African American African Diaspora Studies Department

"As a vibrant intellectual enterprise, African American and African Diaspora Studies has transformed the way we think about Africa, the Americas, and the world. The breadth of philosophical frameworks that shape the field range from Pan Africanism, Négritude, Black Internationalism, Civil Rights, Black Feminism, to Critical Race Theory. By engaging critical histories of its diasporic geographies, the field provides insights on modernity’s formation and futures. In establishing the Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies in 2019, Columbia University strengthens its leadership in the field."
                        − Mabel O. Wilson, Chair of African American & African Diaspora Studies

Upcoming Events

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News

Professor Summers joins public historian and archivist Moriah Ulinskas to discuss activism in Oakland.

Professor Danticat joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “Two Men Arrive in a Village,” by Zadie Smith.

Her collection of essays has been named a finalist for two literary awards.

VIDEOS

Woman sitting at her desk on her computer with shelves of books behind her
Mabel Wilson on Architecture and Race

Professor Wilson speaks about how she views architecture through the prism of race and race relations in the United States.

Text saying African American & African Diaspora Studies Department
African American and African Diaspora Studies Department

This video explores the history of African American and African Diaspora Studies at Columbia and the significance of becoming a department.

Man with glasses teaching in front of a class of students
Frank Guridy on New York City and Black Culture

Professor Frank Guridy explains the significance of Columbia being on the border of Harlem and the location's influence on his work on black history.

Selected Publications

Book jacket features a painting of a woman mopping a floor

Who Set You Flowin’: The African American Migration Narrative

Farah Jasmine Griffin
Race and Modern Architecture cover

Race and Modern Architecture

Co-edited by Mabel O. Wilson
Two women, smiling, stand with three children holding balloons in a park

Invisible Families: Gay Identities, Relationships, and Motherhood Among Black Women

Mignon R. Moore
Christians Against Christianity cover

Christians Against Christianity

Obery Hendricks