News

Maps don’t just show us where things are located — for urban planner Asha Barnes ’18, they also reveal stories about who we are and how we live our lives. Majoring in anthropology and Africana studies at Notre Dame allowed Barnes to explore humanity and identity using both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. She’s now employed these research techniques in her career, continuing to give back by telling the stories of those who have been silenced. “It was through my education that I was able to put to words my own experience as an Afro-American woman living in this country,” said Barnes, now an associate planner at the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning. “It was through my education at Notre Dame that I was able to learn the skills that I have now to collect and tell the stories of other people and advocate for communities that I’ve worked with.”

Read More about How Asha Barnes ’18 mapped out a career in urban planning using skills from anthropology and Africana studies

Congratulations to Mark Sanders, professor of English and Africana studies and director of the Initiative on Race and Resilience, for being honored at Saturday's game as a member of the 2022 All-Faculty Team!

Congratulations to Mark Sanders, professor of English and Africana studies and director of the @NotreDame

…

Read More about Africana studies chair Mark Sanders honored as a member of the 2022 All-Faculty Team

The European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS) has presented Notre Dame sociologist Erin Metz McDonnell with its 2022 Book Award for her original contribution to the knowledge about organizations, organizing, and the organized. In her award-winning book, Patchwork Leviathan: Pockets of Bureaucratic Effectiveness in Developing States, McDonnell argues that while corruption and ineffectiveness may be expected of public servants in developing countries, “some spectacularly effective state organizations thrive amid institutional weakness and succeed against impressive odds.” 

Read More about Concurrent faculty Erin McDonnell wins book award for research on how pockets of government in developing countries thrive 

The event included three days of private joint sessions and individual meetings of the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus, the National Black Sisters Conference, the National Association of Black Catholic Deacons and the National Black Catholic Seminarians Association. 

Read More about University of Notre Dame hosts joint conference of national Black Catholic clergy and religious

Mourning the Murders in Buffalo

Dear Friends,
Just as Notre Dame was celebrating its graduates this past Saturday, a white supremacist murdered ten African Americans in a Tops Friendly Markets store (due to redlining, the only supermarket in this Black neighborhood) in Buffalo, New York. The fact that this has happened again, and that the perpetrator (again) acted with such efficient intent is both chilling and incomprehensible in a way that nearly outstrips our capacity to rationalize such a tragedy.…

Read More about A Letter Sent on Behalf of Dr. Mark A. Sanders: Buffalo Murders

Notre Dame alumna Geraldine Mukumbi has been named a 2022 Knight-Hennessy Scholar. She is Notre Dame’s second consecutive Knight-Hennessy Scholar and third in the past four years. An English and Africana studies major, she will now pursue a doctorate in curriculum studies and teacher education at the Stanford Graduate School of Education. She is interested in interventions in the English classroom that can inspire students to be lifelong readers — particularly, the role that young adult fiction can play in improving the quality of literacy for multilingual students.

Read More about English and Africana studies alumna Geraldine Mukumbi named Knight-Hennessy Scholar

2022 Senior Thesis Projects

The Department of Africana Studies would like to highlight a collection of senior thesis projects completed by students that are associated with our department in the College of Arts & Letters Class of 2022. We are so proud of our scholars for completing hours of original research, interviews, practice, analysis, writing, and creative work to contribute to academic scholarship and our department. Join us in congratulating and highlighting our seniors as they have completed their 2022 Senior Thesis projects. …

Read More about 2022 Senior Thesis Projects for Africana Studies

Ernest Morrell, the associate dean for the humanities and equity in Notre Dame’s College of Arts and Letters and the director of the Center for Literacy Education, has been elected to the National Academy of Education. The Academy advances high-quality research that improves education quality and practice. Members are elected on the basis of outstanding scholarship related to education.

Read More about Ernest Morrell, A&L associate dean and literacy scholar, elected to the National Academy of Education

When Reginald Dwayne Betts hears the word prison, his first thoughts aren’t about violence or distance or time — he thinks about books. Betts, an artist-in-residence at the Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study and the Notre Dame Initiative on Race and Resilience, was sentenced to nine years in prison as a 16-year-old. It was there that a book, slid under the door of his cell, changed the course of his life. Now an acclaimed poet, graduate of Yale Law School and 2021 MacArthur Fellow, Betts presented the debut of his solo show Nov. 17 and 18 in the Regis Philbin Studio Theatre at the University of Notre Dame’s DeBartolo Performing Arts Center.

