"The pursuit of Black Studies: The importance of hiring PhDs trained in the discipline"
- Oct 10, 2024
- 10 min read
*This essay was originally published in March 2023 in The Discipline and the African World 2023 Report: An Annual Report on the State of Affairs for Africana Communities. National Council for Black Studies, Second Annual Report*
In 1969, after three years of struggle, the first Department of Black Studies was
established at San Francisco State University (SFSU) (Karenga, 2010). Although the study of
people of African descent as the subject matter existed prior to 1969, it was at this moment that Black Studies became institutionalized in the academy. The push for Black Studies was firmly rooted in community and student activism within the larger Black Campus Movement, and the initial goals of the movement were trifold: the transformation of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) into Black Universities, the building of Black Universities in the Black community, and the creation of departments in the academy (Rogers, 2012). Central to these demands for Black Studies were the introduction of Black people as the subject matter which 1) deconstructed and renegotiated the historiography of Black people as actors, 2) introduced and/or expanded courses on Black people into the university curriculum, and 3) knowledge production that resulted in transformative outcomes in the socioeconomic and political realities of Black people. Although SFSU would be the first Department of Black Studies, the pursuit of Black Studies was a national movement which resulted in students seizing buildings, expulsions, student withdrawal, and protests from Howard University to Coppin State University to Cornell University (Rogers, 2012).
Between 1969 and 1973, over 600 Black Studies programs and departments were created as well as courses dedicated to the study of Black people as the subject matter (Beeson, 2009; Rogers, 2012). In a 2013 report, African American Studies 2013: A National Web-Based Survey, researchers found that 20% of U.S. colleges and universities (1,777) held formal units (i.e., programs or departments) in Black Studies. This figure increases to 76% of U.S. colleges and universities when considering institutions that do not have a unit but have at least one course related to Black history (Alkalimat et al., 2013). Despite challenges and attacks on the discipline, such as funding/underfunding, low enrollment, or claims that Black Studies is less rigorous and should be dismantled completely, half a century later Black Studies is still active within the academy (Bernard-Carreño, 2009; Clark-Hine, 2014; Rogers, 2012; Shaefer Riley, 2012).
In this essay, I discuss the importance of hiring educators trained in Black Studies for the future growth and sustainability of the discipline. Importantly, for the discipline to continue growing, we must hire those trained in Black Studies. This is important for multiple reasons but also because it shapes the pedagogy and orientation of students who, in turn, also represent the future of the discipline. Educators trained in the discipline will lead to the increased production of students trained to think like Black Studies scholars. Besides institutional barriers, it is impossible for the discipline to thrive and reproduce itself if students are not being trained as Black Studies scholars and Ph.Ds in the discipline are not being hired. Both are important because they mutually reinforce why Black Studies is more than just a place to study Black people. If anyone can teach a course in Black Studies, then that within itself invalidates the discipline.
In the two decades following the institutionalization of Black Studies in the academy, courses were exclusively taught by those trained in traditional disciplines (Kendi, 2018). The first doctoral program in the discipline was not created until 1988 at Temple University, and it took another ten years for the second doctoral program to be created at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 1998 (Fischer, 2013). By the year 2000, there were only two more programs, University of California, Berkeley and Harvard University, representing a total of four programs (Asante, 2009). There are currently twenty masters and nineteen doctoral programs in Black Studies (National Council for Black Studies, 2022). In an analysis of Molefi K. Asante’s decision to develop the first doctoral program in Black Studies, Ibram X. Kendi (2018) states:
Asante’s own Afrocentric perspective also allowed him to look at the 20-year old Black Studies differently in the mid-1980s. He did not view a thriving discipline. He viewed a dying discipline. Asante’s establishment of Black doctoral studies in 1988 saved the life of Black Studies. A people will become extinct if a people cannot reproduce itself. It is the same for a discipline. Asante recognized that Black Studies had to produce and raise Black Studies scholars to survive through creating its own doctoral programs.
(p. 544)
In the same way Asante viewed the lack of doctoral programs in the discipline as a sign of the unsustainability of the field, the same can be said for continuing to hire those trained in
traditional disciplines. In fact, Asante considers the field incomplete until Black Studies
departments are hiring those trained in the field and until over half of the departments are filled with those with doctoral degrees in the discipline (Asante, 2015). Asante (2015) states:
There are many scholars teaching in Black Studies who self-declare as something other
than Black Studies professors. I find this quite incredulous when it comes to the process
of developing a discipline. However, in many ways those of us of the first generation and the second generation have been responsible for this circumstance by hiring individuals who are looking for a job rather than those who know the discipline and will continue the legacy established by the early scholars in the field. I was struck not long ago by [how] inadequate our education in the field and its history has been when I found out that there were professors teaching in Black Studies at a certain institution who had never heard of Nathan Hare. When we have reached the level of having more than half of our faculty members with degrees in African American or Africana Studies we can say that the discipline is on the road to security and maturity. (para. 24)
The discipline must reproduce itself in the form of educators and scholars trained in Black Studies and scholars who identify themselves as such. The limited number of graduate programs does indeed present a challenge for Black Studies concerning the hiring of Ph.Ds in diverse areas of expertise and training undergraduate and graduate students. But, as time progresses, it is critical that more educators trained in the discipline are teaching and securing positions in the field.
