scholarship, service, and public policy.
In preparation for our site visit, we studied university and department documents related to the institution’s periodic program review process. Our site visit dates were January 9-11, 2005. During this visit, we interviewed various administrators, faculty, students, and staff Our interviews were designed to obtain information about the department’s organization, mission, strengths, weaknesses, and future development possibilities.
This report follows the approved template prescribing the organization and content of the External Review Committee report. However, to ensure that all administrators have a fuller understanding of the context in which the DAAS operates, we first provide a brief history and assessment of the current status of Africana Studies in the U.S. The term “Africana Studies” is used as an inclusive term encompassing African American, African, and African Diaspora, and Pan-African Studies.
THE DEVELOPMENT AND STATUS OF AFRICANA STUDIES
Over the past thirty years, Africana Studies has made considerable progress in attaining disciplinary status. Africana Studies now rivals traditional academic disciplines in the clarity of focus of theories and research methods, curriculum content, and pedagogical techniques. The maturation of the field is also evidenced by other indicators, including the existence of several professional organizations – the most notable of which is the National Council for Black Studies (NCBS) – and various professional journals (e.g., Journal of Black Studies, Western Journal of Black Studies). There are currently between 43 and 50 degree-granting departments and over 200 programs that are housed in units identified as American Studies, Area and Ethnic Studies, Black Studies, African American Studies, African Studies, Africana Studies, or African Diaspora[1] Studies in colleges and universities across the United States.[2] In 2000, “colleges granted 604 undergraduate degrees, 70 master’s degrees, and 7 doctoral degrees” in African American Studies.[3]
The interdisciplinary or wholistic character of Africana Studies complicates developmental efforts, particularly with respect to staffing and curriculum. The ontology of Africana Studies questions many of the theories and methods associated with traditional disciplines, in part because much of the research examining peoples of African descent in these disciplines historically has embodied questionable assumptions and ignored the interdisciplinary nature of many important phenomena. In contrast, Africana Studies attempts to integrate perspectives from different disciplines, reinterpret them from the vantage point of people of African descent, and generate new theories, models, and data that surpass the explanatory power of traditional approaches. The perceptions, needs and expectations of traditional cooperating departments may not overlap significantly with those of an Africana Studies department, where interdisciplinarity is highly valued.
The original focus of the Black Studies movement was the experiences of peoples of African descent in the United States. However, as Africana Studies has evolved, the scope of inquiry has expanded to encompass other components of the African Diaspora and the continent of Africa. While there is some nominal overlap with traditional African Studies, the approach to the study of Africa within Africana Studies is significantly different. As an example, unlike traditional African Studies, Africana Studies eschews existing disciplinary boundaries, and has a special interest in continuities among the cultures of Africans in Africa and African-descended populations in the Diaspora. Currently, significant resources are being committed by funding agencies and many institutions in developing the sub-field of African Caribbean studies. This has been the least developed of three major geographic foci of the field.
Similar to the evolution of such traditional disciplines as philosophy from religion and sociology from anthropology, the first generation of Africana Studies faculty were trained in other disciplinary areas. These earlier pioneers in the field paved the way for the current generation of scholars such as those in DAAS. As a consequence, faculty selfdevelopment was, and remains, a critical component of the evolution of the field. It is only recently that graduate programs have been established to produce faculty trained specifically in Africana Studies (e.g., TempleUniversity and the University of Massachusetts - Amherst). Several new graduate programs have been organized in the last few years and several more are scheduled to come on line in the near future. While faculty trained specifically in Africana Studies will form the core faculty of these graduate programs, many will, of necessity, rely heavily on faculty trained in traditional disciplines, as is the case for many undergraduate units. Faculty trained in traditional departments who desire to affiliate with Africana Studies departments may need to undertake formal or informal faculty development efforts to make a significant contribution to instruction in Africana Studies. Several problems may arise in the case of joint appointments. These include divided loyalties and competing expectations on faculty, limited control over course offerings, and faculty promotion and tenure, as well as lack of faculty exposure to Africana Studies scholarship. For six years (1989-94) NCBS offered a series of three-week long summer institutes for faculty trained in traditional disciplines through a grant from the Ford Foundation.
