Viranjini P Munasinghe
Associate Professor
Africana Studies and Research Center, American Studies Program, Anthropology, Asian American Studies Program, Institute for Comparative Modernities
Community partnerships honored at 2021 TOGO awards
The Underground Railroad Project at St. James A.M.E. Zion Church, the Foodnet Meals on Wheels program, and Khuba International and the Learning Farm received collaboration awards for partnering with Cornell to improve the lives of Tompkins County residents.
Book explores Nigerian women’s political activism
The years immediately following World War II were pivotal for women in Nigeria. Spurred by economic hardship and an unfair tax system, they began to organize in the city of Abeokuta and forge a fresh political vision, for themselves and their nation.This period is explored by Judith Byfield, professor of history in the College of Arts and...
Emancipation’s Daughters: Reimagining Black Femininity and the National Body
In her [Professor Riché Richardson] new book, Emancipation′s Daughters: Reimagining Black Femininity and the National Body (Duke University Press, 2021), Riché Richardson draws on literary texts and cultural representations to show how the work of five iconic black women, Mary McLeod Bethune, Rosa Parks, Condoleezza Rice, Michelle Obama, and...
Alumni gift to A&S supports doctoral students in the humanities
A $5 million alumni gift will help to support doctoral students in humanities fields within the College of Arts & Sciences.
Rural humanities projects explore NYS past and present
Five essays that explore how students created publicly-engaged projects are available online.
Shortlist Announced for Mabati-Cornell Kiswahili Prize for African Literature
The Mabati-Cornell Kiswahili Prize for African Literature recognizes excellent writing in African languages and encourages translation from, between and into African languages.
Nexus Scholars Program applications now open
The program connects undergraduates in A&S with opportunities to work side by side on research with Cornell faculty from across the College.
A 'freedom church' unearths its Underground Railroad history
Church members and a multidisciplinary team of Cornell faculty and students are learning more about St. James A.M.E. Zion Church by doing an archaeological dig.
Students engage with NYC Black ‘memory workers’ in Mellon seminar
An interdisciplinary seminar in the fall semester took students from Ithaca to New York City to explore African American heritage sites and the people whose work keeps this history alive.
What to read in 2022? A&S faculty weigh in
A&S faculty offer book and poetry recommendations for the new year.
Water crisis increased Flint children’s lead exposure
As many as one in four children in Flint, Michigan – far above the national average – may have experienced elevated blood lead levels after the city’s 2014 water crisis, finds new research by Jerel Ezell, assistant professor in the Africana Studies and Research Center.
E.P.A’s new air, water protections for poor sends mixed signals, says prof.
Prof. Jerel Ezell comments on the EPA's announcement of new air and water monitoring and enforcement.
Freedom seekers speak on new Underground Railroad site
The new “Voices on the Underground Railroad” website focuses on nine documented or rumored stops on the Underground Railroad in Central and Western New York.
Ga. voters will decide the next governor and the state's status with Medicaid
"Georgia is one of 12 states that has not expanded Medicaid. With the governor's office up for grabs, Georgia Democrats and Republicans offer competing explanations for why that is.(Soundbite of Archived Recording)Jamila Michener: So states used waivers as a way of saying, fine, we're going to do this. But we're going to make it into something...
Quarter of Flint kids have elevated lead levels in blood, Cornell study finds
"From June through November 2019, researchers said they collected and analyzed cross-sectional data on Flint children, self-reports of screenings of blood lead levels, and results and various potential water contamination-related health symptoms and outcomes.The symptoms reported by the Flint families can’t definitively be linked to the city’s...
It Wasn’t Just the Pandemic That Closed the Princeton Club
"Tao Leigh Goffe, a Princeton alumna and Cornell professor in her early 30s, chose to join the Yale Club, where she attended grad school, rather than Princeton, her undergrad alma mater. She explained, 'As a Black woman, I am always being surveilled, and at the Yale Club this did not feel like the case, while it did the few times I went to the...
SIDNEY POITIER GAVE MORE THAN HE WAS GIVEN
"Poitier, the pioneering Black actor and activist who died Thursday at age 94, had a complicated career. From his successful buddy pictures (The Defiant Ones, Duel at Diablo) to his spate of critical hits (To Sir, With Love; In the Heat of the Night; Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner), Poitier played characters who expanded the range and repertoire of...
One of Toni Morrison's only short stories is getting published as a book
"The short story is 'just one of innumerable manifestations of Morrison's genius as a writer,' said Riché Richardson, a professor of African American literature at Cornell University (where Morrison earned her master's degree). 'In this story, her emphasis on the plight of two girls -- Twyla and Roberta -- prompts readers to consider their...
First Black fraternity, founded at Cornell, celebrates 115 years
"Hiding within the walls of the gray, condemned house at 421 N. Albany St. is an important piece of history. The house was the original home of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first-ever Black fraternity, founded on Dec. 4, 1906 at Cornell University. The seven founders, now known as the “Jewels” of the fraternity, are Henry Arthur Callis, Charles Henry...