Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University

04/10/2026

Congratulations to our wonderful AAADS faculty member & Queen Edwidge Danticat on receiving the PEN/ Nabakov award for Achievement in International Literature.

04/03/2026

Article by AAADS faculty, Dr. Brandi T. Summers -"Oakland and the Ghosts of Urbicide A specter of Blackness haunts Oakland, California, lingering palpably in cultural and material landscapes that have been shaped by generations of Black Oaklanders."

A specter of Blackness haunts Oakland, California, lingering palpably in cultural and material landscapes that have been shaped by generations of Black Oaklanders.

03/13/2026

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https://bit.ly/BlackStudiesSurvey2026

03/02/2026

African American Women Writers of the 19th Century guide includes a digital collection of published works by 19th-century black women writers,...

03/02/2026

What We Stand to Lose: A National Forum on Black Studies Under Fire

March 5, 2026
7:00 PM - 8:30 PM
Zoom webinar registration
https://columbiauniversity.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_9OMl_RnSQVWB0LmdaYzylg #/registration

On February 12, a 30-minute Zoom call ended 50 years of struggle. The University of Texas at Austin — home to the first Black Studies PhD program in the American South — announced the consolidation and effective dismantling of its African and African Diaspora Studies department.

One week later, the University of Louisville “reallocated” all graduate assistantships in Pan-African Studies. Across Florida, the DeSantis administration has systematically gutted African American Studies at both HBCUs and predominantly white institutions.

Then, on February 19th, under pressure from the federal government, 31 universities cut ties with a program designed to increase the PhD pipeline for students of color — eliminating one of the most effective pathways for diversifying the academy.

Hosted and moderated by Black Study(ies) at Columbia:
Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies
Institute for Research in African American Studies
Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Society, and Culture

Panelists include:

Edmund T. (Ted) Gordon
Founding Chair Emeritus, AADS, University of Texas at Austin

Ashanté M. Reese
Associate Professor, AADS, University of Texas at Austin

Andrea J. Queeley
Associate Professor, Florida International University

Michael Brandon McCormack
Chair, Pan-African Studies, University of Louisville

02/18/2026

Black Study(ies) at Columbia University 2026 Zora Neale Hurston Lecture
Jamaica Kincaid and Edwidge Danticat: In Conversation.
Registration & tickets on EventBrite
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/black-studyies-at-columbia-university-2026-zora-neale-hurston-lecture-tickets-1982708916743?aff=oddtdtcreator

Our Annual Zora Neale Hurston Lecture honors the intellectual fierceness and talents of the singular anthropologist, novelist, and essayist Sister Zora — therefore also honoring our long Black intellectual tradition and its connection to Columbia, and Harlem. A complex figure, Hurston began her career as a Columbia University doctoral student in anthropology at Columbia University.

Her inimitable ‘spyglass’ and sensibilities have forever shifted the literary and anthropological landscapes: demonstrated by her novels “Jonah’s Gourd Vine” and “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” for example; ethnographic and folkloric works, “Mules and Men,” and “Tell My Horse: Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica;” her extraordinary autoethnographic work, “Dust Tracks on a Road;” short story collections, including “Spunk;” plays, and essays, like “Pet Negro System.”

Jamaica Kincaid is the 2026 AAADS Artist-in-Residence in the Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies at Columbia University. The globally acclaimed author of numerous widely taught and translated novels and essays— including “Annie John,” “Lucy,” “A Small Place,” “The Autobiography of My Mother,” and “See Now Then” — the Antiguan-American novelist’s profound intellectual and cultural influence extends far beyond literature, into art, cultural studies, and political thought. She is a professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University.

Edwidge Danticat is the Wun Tsun Tam Mellon Professor of the Humanities in the Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies at Columbia University. Her most recent essay collection, “We're Alone,” published in 2025, joins her previous acclaimed works: including “Create Dangerously;” “Breath, Eyes, Memory,” an Oprah Book Club selection; “Krik? Krak,” a National Book Award finalist; “Claire of the Sea Light;” “Brother, I'm Dying,” a National Book Critics Circle Award winner and National Book Award finalist; as well as seven books for children and young adults; and a travel narrative, “After the Dance.”

Friday March 6, 2026 at 6:00pm
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
New York Public Library
515 Malcolm X Blvd.
New York, New York 10037

Organized by:
Institute for Research in African American Studies
Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies at Columbia University

02/05/2026

Jamaica Kincaid Appointed as Mellon Artist in Residence at Columbia University

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02/01/2026

IRAAS / Nomadic Archivist Project Virtual Event
Wednesday, February 11, 2026, 6:00pm – 8:00pm EST

“Preserving Haitian History: A Special Presentation by Cap-Haïtien Citadelle Archive,
the Institut de Sauvegarde du Patrimoine National (ISPAN)”

Introductory remarks by Obden Mondesir, archivist, Haitian Studies Institute at Brooklyn College.

Speakers: Rhoddy Attilus, Medjino Louis, Frederick Mangonès, Antonio Marcelli, and Yessica Saintigny

Registration is Required https://bit.ly/4bPLqqn

This presentation introduces the Cap-Haïtien Citadelle Archive project and offers a closer look at the meaning behind Haiti’s World Heritage monuments. The Cap-Haïtien team of archivists, architects, and translators are preserving over two decades of analog documentation of restoration work, using digital tools and inclusive metadata in English, French and Haitian Kreyòl. The project offers long-term archival strategies for future stewardship.

The event will be in English and simultaneously translated into Kreyòl and French.


Co-presented by the Institute for Research in African American Studies-Columbia University (IRAAS), The Nomadic Archivists Project (NAP) and the Haitian Studies Institute, Brooklyn College.

02/01/2026

https://asalh.org/black-history-month-proclamation-2/

ASALH Proclamation: Black History Month 2026

01/25/2026

https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2026/01/25/columbia-selects-university-of-wisconsin-madison-chancellor-jennifer-mnookin-as-next-university-president-according-to-reports/

This is a developing story. Check back for more updates.

01/19/2026

This , remember my father by:

Amplifying and advocating for the end of state-sanctioned and facilitated violence against Black and Brown immigrants and against people, period.

Speaking up for people who are suffering genocide in Sudan. Palestine, Congo, and other nations.

Calling and writing your Congresspersons in support of democracy as opposed to dictatorship.

Supporting policies to eradicate poverty (higher minimum wage, affordable housing, etc)

Learning the truth about and challenging anti-Black racism, which is still prevalent in healthcare, media, lending practices, the criminal “justice” system, etc.