News | Africana Studies and Research Center

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Community spotlight: 2023 First Generation Celebration Week

To kick off the 2023 First Generation Celebration Week, Student and Campus Life gathered insights and advice from first-gen students, alumni and staff.

Cornell campus seen from above in autumn, with Cayuga Lake in the distance

Einhorn Center announces new Engaged Faculty Fellows

A&S faculty are among twenty-five faculty and academic staff from nine Cornell colleges and units are Engaged Faculty Fellows for the 2023-24 academic year.

Riché Richardson receives literary society award

"Emancipation's Daughters" earned the 2022 C. Hugh Holman Award from the Society for Southern Literature.

‘Desdemona’ celebrates Morrison’s Nobel Prize anniversary

The performance will feature singer-songwriter Rokia Traoré, who wrote the music for the original production.

The College welcomes new faculty for 2023-24

Our 34 new faculty will enrich the College of Arts & Sciences with creative ideas in a vast array of topics.

New Faculty: Dr. Xavier Pickett

Dr. Xavier Picket, Africana Studies

New Faculty: Ambre Dromgoole

Ambre Dromgoole, Africana Studies

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From breaking to Beyoncé: Hip Hop Collection empowers students

Cornell's collection is the largest hip-hop collection in the world.

Einaudi Center welcomes new and returning program directors

Climate justice will be a priority across the Einaudi Center this year.

"I was most influenced by having black professors, as this allowed me to feel comfortable in the classroom"

Jalen Knight is an Africana Studies Major and an Inequality Studies Minor

A&S dean Jayawardhana named provost at Johns Hopkins

Rachel Bean, the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor in the Department of Astronomy and senior associate dean for math and science, has been named interim A&S dean.

Cornell's central campus: stone buildings set among green trees with a blue sky above

Three A&S professors among finalists for Falling Walls summit

The Falling Walls Science Summit 2023, set for November 7-9 in Berlin, will explore the forefront of scientific trends that shape the world.

Aerial view of the Arts Quad in the fall

A&S honors 23 faculty with endowed professorships

The professorships are possible because of generous gifts from alumni, parents and friends.

"The Africana Department provides amazing faculty and an incredibly wide range of subjects approached from varying schools of thought and perspectives."

Flora Leopoldine Lechtreck is a Philosophy major and Africana Studies and German Studies minor.

"I felt elated that I had finally been exposed to work written by people who look like me"

Keziah Smallhorne is a Psychology major with a concentration in Behavioral and Evolutionary Neuroscience and a Biology and Africana Studies minor.

"I decided to pursue a minor in Africana studies, envisioning it as a means to establish a solid historical and educational foundation on Africa"

Harmela Anteneh is an Industrial and Labor Relations major and Africana Studies and International Relations minor.

"I chose Africana studies because I wanted to expand my knowledge of the African diaspora."

Aliyah Kilpatrick is an Industrial Labor Relations major and Africana Studies, Inequality Studies, and American Studies minor.

Nexus Scholars Program expands research opportunities to 101 students

This summer, 101 students in the College of Arts and Sciences will take part in groundbreaking research on campus with 61 faculty as part of the Nexus Scholars Program.

'I am proud of my accomplishments as both an athlete and a scholar'

Gabrielle Hill is an Africana studies & environment and sustainability major.

Alice Paul toasting (with grape juice) the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, August 26, 1920

Passage of ERA legislation ‘long overdue’

The U.S. Senate is set to vote today on a measure that could allow the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to be added to the U.S. Constitution, a century after its introduction.

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‘Out Here’ film event shines light on rural LGBTQ life

A trio of short films showing the pleasures – and perils – of rural life for LGBTQ+ people will show April 26 as part of the Rural Humanities Initiative in the College of Arts and Sciences.

A red bordered rectangle made of felt with red hearts on it and a blank-faced brown-skinned woman with one pearl earring and long gray hair

Art and community: Africana Library exhibits quilts

“Precious Scraps” showcases quilters and fabric artists from across the country, as well as from Cornell -- including Africana Prof. Riché Richardson.

Harvard historian to deliver Munday lecture

Vincent Brown, the Charles Warren Professor of American History and Professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University, will deliver this year’s Reuben A. and Cheryl Casselberry Munday Distinguished Lecture April 17.

Family abolition focus of upcoming lecture

Sophie Lewis will offer a deep dive into the history of radical movements and explore family abolition, which she characterizes as a turning away from the privatization of care.

Four people stand in front of a building, wearing dress coats and hats

MLK's 1960s visits to Cornell still resonate today

King’s historic visit on Nov. 13, 1960, and a second, on April 14, 1961, came during a period when he was honing ideas that would take center stage at the March on Washington in 1963

Excavation uncovers 2K more artifacts at St. James church site

This semester’s work also featured an end-of-semester mini-field course for local children and youth presented by two Cornell students.

Goffe: Collaboration is key to major humanities grants

Grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Mellon Foundation will help make humanities research more accessible to scholars and the public.

Painting, blue background, circles with circles inside, plant shapes over all

Salah Hassan co-curates African modernist artist Kamala Ibrahim Ishag’s exhibition at the Serpentine, London

Kamala Ibrahim Ishag has forged a unique and expansive practice that is not defined by a singular style or movement.

Book: Time for Black women to claim the right to lead

Extending her research on writing by Black women around the world, Carole Boyce Davies examines the stories of Black women political leaders in Africa and in the global African Diaspora.

Students can now choose new minor in data science

The minor is distinctive in including courses from many disciplines, from across Cornell’s schools and colleges.

Nexus Scholar applications open for summer 2023

The program matches undergraduate students with summer opportunities to work side by side with faculty from across the College.

Scholar offers talk about Brazilian crackdowns and feminist response

Her talk is one of three in the African Diaspora Knowledge Exchange Series.

Historical black and white photo of a person seated, in formal clothes and a serious expression

‘Words as battle axes’: A&S professors appear in Frederick Douglass film

Derrick Spires, Edward Baptist, and Gerard Aching help tell the story of the man born into slavery who became an advocate for African American freedom.

The College Welcomes New Faculty for 2022-23

This year, 15 new faculty are bringing innovative ideas in a wide range of topics to the College of Arts & Sciences’ nexus of discovery and impact, including climate change, astronomy, identity studies and the economy.

New Faculty: Michell Chresfield

Michell Chresfield, Africana Studies

Universal values and the national identity

"Taiwo thinks that we must recognize that the accumulated thought of humankind is part of our shared heritage."

Green lawn intersected by gray paths, seen from the air

A&S opens application portal for Klarman postdoc fellowships

Klarman Fellows pursue research in any discipline in the College, including natural sciences, social sciences, humanities and the creative arts as well as cross-disciplinary fields. The application deadline is October 14.

James Turner, the founding director of Cornell’s Africana Studies and Research Center and a a professor emeritus of African and African American Politics and Social Policy in the College of Arts and Sciences,

James Turner, a ‘giant’ of Africana studies, dies at 82

James Turner, the founding director of Cornell’s Africana Studies and Research Center and a pioneer of the multidisciplinary approach to exploring the African diaspora, died Aug. 6 in Ithaca.

‘The Zelensky Method’ unpacks Ukrainian president’s panache

In an extended essay, Grant Farred focuses on actor-turned-wartime president, examining the intersection of pop culture and politics.

The World’s Top Thinkers 2022

See the full list and vote for your top thinker

Workshop for K–12 teachers highlights global inequalities

Three dozen elementary, middle, and high school teachers from across central New York traveled to Cornell’s Ithaca campus on June 28 for this year’s International Summer Studies Institute (ISSI), hosted by the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies.