In Keeping With Woodson: Working Across Disciplines in Africana Studies at Lehigh University

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Abstract

When Carter G. Woodson set out to connect scholars and the public through ASALH, he set the stage for collaborations across disciplinary lines in order to better serve those concerned with the study of African American life.

In keeping with that premise, Lehigh University's Africana Studies Program has recruited several new hires from varying fields in the past four years. This roundtable features those new hires and the specific instances of cross-disciplinary efforts in pedagogy, scholarship and program development they employ. The challenges, successes and best practices of the cluster hiring process will be presented.

Africana at Lehigh faces some interesting challenges. Never before have scholars from such a wide range of disciplines been recruited to work in Africana Studies at the same time. With this successful effort to reinvigorate Africana Studies at Lehigh, a range of new questions now present themselves. Should the program become a department? How will we be able to retain each of the scholars within the cluster? And what are the connections that must be made across the work of each of these scholars that will yield the best professional outcomes for all and the program itself? These questions and other will be answered in this roundtable discussion.

Sub Unit

• ASALH Centennial Annual Meeting and Conference

Chair

• James Peterson, Lehigh University

Discussants

• Susan Kart, Lehigh University

• Darius Williams, Lehigh University

• Natanya Duncan, Lehigh University