Events
Fall 2022

October 19, 2022
Julian Glover (Virginia Commenweath University) |
Tiffany Lethabo King (University of Virginia) |
L.J. Stallings (Georgetown University) |
Omise'eke Tinsley (University of California- Santa Barbara) |
Spring 2022

April 7, 2022
4:30pm
Rapaporte Treasure Hall, Goldfarb Library
The African Diaspora Cluster, a AAAS initiative, brings together scholars who work on the African diaspora, broadly defined. The ADC curates an annual lecture named in honor of M. Jacqui Alexander, a pioneering theorist of transnational feminism and sexuality studies, whose work on the African diaspora has been profoundly influential. The lecture series seeks to highlight the innovative work of scholars at Brandeis and beyond, who are shedding new light on the manifold issues that animated Alexander's work.
Light refreshments will be served.
Thank you to our generous co-sponsors:
African and African American Studies
Heller School
Office of the Dean of Arts and Sciences
Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
February 10, 2022
4:00pm ET
Skyline Commons
Racial Order and Social Progress: Anti-African Religious Racism in Brazil
Presented by MHR Visiting Professor Rachel Cantave
“Religious racism” is the preferred terminology of Afro-Brazilian activists and religious devotees to describe the increasing acts of violence and discrimination targeting African-derived religions. This presentation will explore the usefulness of the term in enhancing our understanding of how racism is structured and articulated, particularly in Brazil, the so-called "racial democracy."
Fall 2021
October 13, 2021
1:00 PM EDT
Althea Anderson, PhD, MPH (panelist) - Program Officer in Gender Equity and Governance at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
Ellen Foley (panelist) - Professor of International Development and Social Change at Clark University
Lynn Morgan (panelist) - Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Mount Holyoke College
Carina Ray (moderator) - Associate Professor of African and African American Studies at Brandeis University.
Siri Suh is Assistant Professor of Sociology, and an affiliated faculty member in the African and African American Studies Department at Brandeis University.
Presented by the African Diaspora Cluster
Spring 2021

May 11, 2021
4:00 PM to 5:30 PM EDT
Alumni College 2021
While Black feminism is frequently imagined as the paradigmatic ideological, political, and everyday practice through which social justice might be achieved, “justice” is often figured and treated as dangerous, problematic and risky in the hands of Black women. Professors Hortense Spillers, PhD ’74, an American literary critic, Black feminist scholar and the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor at Vanderbilt University, and Shoniqua Roach, Assistant Professor of African and African American Studies and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies will explore this paradox, among others, through an intimate conversation about past, present and future possibilities for Black Women, Black Feminism and Justice.
This event is co-sponsored by the Alumni of Color Network and the Department of African and African American Studies.

March 17, 2021
Angela Davis (Professor Emerita) |
Johnnetta Cole (Professor Emerita) |
Aliyyah Abdur-Rahman (Brown) |
Simone Browne (University of Texas - Austin) |
Sarah Haley (UCLA) |
Emily A. Owens (Brown) |
Samantha Pinto (University of Texas - Austin) |
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor (Princeton) |

March 22, 2021

April 6, 2021
Noon ET
via Zoom
Please join us for the 2nd Annual M. Jacqui Alexander Lecture in African Diaspora Studies. This year we welcome Prof. Ben Talton of Temple University delivering a talk entitled,"Black Power, Human Rights and Humanitarianism in Africa and the U.S."
Thank you to our co-sponsors: African Diaspora Cluster, AAAS, HIS, IGS, POL, and The Office of the Dean of Arts and Sciences
Fall 2020
September 15, 2020
5:30 p.m.
via Zoom
The Intercultural Center and AAAS presented Black Lives Matter 2.0, a discussion facilitated by Prof. Chad Williams.
Spring 2020

