Envision, Engage, Transform...

“Envisioning the academy as a site of critical engagement for social transformation. . .”

IRAAS is an intellectual community that bridges scholarship, teaching, and public life.

We envision the project of African American Studies as a multi-disciplinary enterprise. Our faculty employ an array of theoretical approaches and methodological strategies to examine historical and contemporary formations in black culture, politics, and society.

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Friday, February 24, 2012 - 4:00pm - 6:00pm: Conversations w/ Professor Marcellus Blount Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature will host the IRAAS Conversations on "Love's Futures: Writing Post-AIDS Literature."

Friday, March 9, 2012 - 4:00pm - 6:00pm: Conversations w/ Professor June Cross Associate Professor - Columbia School of Journalism will host the IRAAS Conversations on "Public Health, HIV, and the realities facing rural African-Americans."

PANELISTS: Carol Anderson (Emory University), Adam Green (University of Chicago), Sherrie Randolph (University of Michigan), Barbara Ransby (University of Illinois at Chicago), Barbara Savage (University of Pennsylvania) and Robert Self (Brown University). CONVENORS: Fredrick Harris, Natasha Lightfoot and Mae M. Ngai.

April 26-29, 2012: The Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University (IRAAS) Presents “A New Vision of Black Freedom: the Manning Marable Memorial Conference,” an academic and community-focused event scheduled for the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and Columbia University’s Low Memorial Library in New York City.

Upcoming Events

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Featured Faculty Book

Dr. Obery M. Hendricks, Jr. has been called one of the most provocative and innovative commentators on the intersection of religion, politics and social policy in America today.

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Featured Faculty Member

Kevin FellezsIRAAS welcomes our new faculty member, Kevin Fellezs. He is jointly appointed with African-American Studies & the Department of Music. His book, Birds of Fire: Jazz, Rock, Funk and the Creation of Fusion (Duke University Press, 2011) is a study of fusion (jazz-rock-funk) music of the 1970s framed by insights drawn from critical race theory and jazz/popular music studies.

Video Gallery

Videos Exclusively on YouTube

 

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IRAAS News

  • IRAAS Term Fellow Mabel Wilson and Faculty Affiliate George Lewis named 2011 United States Artists Fellows. >> READ MORE
  • IRAAS Research Faculty Fellow Kellie Jones curates groundbreaking new show at Hammer Museum in LA and releases new book, EyeMinded: Living & Writing Contemporary Art. >> READ MORE
  • IRAAS Research Fellow Valerie Purdie-Vaughns' article Intersectional Invisibility: The Distinctive Advantages and Disadvantages of Multiple Subordinate-Group Identities has been identified as one of the top 20 most cited articles published in Sex Roles from 2008-present. >> READ MORE
  • IRAAS Research Fellow Carl Hart publishes groundbreaking article, Meth Hype Could Undermine Good Medicine in Scientific American. >> READ MORE
  • The late Manning Marable's biography, Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention named finalist for the National Book Awards-Non Fiction. >> READ MORE