As in any dynamic field, there are many schools of thought in Africana Studies. It is commonly agreed that the diversity of perspectives in the field is critical to its vitality and creativity. For example, there is an ongoing debate as to whether Africana Studies is a field of study, a discipline, or something else. Some scholars argue that Africana Studies is a discipline like sociology, where scholars look at different areas of the human experience, be it history, politics, family, etc., through the same lens. Such advocates call the discipline Africology. Other scholars view Africana Studies as an interdisciplinary field of focused study similar to education, where scholars bring a variety of disciplinary lenses, be they anthropological, psychological, historical, etc., to study the African world experience. Still others would argue for a multidisciplinary or nondisciplinary label. Such on-going debates signal the health and vibrancy of the field. Another indication of this health and vibrancy is the growing interest of scholars in other areas to engage Africana Studies scholars, theories, and methodologies.
One value that links different schools of thought within Africana Studies is the commitment to producing a perspective that reflects the beliefs, values, culture, and interests of peoples of African descent. The term “African-centered” is used to convey this value wherein people of African descent are at the center of discourse rather than ancillary or appended to it. The term African-centered then, reflects an easily identifiable historical tradition among scholar/activists throughout Africa and the African Diaspora.
As Africana Studies continues to evolve, it is imperative that researchers and graduate students develop a familiarity with the intellectual history of the field, contemporary schools of thought, and methodological options available for studying various social phenomena. Further refinement of methodological approaches in Africana Studies will require continuing enhancement of graduate training and targeted professional development efforts for existing faculty/researchers. Both students and current professionals must take up the challenge not only to contest conventional assumptions and experiment with unconventional methods of researching and interpreting the complex experiences of people of African descent throughout history and in all geographical spaces, but also to understand alternative approaches. The absence of such an approach to training places graduates who are appointed to positions in departments and programs with less Afrocentric orientations at risk.
There is also a need to ensure that teaching and research significantly addresses issues of gender, as reflected in the work of Africana Womanist theorists and researchers including Delores Aldridge, Diedre Badejo, Vivian Gordon, and Clenora Hudson-Weems. The Association of Black Women Historians has been an important catalyst, supporting efforts by black female historians to produce authentic historical research examining Africana women in the U.S. There is a need for more gender-focused, Africana Studies-based social science research. As an example, psychologists have been largely silent on the issue of whether gender differences in socialization create variations in the process of developing self-efficacy and/or in cultivating racial identity, and efforts to address this research lacuna must make use of both quantitative and qualitative methods.
Traditionally, the curricula of African American Studies programs have emphasized history, the liberal arts, and the social sciences. However, as the discipline continues to evolve there is a growing recognition of the need to address public policy issues, and focus on applying Africana Studies theories and intervention strategies to solve concrete problems facing people of African descent and other disproportionately marginalized groups. To accomplish this objective it will be necessary for the scope of instruction and skills development in Africana Studies to be expanded to encompass policy-oriented studies, particularly given the important role or catalyzing social change that has been advocated by Africana Studies advocates since the late 1960s. Africana Studies analysts still overuse descriptive approaches rather than developing concrete applications, policy development and analysis, and developing linkages to appropriate “helping professions,” for example, social work and administration of justice. Among the most glaring weaknesses in the development of Africana Studies are the limited linkages between Africana Studies units, and Colleges/Schools of Education, and Schools/Departments of Science and Technology.
The development of linkages to helping professions is critical because one of the fundamental characteristics of Africana Studies is a strong commitment to community outreach and development. As many institutions focus greater attention on service learning for students and outreach activities by faculty that apply knowledge to improve the lives of citizens, Africana Studies units can clearly play a vanguard role in designing and implementing programs, particularly those targeting traditionally underserved populations. At some institutions, e.g. OhioStateUniversity, there are even highly formalized outreach components that provide credit and noncredit instruction to community residents.
AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES AT GEORGIASTATEUNIVERSITY
1. Historical and Current Context
Although the DAAS has only existed as a self-standing department for a decade, it is well positioned to become the premier Africana Studies department operating in the southern United States. The establishment of the proposed graduate program would cement this prominent status.
The DAAS has provided appropriate evidence of its progress through comparisons with peer institutions. The chosen peer institutions are appropriate and reflect the multi-dimensional character of Africana Studies. All three departments currently grant an M.A. degree, a status to which the DAAS aspires. Cornell and OhioState have long been regarded as first-tier Africana Studies units and as benchmarks for assessing other institutions. Louisville and OhioState are located in major metropolitan areas, enabling a meaningful comparison of outreach activities. The course enrollments and number of undergraduate majors compare favorably and, in fact, exceed those of the peer institutions, although the DAAS has fewer faculty lines than its peers.
