"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
News
Léger's novel "Death of the Soccer God" was inspired by Joseph Edouard Gaetjens, a Haitian who scored the winning goal for the U.S. team versus England in the 1950 World Cup.
The African American & African Diaspora Studies Department sends proud and heartfelt congratulations to the 2026 cohort of graduating students.
Allen writes that Washington is converting old confiscation claims into a legal machine for reclaiming the island.
Alumni News
A Conversation with Lee Bynum BA’02 MA’10
Lee Bynum is a composer and librettist of opera and serves as the executive director of Maestra Music.
A Conversation with Walter A. Jean-Jacques BA ‘14
As a freshman at Columbia, Jean-Jacques had an internship with the National Urban League, where he now works as an attorney.
A Conversation with Katori Hall CC’03
Katori Hall is a Pulitzer Prize and Olivier Award-winning playwright and television creator/producer hailing from Memphis, Tennessee.
Videos
This video includes interviews with department chair Mabel O. Wilson, director of graduate studies Brandi Summers and more.
Department Chair Mabel O. Wilson, the Nancy and George Rupp Professor of Architecture, Planning and Preservation and professor of African American and African Diaspora Studies, explores how race affects architecture.
A talk by Frank Guridy, an associate professor at Columbia University's African American and African Diaspora Studies Department.
The development is the latest growth spurt in a scholarly interpretation of the black experience that began at Columbia in the early 20th century.
Selected Publications
Written by Steven Gregory
