UCLA Department of African American Studies

Save the date: Join the UCLA Legacy 2021!
2021-04-06 17:30 - 19:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
With great excitement, we invite you to join us on the evening of Tuesday, April 6th, for Join the UCLA Legacy, a virtual event honoring our African American admits for the Fall class of 2021. Save the date to connect with faculty and staff to learn more about the many benefits of becoming a Bruin! Our success speaks for itself through these student responses.
–“I especially enjoyed being able to discuss with the department chairs and their willingness to make sure that we constantly understood the entire college-going process.”
–“I mostly enjoyed how the faculty and administration made me feel welcomed and that I deserved to attend the school. Even though I don’t identify with the majority of the school, it shouldn’t stop me from pursuing my dreams.”
–“The Legacy event was the icing on the cake that I needed to feel valued as an African American student in such a large university.”

Mark your calendar April 6th 2021 5:30-7:30pm

Stay tuned for more details coming soon!

Connecting ART & LAW FOR LIBERATION 2021: Call for Proposals
2021-04-16 - 2021-04-17
Connecting ART & LAW FOR LIBERATION
a CALL TO ACTION to end Mass Incarceration
On April 16-17, 2021 join artists, activists, attorneys, advocates and scholars for a Virtual Conference featuring innovative collaborations at the intersection of ART and the LAW!
Build community, re-energize and play, while developing visionary strategies to end mass incarceration — with participants from college campuses, communities and carceral spaces.
Proposal Due: January 11, 2021
Send proposals and questions to: CALLtoActionUCLA@gmail.com by January 11, 2021. Details on the 2019 CALL Festival are on our website at: www.calltoactionucla.com

A Collaboration between the UCLA Prison Education Program,
UCLA School of Law’s Criminal Justice Program and the Prison Law & Policy Program

Africa’s Readiness for Climate Change (ARCC) virtual forum
2021-04-19 09:00 - 2021-04-23 17:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Join us for the upcoming Africa’s Readiness for Climate Change (ARCC) virtual forum, organized by the UCLA African Studies Center and Earth Rights Institute, and co-sponsored by the Department of African American Studies.
Register here https://ucla.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_b5cGk3_ASFO1WEkwK2NAtA.

The webinar event is scheduled for April 19-23 and registration to attend is free.
Register Here
Exact times to be announced, but starting time will be 9 am for most days as three of the presenters will be Zooming from the continent.

Confirmed Speakers are Nnimmo Bassey, Director of the Health of Mother Earth Foundation; Ousmane Aly Pame, President Global Ecovillage Network Africa, Founder/President REDES(Network for Ecovillage Emergence and Development in the Sahel); HE Ambassador Sidique Abou-Bakarr Wai, Sierra Leone Ambassador to the US; and Elizabeth Wathuti, Founder, Green Generation Initiative and Head of Campaigns at Wangari Maathai Foundation, Kenya.
Additionally, there will be panels on Public Health, Indigenous Knowledge, Policy, and more.
For information, email africa@international.ucla.edu, visit the conference website at https://www.international.ucla.edu/asc/article/206676

"Resemblance, Representation, and Resonance in Black Film and Media"
2021-04-30 11:00 - 13:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
UCLA Department of African American Studies invites you to attend the lecture series
“Black Lives Matter—Past, Present, and Beyond” featuring
Racquel Gates
Associate Professor of Cinema and Media Studies, College of Staten Island, CUNY
Author, “Double Negative: The Black Image and Popular Culture”
speaking on
Resemblance, Representation, and Resonance in Black Film and Media
Friday, April 30, 2021 at 11:00 a.m. PDT
Live streaming via Zoom
RSVP HERE
The basic idea of “representation” – that onscreen images construct meaning – takes on particular urgency when those being represented have been historically ignored, or worse, grossly misrepresented, throughout history. Such is the case with Black representation in film and media. As a result, critics and scholars alike continue to theorize solutions to the thorny issues of representation. Though these conversations are not new, their centrality speaks to ongoing problems related to the images of women and minorities in the media. Yet how often are we actually talking about “resemblance” rather than representation? And how might we begin to consider questions about quality, taste, and emotional resonance? This talk contemplates these aspects of cinematic representation and argues that such a shift offers new possibilities for Black cinematic engagement.

"After Sudan: Hajj Hamad and the Search for the Horn of Africa" with Prof. Alden Young
2021-05-14 14:00 - 15:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
“After Sudan: Hajj Hamad and the Search for the Horn of Africa”
A Lecture with Professor Alden Young
Friday, May 14th, 2021
2:00pm (PST)
RSVP HERE
About the lecture: My talk focuses on the work of the Sudanese intellectual Mohammad Abu Qasim Hajj Hamad. He was one of the Children of 1964, who came of age in the October Revolution, which promised a democratic transformation, but he watched in horror as the military returned to power in 1969 and within a few years began exiling intellectuals and political activists. It was in exile that intellectuals like Hajj Hamad began looking for alternatives to the Sudanese state. In this talk, I will discuss his ideas about the Horn of Africa as a region. I will also discuss the ways in which he sought to place Sudan within the Greater Middle East in the process trying to rewrite Sudanese history. Hajj Hamad’s historical project was an attempt to break Sudanese society out of the impasse within which it was trapped. According to Hajj Hamad, Sudan was a society stuck between binaries such as Arab and African, Communist and Islamist, as well as Center and Periphery. In his opinion, it was only by overcoming these binaries that Sudanese society could develop.
Alden Young is a political and economic historian of Africa and the Middle East. He is Assistant Professor of African American Studies and a faculty member in the International Development Studies program at the University of California, Los Angeles. His first book Transforming Sudan: Decolonization, Economic Development and State Formation was published by Cambridge University Press in December 2017. Along with Nathalie Puetz of NYU Abu Dhabi, Young has been awarded a research grant by the SSRC to work on climate change adaptation among the Red Sea littoral countries.

The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre: A Historical Context
2021-06-01 17:00 - 19:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre: A Historical Context
Tuesday, June 1st, 2021

5:00PM PDT
RSVP HERE

Professor Brenda E. Stevenson moderates an online conversation with Karlos K. Hill and Hannibal Johnson, both authors and experts on the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, in which a white mob assaulted residents, looted, and destroyed their homes, churches, schools, and businesses in the predominantly Black neighborhood and business district of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The panel discusses the history of Black migration to Oklahoma, the Jim Crow realities of the early 20th century, the facts surrounding the Tulsa massacre, and the immediate aftermath in which hundreds of Black Americans were dead, homeless, or imprisoned, their families and financial lives devastated.
An Associate Professor and Chair of the Clara Luper Department of African and African-American Studies at the University of Oklahoma, Hill is the founder and chair of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Commission. His most recent book is The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre: A Photographic History. An attorney, author, and highly regarded public historian, Johnson is the author of Black Wall Street 100: An American City Grapples with its Historical Racial Trauma.
Co-presented by the UCLA Department of African American Studies
RSVP HERE

Taking Stock: U.S. Counterterrorism Interventions in Africa Today
2021-07-15 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Taking Stock: U.S. Counterterrorism Interventions in Africa Today

July 15th, 2021
12:00pm
Register Here
While Washington is winding down counterterror operations in Afghanistan and possibly Iraq, there is growing pressure from some quarters for an increase in U.S. military engagement in Africa. In mid-June, France announced an end to its counterterrorism operation in the Sahel, now in its seventh year. France is hoping the U.S. and countries contributing to a 15,000 strong peacekeeping force will step up to fill the void, but the ambush of four U.S. soldiers in neighboring Niger in 2017 raised serious questions about mission creep and oversight of US troops on the continent. Meanwhile, the Biden administration is reportedly considering returning troops recently pulled by the Trump administration back to Somalia.

Why are the French leaving Mali? What impact did Western-backed security assistance missions have in diminishing terrorism threats and supporting democracy in the region? Why is the U.S. military looking to wind down operations in West Africa but at the same time considering returning troops to Somalia, despite significant democratic backsliding by the U.S.-backed government there?

The Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs will host a panel of discussion to shine a light on this undercovered region and provide recommendations for better oversight and accountability mechanisms to avert counterproductive mission creep and endless U.S. war in Africa.

Join us for a timely and important conversation with:
Alden Young, Assistant Professor of African American Studies at UCLA and a Non-Resident Fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.
Stephanie Savell, Senior Researcher at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, Brown University and co-director of the Costs of War Project.
Amanda Sperber, Independent journalist, focusing on politics, youth, and armed conflict in Kenya, Somalia and Sudan.
Lizzy Shackelford (Moderator), Senior Fellow on U.S. Foreign Policy at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, former QI Non-Resident Fellow, and author of “The Dissent Channel: American Diplomacy in a Dishonest Age.”

Black Convocation
2021-09-29 17:00 - 18:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Black Convocation 2021

Sept. 29th
5-6pm
Zoom Registration Link

IdentiTEA Discussion
2021-10-05 07:00 - 20:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
The Mixed Student Union (MSU) is hosting their first discussion/meeting of the year this upcoming Tuesday, October 5, at 7pm-8pm in Kaplan Hall, in room 135!
They will be discussing what it’s like growing up mixed-race, and overall spilling the “tea” on what it’s like being mixed and how that affects identity.
*MSU is a cultural group for mixed-race and multiethnic individuals that aims to unite and foster UCLA’s mixed community. They meet weekly on Tuesdays at 7-8pm at Kaplan 135.*
Join their newsletter subscription here!

Professor Brenda Stevenson's Inaugural Lecture
2021-10-25 09:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Professor Brenda Stevenson
Hillary Rodham Clinton Chair of Women’s History
Oxford University is running a program of public events this month to celebrate the start of Professor Stevenson’s tenure.

The Lecture: Creating History at the Intersection of Gender, Jim Crow and Remembrance will be broadcast live on Youtube.

Black Dress & Culture Series: Debating the Black Body in Fashion & Popular Culture
2021-11-06 11:00 - 14:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
Black Dress & Culture Series
Debating the Black Body in Fashion & Popular Culture
Location: Via Zoom & In-person for UCLA students only (see RSVP Link).
Description: The Black Dress & Culture Series annual colloquiums explore the critical topic of Black dress. The influences of Black bodies, Black style, and Black makers are undeniable forces in shaping culture through fashion, costume design, and styling. Black bodies have consistently acted as sites of cutting-edge aesthetics and emulation. Yet, they have endured ridicule, discrimination, fear, and violence. This series engages scholars and practitioners in conversations that reinsert Black people into cultural narratives. Their discussions will address and expand on the multiple viewpoints within ongoing and sometimes contentious histories and contemporary practices. The inaugural event, “Debating the Black Body in Fashion and On-Screen,” will focus on the work of Black costume designers, in conversation with scholars, to address the topic of Black women and body size, as well as respectability politics in dress on screen.
Colloquium Schedule:
11:00 a.m. Welcome and Introductions
11:15 a.m. Panel I: Black Women and Body Size in History and on Screen
12:15 p.m. Coffee Break
12:30 p.m. Panel II: The “Aesthetics of Excess” and Respectability Politics
1:30 p.m. James Bridges Theater in-person discussion followed by refreshments

UCLA Institute of American Cultures Fall Forum 2021
2021-11-09 15:00 - 16:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Description:
You are invited to the UCLA Institute of American Cultures (IAC) annual Fall Forum, featuring the 2021–22 IAC visiting researchers and scholars, graduate and predoctoral fellows, and research grant awardees at UCLA’s four ethnic studies centers. Featured speakers will be interviewed by faculty experts, followed by a Q&A.
Find out more about who and what is featured in the Webinar through the Zoom Registration Link.

Kal Penn on Life and Diversity in Hollywood
2021-11-11 17:00 - 18:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
Darnell Hunt, Ph.D and Dean, UCLA Division of Social Sciences Professor of Sociology and African American Studies invites you to attend the Dean’s Salon: Kal Penn on Life and Diversity in Hollywood!
Kal Penn will be taking live questions from the viewers starting at 6:00 p.m.If you would like to submit your questions in advance of the webinar please email hnadworny@support.ucla.edu by Wednesday, November 10.
Thursday, November 11, 20215:00 – 6:30 p.m. PSTLive streaming via Zoom

Click here to register for the event

To purchase a hardcover edition of Kal Penn’s new memoirYou Can’t Be Serious please click here

Students & TV Writers Panel
2021-11-15 11:00 - 12:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
Description:
Are you a college student or recent grad who’s interested in sharing your experiences with TV writers? Do you have pressing questions about how a story unfolds in the Writers Room? If so, join a panel on zoom where you can converse with writers of a half-hour comedy hit! See the flyer for details and send us an email with your preferred date and time. There are three options to choose from!
*Email Delina.Brooks@abcs.tv for inquiries about the event and how to attend!*
The event will take place on three separate days:
Monday, November 15th (11:00 am PST)
Tuesday, November 16th (1:00 pm PST)
Wednesday, November 17th (2:30 pm PST)

Geneva Smitherman Book Talk!
2022-05-03 16:30 - 18:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
This event will feature a panel that discusses the recent publication of Dr. Geneva Smitherman’s memoir: Geneva Napoleon Smitherman, My Soul Look Back in Wonder, 1st edition (Routledge, 2022). Three speakers, Dr Bryce Henson, Dr. Austin Jackson, and our very own Professor Kyle T. Mays, will offer reactions to her book from their interdisciplinary perspectives and also comment on her contribution to Black Studies. Excited to see you all there!

The book talk will take place in The Black Forum (Haines Hall 153) at 4:30 pm on Tuesday, May 3rd!
If you are on campus, we would welcome your in-person attendance!
If you would rather watch online, click here for the zoom link!

Comrade Sisters Book Talk w/ Ericka Huggins & Stephen James
2022-10-19 16:00 - 18:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Mark your calendars for the October 19th Comrade Sisters Book Talk Event! UCLA has invited Activist Ericka Huggins and Photographer Stephen James to discuss their book “Comrade Sisters: Women of the Black Panther Party”!

Read more about our esteemed guest speakers below!

Writing Health Through Black Feminist Theory
2022-10-24 15:00 - 17:00 (America/Los_Angeles)

Sekou Odinga: Reflections of A Freedom Fighter
2022-10-25 17:00 - 18:30 (America/Los_Angeles)

UCLA 34th Annual MLK Oratorical
2023-02-01 19:00 - 22:00 UTC
On February 1st at 7pm UCLA will host the 34th Annual MLK Oratorical Contest in Covel Commons. We hope you can spread the word, join us for festivities, and watch amazing students perform spoken word, oration and griot.

Black Dress & Culture Series: Fashion City Los Angeles
2023-04-22 10:00 - 14:00 UTC | James Bridges Theater
Description:
UCLA will be hosting the second installment of the “Fashion City: Los Angeles” jointly presented by UCLA’s Copley Center for the Study of Costume Design and Department of African American Studies.

The Black Dress and Culture series engages scholars and practitioners in conversations on the multifaceted aspects of Black dress within cultural narratives. These panel discussions will focus on the evolving perceptions and impacts of Black fashion and aesthetics in history and popular culture and will address and expand on the multiple viewpoints within ongoing and sometimes-contentious histories and contemporary practices.
This two-part discussion will encourage debate and engage with the speakers’ repertory of knowledge, experience, and research.
RSVP Required:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ucla-black-dress-culture-series-tickets-607726405037

*Contact Kristen Mundy (kmundy@afam.ucla.edu) or Gina Lewis (lewisgina@g.ucla.edu) with questions!*

Political Economy of the Black World II
2023-05-31 09:15 - 2023-06-01 17:30 UTC | UCLA
MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
In May 1979, the Center for Afro-American Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles hosted a two-day symposium entitled The Political Economy of the Black World. This spring, Professors Peter James Hudson and Jemima Pierre are convening The Political Economy of the Black World II, a two-day symposium that draws on and expands the themes and conversations of the original 1979 event. It will serve as the inaugural event of the new Center for Advanced Studies of Political Economy and Race (CASPER).
The Political Economy of the Black World II will be held on May 31st and June 1st at UCLA and will include presentations from a global group of scholars hailing from Kenya, Tunisia, Barbados, Trinidad, Puerto Rico, Norway, Canada and beyond.
Please join us for the Public Conversations with:

Dr. Claudia Mitchell-Kernan, Faculty Emeritus, former chair of the Center for Afro-American Studies, and former Vice Chancellor of Graduate Studies at UCLA – and co-convener of the original 1979 event.
Dr. Horace G. Campbell, Professor of African American Studies and Political Science at Syracuse University and Chairperson of the Global Pan African Movement (North American delegation).
Dr. Deborah E. McDowell, Alice Griffin Professor of Literary Studies and former director of the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies at the University of Virginia.
Ajamu Baraka, Chairperson, Coordinating Committee of the Black Alliance for Peace, senior editor and contributing columnist for the Black Agenda Report, and former Green Party vice-presidential candidate.

For more information, including the schedule, please see the flier above. We look forward to seeing you there!

