Word: afros
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Assistant Professor of Afro-American Studies Carol O. Herron, who came to Harvard this year to augment the department's literature offerings, this spring taught a course on Afro-American poetry. Herron, who previously studied Latin American epic fiction on a Fulbright Award in Mexico, is an expert on Milton and the epic. "My work involves showing the way in which the Afro-American epic has developed in America with African, American and European sources," she says...
...Afro-American studies would be incomplete if they were restricted to history and literature, Huggins says. He cites the need for an ethnomusicologist in the department, saying, "It is hard to imagine someone studying Afro-American life, history and culture without exposure to its music, because it is such an important element in the culture...
Sociology provides a link to politically-related Afro-American studies. Harrison, who specializes in sociology, says that while the Afro-American Department embraces a very intellectual approach, the subject itself can not be looked at without investigating the political elements as well...
Even with this disparate and broad approach, Afro-American Studies has yet to gain popularity among the student body, because many students call it unpractical. Therefore, students decide to double-major. Says Dawkins, "It is hard to legitimate Afro-Am studies to the outside world--to both Blacks and whites...
David Lattimore '88, who majors in Afro-Am and economics, says, "Afro-American studies falls conceptually low on an academic priority list. But this is reflective of society's prejudices, not of an understanding of the intellectual field." While Lattimore says he likes Afro-American studies more than economics, he adds it is just not as practical as the more popular department...