In “A Black Studies Manifesto” Darlene Clark Hine (2014) argues “…we often forget
that Black Studies is an intellectual discipline characterized by different objects and methods of study than other disciplinary formations in the university” (p. 11). Clark Hine goes on to say:
Within ten minutes of talking to a person, it is rather easy to determine whether he or she is a lawyer by the way they articulate critical issues. Though law schools do not teach or require students to learn or memorize every law that has been passed, students do, however, learn how to think like lawyers. (p. 11)
Clark Hines is correct in her assertion that students must be trained to think like Black Studies’ scholars and suggests intersectionality, nonlinear thinking, diasporic perspectives and comparative analyses, oppression and resistance, and solidarity as five characteristics of the Black Studies mind. However, for this to happen, the pedagogical and disciplinary orientation of faculty are important for successfully training students in the discipline. For example, in Spring 2020, one of my assigned courses was Research Methods in Africana Studies. For this course, it was important to be very intentional about the selection of course materials and ultimately decided upon Serie McDougal III’s Research Methods in Africana Studies. My decision to choose this text was important for many reasons but, at the foundation, it was important to me to train students to think like a Black Studies scholar and understand what that means when conducting research. It would be simple to select any text or collection of articles on research methods. However, a part of the way a discipline distinguishes itself is related to their methodology. In Black Studies, it is imperative to be concerned with the how and the why, and it is crucial to train students to think in the same way. According to McDougal (2014):
Africana Studies’ mission centralized three things: academic excellence, social responsibility, and cultural grounding (Karenga, 2002). Africana Studies is distinguished not by what or who is studied, but by how and why it is studied. Africana Studies grounds itself in the cultural location of peoples of African descent. The researcher engages in study for the purpose of improving the lived experiences of people of African descent. (pp. 106-107)
During this course, the significance of the how and why was repeatedly emphasized as well as the need to conduct research that has societal implications. While discussing these important components of research, it was important to draw students back to Manning Marable’s Black intellectual tradition which was used as a lens for understanding how to approach the study of people of African descent and the significance of Black Studies. In my courses, in general, the Black intellectual tradition is often one of the first required readings because many students have a faulty understanding of the definition, orientation, and goals of the discipline. Marable provides a lens to introduce students to the discipline who may or may not be majors/minors but also provides a lens for the course subject matter and course materials and reinforces critical ideas of what it means to be a Black Studies scholar. History departments train historians. Sociology departments train sociologists, and they each have a particular method of approaching their subject of analysis. Black Studies must train their students to do the same.
Yet, the challenge is also related to encouraging undergraduate students to pursue
undergraduate and graduate degrees in the field. This can manifest in a variety of ways, one of which is by “not offering Black Studies as a major or more than a few elective requirements, students are disempowered, and are driven farther away from this academic field of study” (Bernard-Carreño, 2009, p. 17). However, it can also be present in the form of faculty (in the university and the department) or staff such as advisors. In discussing the reactions of seeking a graduate degree in Black Studies, Bernard-Carreño (2009) reveals the way advisors attempted to discourage her pursuit with statements such as “it’s a waste of your time and brain,” “there are no jobs for that,” and “you will not make money” (p. 13). She goes on to say that “…word of mouth encouragement and slim examples without actual and accurate representation of success in Black Studies, helped to harbor the attitude that economics trumps the production of knowledge” (p. 19). This is critical. How does the lack of educators with doctoral degrees in Black Studies impact students’ decision to obtain a traditional degree? Does representation, in this way, matter? And how does having educators in the field with traditional degrees shape the mentoring and advocating for pursuit of graduate degrees in Black Studies?
My own decision to pursue graduate study in the discipline was partially influenced by examples from the classroom, specifically the doctoral students in the department at Temple University. It was not only the courses or the ability to major in African American Studies but also representation and their encouragement and passion for the discipline. Like Bernard-Carreño, I, too, had a faculty member in one of my programs (who was traditionally trained) attempt to discourage me from pursuing a graduate degree in the field by simply stating, “do you want a job?” How many students stop at a bachelors’ or even a masters’ degree and opt for a doctorate in a traditional discipline because of these same concerns whether directly stated, implied or from the lack of doctoral representation among faculty in their department?
The Department of Africana Studies at San Diego State University (SDSU) is currently celebrating their 50th anniversary. There are currently a total of eight tenured and tenure track faculty members, the majority of whom (seven out of eight) received their doctoral degree in the discipline. In fact, the only faculty member without a degree in the discipline is the most senior and longest-employed member of the department. The department is intentional in hiring faculty trained in the discipline and considers non-disciplinary trained applicants only if they are extremely exceptional candidates. As stated earlier, Asante (2015) argued, “When we have reached the level of having more than half of our faculty members with degrees in African American or Africana Studies we can say that the discipline is on the road to security and maturity” (para. 24). The Department of Africana Studies at SDSU provides an example of what we should be striving towards for the future of the discipline. As faculty, staff, activists, researchers, and educators in the field, it is not only our responsibility to produce a new generation of critical thinkers connected to the larger community, but it is our responsibility to believe in the purpose of the field. Positions in Black Studies cannot be a job for job’s sake. The responsibility is too great.
References
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Just Read the Dissertations. The Chronicle of Higher Education.
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