The DAAS has been successful in leveraging its resources to enable faculty to maintain research productivity while simultaneously engaging in extensive outreach activities. This leveraging has been facilitated by some targeted course reductions, in recognition of extensive outreach involvement, and through the provision of graduate research assistants to assist faculty in research and instructional activities. All of the faculty members are active researchers committed to increasing their research productivity consistent with institutional expectations. Given their relatively collective youth (there are currently no full Professors), the achievements of the faculty are particularly noteworthy, and all members of the faculty attribute much of the department’s progress to the effective leadership of the Chair, Dr. Charles Jones.
The DAAS has taken advantage of its prominent location in metropolitan Atlanta to pursue extensive outreach activities and provide unique service learning opportunities for students. As noted previously, outreach is a critical component of the activities of Africana Studies departments and the community engagement of the DAAS faculty is wholly consistent with the expectations of the preeminent Africana Studies professional organization, the National Council for Black Studies (NCBS). The DAAS is one of the few Africana Studies departments with a structured service-learning requirement in the introductory AAS course. This early cultivation of a commitment to community engagement, particularly among majors, is especially laudable, and is a paradigmatic example of the type of instructional praxis envisioned by the early proponents of Africana Studies.
To date, the Department has been able to balance successfully the multiple responsibilities associated with providing the existing undergraduate program. However, additional faculty and staff support will be required to enable a successful graduate program to be implemented. It is imperative that the core of any graduate program originate in and be guided by the vision and mission of DAAS, rather than other academic units, and that new faculty lines be committed to the department to support this program expansion, although some faculty support for a graduate program may be provided by other departments. The proposed graduate program has significant potential to support the successful implementation of GeorgiaState’s strategic plan, although it is not clear that the central administration fully appreciates how the department can enhance its institutional initiatives.
2. Progress Toward Goals and Objectives
The DAAS self-study reports substantial progress in achieving ten of the goals set forth in the college’s “Vision for the Department of African-American Studies.” The external review committee agrees with this assessment and offers only a brief commentary on progress in achieving each of these ten goals:
Goal 1.1: To recruit a tenure-track faculty.
Assessment:There are currently seven (7) tenure-track faculty (4 tenured)
Goal 1.2: To enhance faculty diversity and provide opportunities for faculty development
Assessment:The seven African American faculty in the department contribute disproportionately to the overall representation of African Americans among the GeorgiaState faculty.
Goal 1.3: To develop a curriculum for a B.A. degree in AAS
Assessment:Students pursuing the B.A. can choose from a menu of about fifty (50) courses and an average of seven (7) students per year have graduated with a B.A. degree in AAS between 1998 and 2003.
Goal 1.4: To provide students with historical and cultural grounding in an area which has been treated marginally in the academic canon.
Assessment:Large and growing enrollments in DAAS courses indicate that many GeorgiaState students not majoring in AAS are being exposed to the body of knowledge comprising Africana Studies.
Goal 1.5: To further the University’s mission of providing a curriculum reflective of the multicultural components of the state and nation.
Assessment:The service-learning components of the curriculum focusing on the Atlanta area as well as SapeloIsland provide a local focus that complement the course elements that examine the national and international dimensions of the global African world experience.
Goal 1.6: To advance interdisciplinary inquiry at the University.
Assessment: Over ninety (90) percent of the DAAS courses are cross-listed and some of the faculty members have been engaged in collaborative research with colleagues in other departments.
Goal 2.1: To establish GeorgiaStateUniversity among the premier institutions in the region and nation for academic preparation in African-American Studies.
Assessment:In addition to the traditional strategies to accomplish this objective, the DAAS reputation has been enhanced as a result of its hosting of the national office of the National Council for Black Studies.
Goal 2.2: To develop a distinguished faculty with a high level of scholarly accomplishments.
Assessment:As noted in the self-study, the DAAS faculty have been especially active at professional meetings and have delivered a large number of invited lectures. Unlike most of the faculty at the chosen peer institutions, the members of the DAAS faculty participate actively in the annual NCBS conference and the Department Chair is currently the Vice President of NCBS. The university’s treatment of research published in the form of book chapters as non-refereed publications hampers recognition of some of the faculty members’ scholarly achievements. In Africana Studies some of the most important scholarly research has been published in edited, refereed volumes that have received the same degree of pre-publication scrutiny as is the case for manuscripts submitted to refereed journals. DAAS faculty members have expressed eagerness to explore ways of modifying some of the existing outreach initiatives to incorporate a stronger research focus that would lead to journal publications.
Goal 3.1: To promote the University’s commitment to service learning and community outreach.