November 13, 2020
11:30am
Prof. Russell Rickford, Cornell University delivered the 35th annual Ruth First Memorial Lecture.
Sponsored by: AAAS, Ruth First Lecture Fund
March 5, 2020
4 p.m.
Skyline Commons
African Diaspora Cluster Inaugural Lecture:
“After the Dance: Performing Sovereignty After the Future,” by Prof. Faith Smith
Co-sponsors: ADC, AAAS, DAS
March 11, 2020
3:30 p.m.
Rapaporte Treasure Hall
Prof. Megan Ming Francis, Visiting Associate Professor of Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Washington
Co-sponsors: AAAS, HIS, POL
March 16, 2020
POSTPONED
3:30 p.m.
Rapaporte Treasure Hall
Prof. Nitasha Sharma, Northwestern University
Co-sponsors: AAAS, AAPIS, WGS
April 23, 2020
POSTPONED
Time: TBD
Heller School
Sankofa Community Conference: Co-Constructing Racial Justice through Life and Work
Co-sponsors: AAAS, Heller
Spring 2019
March 28, 2019
4 p.m.
Mandel Center for the Humanities, G03
Dorothy Roberts is the 14th Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor and George A. Weiss University Professor of Law & Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. An internationally recognized scholar and social justice advocate, she has been a leader in transforming public thinking and policy on reproductive health, child welfare, and bioethics. She is the author of the award-winning books, "Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty" (1997), "Shattered Bonds: The Color of Child Welfare" (2002), and most recently, "Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-create Race in the Twenty-First Century" (2011).
Watch the Video
February 1, 2019
Join us for the opening celebration of Howardena Pindell: What Remains To Be Seen exhibition at the Rose Museum from 2-5pm.Howardena Pindell explores the intersection of art and activism. "What Remains to be Seen" spans the New York–based artist’s five-decades-long career, featuring early figurative paintings, pure abstraction, and conceptual works, as well as personal and political art. February 1, 2019- May 19, 2019.February 8, 2019
Join us as we mark a half century of excellence in and dedication to the Department of African and African-American Studies.
March 21, 2019
Join us for the award ceremony and presentation of the 2019 Richman Fellow Anna Deavere "Snapshots:Protraits of a World in Transition" March 21, 2019 at 4-5:30pm in Sherman Function Hall. Playwright, actor, and educator Anna Deavere Smith uses her singular brand of theatre to explore issues of community, character, and diversity in America. The MacArthur Foundation honored Smith with the “Genius” Fellowship for creating “a new form of theatre — a blend of theatrical art, social commentary, journalism, and intimate reverie.”Fall 2018
October 11, 2018
Join us for an acoustic performance by Aurelio Martinez on October 11th in the Mandel Reading Room. Born in the tiny coastal hamlet of Plaplaya on Honduras' Caribbean coast in 1969, Aurelio Martinez represents perhaps the last generation to grow up steeped in Garifuna tradition. Now, over the thirty years into his remarkable career, he has risen to become the foremost global ambassador of Garifuna music and culture, as well as their most influential and respected guardian. This event is sponsored by Latin American and Latino Studies, African and African-American studies, the Intercultural Center, Office of the Dean of the Arts and the Office of Student Activities.
November 7, 2018
The Department of African and African American studies presents 20 years of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill: A Conversation with Joan Morgan in Rapaporte Treasure Hall on Wednesday, November 7, 2018 at 3:30 pm. Joan Morgan is an award-winning cultural critic, feminist author and a pioneering hip-hop journalist. Morgan coined the term "hip-hop feminist" in 1999, when she published the groundbreaking book, When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost: A Hip-Hop Feminist Breaks it Down which is taught at universities globally. Regarded internationally as an expert on the topics of hip-hop, race, and gender, Morgan has made numerous television and radio appearances. She has been a Visiting Scholar at the New School, Vanderbilt, Duke and Stanford University and is currently a doctoral candidate at New York University. Her most recent book is She Begat This: 20 Years of the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Jamaican-born and South Bronx bred, Morgan is a proud Native New Yorker.
November 29, 2018
Join us at 7 p.m. for popcorn and a screening of "Talking Black in America," a television documentary detailing the unique linguistic circumstances of the descendants of American slaves and their incredible impact on American life and language.
Location: Intercultural Center, Swig Hall
Co-Sponsors: Linguistics Program, ICC