Word: afro
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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After almost 20 years as a Harvard department, Afro-American Studies still draws second glances in many non-academic circles. Many of its approximately 20 concentrators are joint concentrators, and all five of its professors hold joint appointments. An inter-disciplinary department, Afro-American Studies has undergone many changes, including a dwindling number of professors and growing number of concentrators. Its courses are cross-listed under the specific concentrations to which they are related. And people still question whether it is legitimate...
Born out of the turmoil of the 1969 riots, the Afro-American Studies Department is becoming more and more intellectual, leaving its political roots behind. "People think the Afro-American Department is more politically than scholarly motivated--which is really a misconception," says current department chairman Werner Sollors, professor of American Literature and Language and of Afro-American Studies...
Assistant Professor of Afro-American Studies and Sociology Roderick J. Harrison, who participated in the 1969 riots which brought about the establishment of the Afro-American Department, agrees that the department has taken on a much more scholarly atmosphere. He says, "This change has probably been good since there is simply no way that it could have been the kind of department students wanted and still have established itself here...
...combination that the University has devised to please both sides is rather unique. Unlike many other colleges, Harvard offers a full-fledged degree in Afro-American Studies, as opposed to a smattering of courses. The department goes beyond the curricular, as many of its professors are leading research experts in the field, and the University hosts a number of educational programs through the W.E.B. DuBois Institute...
...department is also growing in both size and scope. While the department is currently searching for specialists in the field of visual art, DuBois Professor of History and of Afro-American Studies Nathan Huggins, who came to Harvard in 1980, stresses the irreduceable importance of history and literature in Afro-American studies, both of which the department offers several courses...