Changes Ahead for African American Studies From: University Currents Date: February 4, 2000 By: Marianne Kunnen-Jones Founded three decades ago, the Department of African American Studies remains a small department with just four full-time faculty members and about 40-50 majors each year. But this year the department is thinking bigger and is using an interdisciplinary approach to expand. By reaching out to colleagues across the university who teach courses that focus on all areas of the African world, the department hopes to bolster its impact and effectiveness, said Patricia Hill Collins, the department's new head. The department plans to establish a faculty roster of "affiliated" faculty and dual course listings. Already, a dual appointment has been arranged for Paulette Brown-Hinds, a new assistant professor of English who approached the department because she teaches courses on African American and Afro-Caribbean literature and felt a closer connection to African American studies made sense. Combining joint appointments that cross disciplines with full-time positions will allow the department to cross-list more courses that can be taken for African American studies credit or credits in the originating department, Hill Collins said. "We want the best of the departmental and interdisciplinary models for our students," she said. "We want them to know about the richness and diversity of the entire African world." The expansive approach also led to the planning of the department's first Black History Month colloquium, which will meet 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Friday, Feb. 11, in Room 401A-B, Tangeman University Center. The topic for the daylong conference will be one that is central to the department's being: "Black Studies, Academic Excellence, and Social Responsibility: Past, Present and Future." The event will explore questions such as: What is black studies? What are the new directions in black studies? What careers are UC alumni from the African American studies program pursuing? According to the new department head, the black studies field is taking new directions that need to be discussed and the conference will be part of the conversation. "In this country, black studies has been pretty much limited to African Americans and Africa, but the field is becoming much more global. African American and African studies are terms that are really much too narrow. African studies is too narrow," said Hill Collins, who has just updated her own ground-breaking and award-winning book, Black Feminist Thought, for a 10th anniversary second edition. Another issue is whether the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake is sufficient in the context of black studies. "Or does it, as W.E.B. Dubois said, really involve social responsibility and how you use that knowledge?" she asked. The colloquium will also feature panels of African American studies majors, minors and alumni. Admission is free and open to the public. No registration is needed. For more information, contact the African American studies department at 513-556-0350.