Transformations in Africana Studies: History, Theory, and Epistemology

This book introduces readers to the rich discipline of Africana Studies, reflecting on how it has developed over the last fifty years as an intellectual enterprise for knowledge production about Africa and the African diaspora. The African world has always had a wealth of indigenous knowledge systems, but for the greater part of the scholarly history, hegemonic Western epistemologies have denied the authenticity of African indigenous ways of knowing. The post-colonial era has seen steady and deliberate efforts to expand the frontiers of knowledge about black people and their societies, and to Africanize such bodies of knowledge in all fields of human endeavor. This book reflects on how the multidisciplinary discipline of Africana Studies has transformed and reinvented itself as it has sought to advance knowledge about the African world. The contributors consider the foundations of the discipline, its key theories and methods of knowledge production, and how it interacts with popular culture, Women’s Studies, and other area studies such as Ethnic and Afro-Latinix Studies. Bringing together rich insights from across history, religion, literature, art, sociology, and philosophy, this book will be an important read for students and researchers of Africa and Africana Studies.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: Toward an Africana Epistemology Adebayo Oyebade PART 1: FOUNDATIONS AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE DISCIPLINE Mission Conscious: On the Foundation, Development, and Problems of the Field of Black Studies Rebecca S. Dixon 1.Why Africology? A Critical Review of Debates about how to Name the Discipline Victor Oguejiofor Okafor 2. A Century of Africa-Centered Programs on Black Campuses: Creating a Multimodal Collaborative Africana Studies Digital Project at HBCUs Andrea Ringer, Sekhmet Ra Em Kht Maat, & A. Hannibal Leach 3. Nkrumah, Black Activism, and the Emergence and Development of Africana Studies Bernard Steiner Ifekwe 4. The Local and the Global: Sixty Years of African Studies in Africa Dele Layiwola 5. Specialization or Interdisciplinarity? African Studies in Africa at the Crossroads Cleopas Chika Mba PART 2: THEORIES AND METHODS OF KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION 8. Rethinking Knowledge Production in Africa: ‘Afrocentric Epistemology’ as an Emancipatory Discourse Biruk Shewadeg 9. African Cosmology and Africana Queer Theory Sekhmet Ra Em Kht Maat 10. Colonial History and Documentary Sources: Insights from Southern Nigeria Bright Chiazam Alozie 11. Abina and the Important Men: Using the Graphic History Genre to Teach Africa Elizabeth Dachowski and Adebayo Oyebade 12. Afrocentricity and Africana Studies: A Bibliographical Survey Adebayo Oyebade and Sekhmet Ra Em Kht Maat PART 3: GENDER, POPULAR CULTURE, AND LITERARY SPACES 13. Returning, Seeking, and Offering: Sankofa and Black Feminist History, 1979 - 2019 K.T. Ewing 14. Women’s Studies in Nigeria: A Critical Review Folasade Hunsu 15. "Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing": Culture, Epistemology, and the Historicity of Black Music Michael Bertrand 16. Exploring Migration Literature: Identity and Culture in Amma Darko’s Beyond the Horizon Michael Chiedozie Uhuegbu 17. "A Film is Banned if the Ladies Say So:" Women and Film Censorship in Kenya, 1912-1963 Samson K. Ndanyi Epilogue: Africana Studies: Looking Back to Confront the Future Adebayo Oyebade

About the Author :
Adebayo Oyebade holds a PhD in History from Temple University, Philadelphia. He is currently Professor of History and Chair of the department at Tennessee State University where he also teaches African history courses. He has authored numerous journal articles and book chapters on African and African Diasporan history. He is the author, editor, and co- editor of eleven books including Culture and Customs of Angola. His latest book is the co-edited volume, Africa in the Twenty-First Century: The Promise of Development and Democratization.