Read More about Debuting solo show at Notre Dame, artist-in-residence Reginald Dwayne Betts explores lasting effects of incarceration and the power of the written word

Notre Dame alumna MacKenzie Isaac ’20 will study at the University of Oxford in England next year as a member of the U.S. Rhodes Scholar Class of 2022. She is one of 32 Rhodes Scholars selected from a pool of 826 candidates this year, and is Notre Dame’s 21st Rhodes Scholar overall and fourth in the past five years. She graduated in 2020 with a Bachelor of Arts in sociology, minoring in data science and Latino studies.

Read More about Doan Scholar alumna MacKenzie Isaac named 2022 Rhodes Scholar

The University of Notre Dame is proud to present the 2021 President’s Award to Dianne Pinderhughes. The President’s Award recognizes a member of the faculty and/or the administration for distinguished service to the University over an extended period of time. An outstanding ambassador for Notre Dame and its academic community, Dianne Pinderhughes is a political scientist who studies inequality, American civil society institutions, and voting rights policy. She has served as president of the American Political Science Association and vice president of the International Political Science Association, among many other professional appointments. Her dedication to her students and colleagues is evident not only in her leadership of the Department of Africana Studies, which she has chaired for the past six years, but also her abiding commitment to speaking with campus groups about race relations, diversity, and inclusion. Elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 2019, she is an exceptional mentor for junior faculty, particularly

…

Read More about Pinderhughes is Recipient of 2021 President's Award

On Tuesday (May 25), Marie Lynn Miranda, Charles and Jill Fischer Provost at the University of Notre Dame, announced the winners of several annual awards as part of a broader recognition of all those Notre Dame faculty members who have achieved career milestones this spring.

Faculty Milestones and Promotions…

Read More about Faculty milestones, promotions, and awards mark the end of 2020–21 academic year

Recently, four graduates of Africana Studies, Rae'Vonne Barnes, Tonaysia Price, Malik Tropez, and Tia Wilson have completed a diverse array of senior thesis projects for 2021, all the while, earning internships for the year 2021. They have worked so hard on these projects for the last year of 2020-2021. The Department of Africana Studies is honored and proud to recognize these seniors and their dedication to the Africana Studies' field. …

Read More about 2021 Senior Thesis Projects

AFRICANA Excellence 

 

Alexandra Rice is a 2021 Doctorate of Medicine candidate at the Medical University of South Carolina College of Medicine. She grew up in Columbia, SC and graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 2016, double majoring in Science Pre-Professional Studies and Africana Studies. …

Read More about AFRICANA Excellence

Originally published by cal.org on January 22, 2021

Starting January 2021, Kellogg Faculty Fellow Ernest Morrell joins the Board of Trustee of the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) for a three-year term. A well-respected leader in the field of English education, the African diaspora, and media and popular culture,  Morrell brings more than a decade of research and writing experience to the board of 12.…

Read More about Morrell Joins Board for the Center for Applied Linguistics

Originally published by Notre Dame Magazine at diversity.nd.edu on November 19, 2020

Author: Notre Dame Magazine 

…

Read More about Having Coffee with Dianne Pinderhughes

Starting January 2021, Klau Center faculty fellow Dr. Ernest Morrell joins the Center for Applied Linguistics’s Board of Trustees for a 3-year term. A well-respected leader in the field of English education, the African Diaspora, and Media and Popular Culture, Dr. Morrell brings over a decade of research and writing experience to the board of 12.

Read More about Morrell joins Center for Applied Linguistic's Board

University of Notre Dame alumnus and retired former Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Alan Page challenged the idea of originalism with respect to the U.S. Constitution and proposed revisiting the founding document every 50 years during an hour-long conversation with G. Marcus Cole, the Joseph A. Matson Dean and Professor of Law at Notre Dame Law School, in commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. “Our Constitution is grounded in racial bias,” said Page, a 1967 Notre Dame graduate and member of the college and pro football halls of fame. “If we’re going to go back to the words of Jefferson and Lincoln and Madison and decide how we live today, those words were grounded in slavery. How do we untether ourselves from that?”

Read More about Justice Alan Page MLK Day Talk

On the Behalf of The Department of Africana Studies,

We write after the invasion of the US Capitol by Trump supporters. The ‘insurrection’ has generated enormous dismay and conflict in the nation and around the world. The Africana Studies faculty convey our own condemnation of the attack on the US Capitol. We know that a public statement will not necessarily change the environment, but it can contribute to an understanding of the importance of our nation’s democratic life.…

Read More about The Department of Africana Studies Statement on the January 6 Insurrection on Capitol Hill:

On the Behalf of The Department of Africana Studies,

We write after the invasion of the US Capitol by Trump supporters. The ‘insurrection’ has generated

enormous dismay and conflict in the nation and around the world. The Africana Studies faculty convey

our own condemnation of the attack on the US Capitol. We know that a public statement will not…

Read More about The Department of Africana Studies Statement on the January 6 Insurrection on Capitol Hill: