Race and Africana Studies: Reconfigurations, Rediscoveries and Reconstructions

Contact info: Dr. Jeffrey O.G. Ogbar ogbar@uconn.edu

Universiy of Connecticut

March 23-24, 2006

The expansion and development of Africana studies in the last forty years has given rise to an emergence of a wide array of approaches to examining the notion of “race’ in a general sense and “blackness” more specifically. From South Africa and Kenya to Brazil, Cuba and the United States, “blackness” itself is a fluid and contested notion. Far from a monolith, it is debated and performed in music, religious expressions, intellectual work, and in other arenas. The conference will explore the nuances of racial constructions. The conference will bring together a broad-based, interdisciplinary program that includes scholars, artists, activists, and cultural workers from across the United States and abroad.