JOB TALK: Black Buddhists & the Black Radical Tradition
2024-02-01 12:00 - 13:00 UTC | Kaplan Hall 365, Kaplan Hall, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
Join us Thursday, Feb. 1st, as we welcome Dr. Rima Vesely-Flad for our first job talk of the year! These job talks are an opportunity for members of the UCLA community to hear faculty position applicants present on topics they are experts in. Please come hear Dr. Vesely-Flad speak and get an opportunity to ask her questions about her research!
*Lunch Provided*

JOB TALK: “’We’ve Been Born Free’: Rastafari Women’s Pan-African Worldmaking
2024-02-06 12:00 - 13:00 UTC | Kaplan Hall 365, Kaplan Hall, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
Our second job talk of the year! Come stop by Kaplan 193, Tuesday, February 6th, for Dr. Shamara’s Alhassan talk titled “We’ve Been Born Free”: Rastafari Women’s Pan-African Worldmaking. These job talks are an opportunity for members of the UCLA community to hear faculty position applicants present on topics they are experts in. Please come hear Dr. Alhassan speak and get an opportunity to ask her questions about her research!
*Lunch will be provided*

Radical Reparations BOOK TALK
2024-02-06 18:00 - 20:00 UTC | UCLA Career Center, UCLA Career Center, Room #200, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
Speakers:
Dr. Marcus Anthony Hunter
Author & UCLA Professor
Click here to learn more about the author…

Willie “Prophet” Stiggers
President of the Black Music Action Coalition
Click here to learn more about the Black Music Action Coalition…

Description:
Join us for an exciting book talk on Tuesday, February 6th! Get ready to dive into the thought-provoking world of RADICAL REPARATIONS: Healing the Soul of A Nation written by our very own UCLA Professor, Dr. Marcus Anthony Hunter. In conversation with, Willie “Prophet” Stiggers, he will discuss the powerful ideas and perspectives presented in the book. Students, Faculty and Staff of UCLA are all welcome to attend and engage in fresh insights on this important topic!

DETAILS:

Date: Tuesday, February 6th, 2024
Time: 6:00pm-8:00pm
Location: UCLA Career Center Room 200 (located in the Strathmore Building)

*Books will be sold by the Reparations Club*
Food & Beverages will be provided.

State Violence & Radical Justice in Brazil: A Conversation with Rute Fiúza
2024-02-13 12:00 - 13:30 UTC | YRL, YRL West Classroom, Room #23167, Los Angeles, CA, 90095
Join the UCLA African American Studies Department & the UCLA Center for Brazilian Studies for this important conversation with our featured speaker, human rights activist, Rute Fiúza.

JOB TALK: Whither Hurston? African Inheritances, Africana Religious Studies, & the Great Debate
2024-02-15 12:00 - 13:00 UTC | Kaplan Hall 365, Kaplan Hall, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
Join us Thursday, Feb. 15th, as we welcome our featured speaker Dr. Ahmad Greene-Hayes for our last job talk of the year! These job talks are an opportunity for members of the UCLA community to hear faculty position applicants present on topics they are experts in. Please come hear Dr. Vesely-Flad speak and get an opportunity to ask her questions about her research!
*Lunch will be provided!*

Book Talk: THE REFORMATORY by Tananarive Due
2024-03-06 17:30 - 19:00 UTC | Royce Hall 314, Royce Hall, Los Angeles, CA, 90095

"Descendant" Film Screening: In Conversation with Co-Producer, Kern Jackson
2024-04-05 08:00 - 17:00 UTC | Royce Hall 306, 304 Royce Plaza, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
Join us for an exclusive screening of the critically acclaimed documentary “Descendant,” currently streaming on Netflix! The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the film’s Co-Producer, Dr. Kern Jackson!
*Refreshments will be provided*

"Descendant" Film Screening
2024-04-11 19:00 - 22:00 UTC | Royce Hall 306, 304 Royce Plaza, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
“Descendant” Film Screening: In Conversation with Co-Producer, Kern Jackson
Join us for an exclusive screening of the critically acclaimed documentary “Descendant,” currently streaming on Netflix! The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the film’s Co-Producer, Dr. Kern Jackson!
*Refreshments will be provided

Registration Link: https://events.eventzilla.net/e/descendant-film-screening-2138605224

Prelude to...JUNETEENTH DAY CELEBRATION
2024-06-05 19:00 - 22:00 UTC | Royce Hall 10383, Royce Hall, Los Angeles, CA, 90095
Tickets Available Now!

Scroll below to see more information about our performers!

Juneteenth Day Celebration: Honoring Our Past, Celebrating Our Future
Hosted by the UCLA African American Studies Department
Join us for a day of reflection, celebration, and community as we commemorate Juneteenth, the nationally celebrated commemoration of slavery’s official end in the United States. This year, the UCLA African American Studies Department is proud to host a series of performances and talks that highlight the significance of this day in our history and its relevance to our present and future.
We will honor the resilience and achievements of the African American community and recommit ourselves to the ongoing fight for freedom, equality, and justice for all. Together, we appreciate where we came from, the journey it took to get us where we are today, and envision a future of progress and community.
