40 Years of African and African American Studies
LOOKING FORWARD: AFRICAN & AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES 40TH ANNIVERSARY GALA
HUMANITIES CENTER, 424 SANTA TERESA STREET
Reunion/Homecoming Weekend
Saturday, October 24
2:00 – 5:00 p.m.
This year marks the historic 40th Anniversary of Stanford’s Program in African & African American Studies (AAAS). We would like to take this poignant moment in time not only to reflect back but also to look forward: our 40th is not only a grand occasion to commemorate the historic fact that we are the oldest AAAS program founded at a private institution in the country; it is also an opportunity to showcase our new curriculum, our campus-wide diversity initiatives, and our future plans for African American Studies at Stanford. Come join us in exploring this dramatically exciting and changing time for race scholarship, most especially in the interdisciplinary field of African and African Americans Studies.
2:00-3:00 p.m.: Classes Without Quizzes: “Black to the Future: The Pleasures & Perils of Race in the Post-Race Era” a short lecture by Professor Michele Elam, MLK Jr. Centennial Professor, Director of AAAS, followed by a panel of current students and alumni.
What is the future of Blackness? How can we think about race in this “post-race” era? How does African & African American Studies (AAAS) in the 21st Century theorize about race in the 21st century? and how does AAAS--especially with its new campus-wide Race Forward Initiative http://www.stanford.edu/dept/AAAS/raceforward/index.html contribute to the scholarly inquiry and intellectual life at Stanford for undergraduates, graduate students and faculty? Just what is the role of African American Studies as an academic field of research in the new millennium and at Stanford?
A front-page article in The Chronicle of Higher Education recently asked if Black Studies—and by implication, all ethnic studies programs and departments—are “past their prime,” are antiquated relics of a by-gone Civil Rights era. Yet how to reconcile this move “beyond race” with the fact that other scholars and social activists across the political spectrum are offering ever more urgent claims for the relevance of race and the need to study new racial formations?
3:00-5:00 p.m.: Interactive Open House with Champagne and Hor D’ Oeuvres. This is a dynamic opportunity to experience the vibrancy of African and African American Studies at Stanford today. Visit our five hands-on stations in the Humanities Center:
- Giving Back: Be among the first alumni to use the new Stanford Alumni Mentoring (SAM) online program that connects students with alumni for career planning and goals. We will have a representative from the Alumni Association there to showcase the website, answer questions, and help you get connected to a current student at one of two computer stations on site.
- Listening to Voices: Watch streaming testimonials on a flat screen TV from current students and alumni talking about the impact of AAAS on their life and career. Come by, you may see yourself!
- Exploring Student Research: Be inspired by the exciting and creative work of our students and learn more about their intellectually innovative research projects--from “Healing Rights of Haiti and Home: (Meta)Physicalities in Pakét Kongo” by Kyrah Malika Daniels, to "I Am Who I Am," Transracial Adoption and Racial Identity Formation by Maria Harsha.
- Experiencing Black Arts: Participate in diverse creative expression and performance arts projects hosted by AAAS, Committee for Black Performing Arts (CBPA) and the Institute for Diversity in the Arts (IDA). Performances by Kuumba.
- Walkabout: Read quotes that have inspired people of color around the globe on our specially designed frieze that encircles the entire room.
This event is sponsored by the Program in African and African American Studies and The Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education.
For more information please call our office (650) 723-3782.
