Africana Studies

Africana Studies is devoted to the academic study of the history, culture and politics of African, African American, Afro-Latin, Afro-Caribbean and Afro-European populations. This interdisciplinary program employs analytical tools from fields such as Sociology, Literature and History to explore important social issues facing people of African descent in continental Africa and throughout the African Diaspora.

The Department of Africana Studies encourages research and scholarship in many dimensions of African and African American experiences. The faculty and staff feel that the task of bringing about needed changes in this society rests with those who are intellectually prepared.

The Department also seeks connections with the community -black, white and other- in Cincinnati. A commitment to social activism has been, is and always should be a dimension of a program based in large part on justice.

The UC Arts and Sciences Department of Africana Studies offers:

Major
Minor
Certificates

News and Announcements

List of Africana Studies Courses for Fall 2023

Registration for the Fall 2023 semester is now open!

Check out the Department of Africana Studies Fall 2023 course offerings.

Open House Fall 2022

Join us on Monday, October 24th, 2022 for our fall semester Open House!

Where: 3rd Floor of French Hall West

When: 12pm - 1:30pm

What: Check out our new student lounge, meet the professors, and enjoy some refreshments!

We hope to see you there!

Retirement

After nearly four decades as an educator, Dr. Charles E. Jones III retired from the University of Cincinnati on April 30th, 2022. Prior to his arrival at the University of Cincinnati in September of 2011, Dr. Jones was an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, and later, was the Founding Chair of the Department of African American Studies at Georgia State University, from 1994 to 2011. Dr. Jones served as head of the Department of Africana Studies at the University of Cincinnati from 2015 to 2022. We thank him for his service, and the impact he left on the lives of his students, the department of Africana Studies, and the entire University of Cincinnati community.

New Faculty

We are pleased to welcome Dr. Holly Y. McGee and Dr. Felicia Marie Bishop Denaud, to the Department of Africana Studies. A 2011 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Dr. McGee is an Associate Professor of U.S History, with a minor in African American, South African History, and Women’s Studies. She is the author of Radical Antiapartheid Internationalism and Exile: The Life of Elizabeth Mafeking (Routledge Press, 2019) and One day we are Going Home: The Long Exile of Elizabeth Mafeking (Sentia Publishing, 2020).

Felicia Denaud is a 2022 graduate of Brown University. Her research revolves around a broad spectrum of intellectual discourse, including 20^th century Black Radical Political Thought, Critical Theory, Theories of Black Feminism, Revolution and Revolt in the Black Diaspora, and Black Women’s Written, Visual, and Performance Art, across the Diaspora. Dr. Denaud is an important addition to the department. A big welcome to Dr. Denaud and her family to Cincinnati and the Department of Africana Studies.

AFST Faculty in the Community & Beyond

Professor Guy-Lucien Whembolua was a speaker at the inaugural Black Male Summit on Saturday at the University of Cincinnati on April 7^th, 2022, where he spoke on the subject of Black Men Mental Health and Awareness.

Article

On November 23^rd, 2021, Professor Edward Wallace was interviewed by The News Record, on the subject of “Health Disparities in Marginalized Populations.”

Read Here

On September 18^th, 2021, Professor Edward Wallace was a panelist on the television program, Let’s Talk Cincy which focused on “Ending High Rates of Infant Mortality in the Black Community.”

Watch Here

Cassandra L. Jones, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Africana Studies and an affiliate faculty member in Film and Media Studies and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies received the Taft Center Research Fellow for 2020-2021. During her Fellowship, she will be completing her manuscript, Memory and Liberation in Black Women’s Speculative Fiction, under contract with Ohio State University Press for the New Suns: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in the Speculative series. The book explores memory and decolonization found in tropes of alien invasion, time travel, and rootworking in the speculative fiction of authors such as Octavia E. Butler, Tananarive Due, and Nnedi Okorafor.

Edward Wallace, Ph.D. Associate Professor appeared on WCPO TV, Cincinnati, Ohio, where he discussed why Blacks are dying from the Coronavirus at higher rates than whites.

His interview on Emerging Trend: Blacks Are Dying from Coronavirus at Higher Rates appeared in the Loveland Beacon Online Newspaper, http://lovelandbeacon.com/an-emerging-trend-blacks-are-dying- from-coronavirus-at-higher-rates/

In two separate interviews with the Cincinnati Herald, Dr. Wallace discussed why Blacks are more likely to have diabetes, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular disease making them more susceptible to contracting COVID-19 and why he thinks African American Health Disparities will remain post COVID-19.

Guy-Lucien Whembolua, Ph.D. Associate Professor received the 2020 Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentoring Award. The award recognizes faculty members for their support and encouragement to students interested in pursuing graduate education.

Together with Dr. Chism, Mr. Ward, Mrs. Nessa and Mrs. Segovia, Professor Whembolua served as a Panelist for the Webinar on the impact of COVID-19 on Education, Staff, Students and Families organized by the Citizens and Community Creating Change on July 25, 2020.

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Charles L. Jones, PhD. After five years leading the department, Dr. Jones stepped down as head of Africana Studies on August 15^th, 2020. He is succeeded by Dr. Joseph Takougang, who previously served as head of Africana Studies, and later, as Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

Nancy Nzobigeza posing in her graduation cap in front a UC Sign

Nancy Nzobigeza is a 2019 graduate of the University of Cincinnati. She earned a BS in Biological Sciences and two certificates, including a certificate in African studies from the Department of Africana Studies. She will be attending medical school at American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine in fall 2020.

UC presents lecture on liberal arts featuring Michael W. Twitty

Event: October 10, 2023 7:30 PM

The University of Cincinnati welcomes Michael W. Twitty, award-winning author of “The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South,” for a presentation next month. Twitty will share his views on the value of liberal arts study at a time when headlines show the discipline may be in decline. Titled “What’s It Got to Do With Me? The Importance of the Humanities to Contemporary American Life,” the event will be held Tuesday, October 10 at 7:30 p.m. at UC’s Probasco Auditorium, 2839 Clifton Ave. Presented by UC’s College of Arts and Sciences, and sponsored by Taft Research Center, The Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati, and a host of other supporters, the event is free and open to the public.

WVXU: Companies are losing ground on DEI efforts

June 2, 2023

Littisha Bates is a featured guest on WVXU's Cincinnati Edition to discuss the topic of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace. Bates is UC's associate dean for inclusive excellence and community partnerships.

UC Africana studies professor looks to the past to better the...

February 21, 2023

February is the busiest month of the year for University of Cincinnati professor of Africana studies Holly McGee. McGee finds herself in the heart of lectures, reading circles, and many other social and educational events centered around Black History Month.

Young, gifted and Black

April 4, 2022

A Seat at the Table content series looks to explore the experiences and identities of diverse student populations at UC while shedding light on support, resources and opportunities available at the university.

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Department Contact Information

Department of Africana Studies
University of Cincinnati
PO Box 210370
3428 French Hall West
Cincinnati, OH 45221-0370
PH: (513) 556-0350
FAX: (513) 556-6771