About

The Department African American and African Diaspora Studies creates a vibrant intellectual space where undergraduate and graduate students critically engage the socio-cultural, political-economic, historical and contemporary issues that impact the African Diasporic global community. The formation of the Department in 2019 responded to a demand for a comprehensive education in the multi-disciplinary fields of African American and African Diaspora Studies. The Department draws its distinctive urban focus from its home in New York City, and proximity to Harlem, one of the intellectual and spiritual homes of the global Black world.  

The Department places itself in the forefront of scholarly work to support global facing, vital intellectual, social, historical, and cultural issues through a model of collaboration and innovation. Our faculty and curriculum offer strengths in Black geographies, political and religious thought, incarceration and social justice discourses, gender and sexuality studies, public health policy, and visual and cultural studies. We host public events that foster collective engagement and spirited discourse on our local community’s most pressing issues, while contributing to national discourses relevant to global Black Studies.

We remain deeply invested in not just graduating erudite students but continuing its predecessor the Institute for Research in African American Studies.  Often referred to as IRAAS, the Institute was founded in 1993 by the late Professor Manning Marable; with a tradition of producing scholars who positively impact the world. The Department's dedicated team of faculty and staff works diligently to support the research interests of its students and fellow faculty to ensure that this vital multi-disciplinary intellectual tradition of African American and African Diasporic studies will live on at Columbia University in the City of New York for many generations to come.

Department Office

758 Schermerhorn Extension, Mail Code 5512 · New York, NY 10027