African American Studies

September 18, 2009

The African American Studies Program at Boston University invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position, beginning Fall 2010. We seek a colleague in either Sociology or Political Science whose research and teaching focus is on African American and African Diaspora experiences in North America. Areas of specialization are open. Boston University expects excellence in teaching and research and is committed to building a culturally diverse faculty and a multicultural learning environment.

Women and minorities are especially encouraged to apply. Applications should include:

1. a letter describing your teaching and research interests and professional experience;
2. curriculum vitae;
3. up to two samples of your scholarly writing;
4. and names of three persons who will send letters of recommendation directly to the committee.

Professor Gene Jarrett, Search Committee Chair
C/O Katy Evans, Program Administrator
African American Studies Program
Boston University
138 Mountfort Street
Brookline, Massachusetts 02446
617-358-1421 | kaevans@bu.edu

November 14, 2008

The African American Studies Program at Boston University is pleased to announce that Dr. Linda Heywood and John Thornton are the recipients of the prestigious Melville J. Herskovits Award.

The Melville J. Herskovits Award provided by the African Studies Association annually awards the author of an outstanding original scholarly work published on Africa in the previous year. The winner is revealed during the Awards Ceremony. Last year’s winner was Barbara Cooper, Rutgers University, for Evangelical Christians in the Muslim Sahel (Indiana University Press, 2006). The Award Committee for 2008 consisted of Diana Wylie, Chair, Boston University; Adam Ashforth, Northwestern University; Elisabeth Cameron, University of California-Santa Cruz; Toyin Falola, University of Texas; Louise Meintjes, Duke University. The ASA Board of Directors gratefully acknowledges the Kennell A. Jackson, Jr. bequest in endowing the Herskovits Award for 2008 and for the future.

The Award is given at the African Studies Association Annual Meeting which was held in Chicago this past weekend (November 13-16, 2008). The theme for this conference was “Knowledge of Africa: The Next Fifty Years”

Below is the excerpt about Drs. Linda Heywood and John Thornton’s book that was printed in the African Studies Association 51st Annual Meeting program booklet about the finalists for the award.

Linda M. Heywood and John K. Thornton
Central Africans, Atlantic Creoles, and the Foundation of the Americas, 1585-1660 (Cambridge University Press, 2007).

"This book narrates the making of a Creole Atlantic world. It tells the story of the formative period of African-American culture when Angolans were brought to the New World through the slave trade to Portuguese, English and Dutch colonies. The authors represent various Angolan kingdoms as culturally diverse and changing. They also show the attitudes of Europeans to the continental Africans changing as they encountered African political, religious, cultural and military institutions. Internecine wars produced captives. Slave trading, initiated by Portuguese pioneers, was taken over by Anglo-Dutch privateers, and then by Dutch and British colonials conducted business with African sellers. With reference to the Americas, we learn how the export of people who were already Christian and literate made the terms of enslavement differ over time. This multi-lingual research into the cultural, economic and political factors that produced the Atlantic Creole world pays equal attention to intra-colonial and local African struggles. It links specific continental and New World histories and integrates fine detail with a broad thematic vision."

Congratulations to Dr. Linda Heywood and Dr. John Thornton. We wish them success in all of their future endeavors.

May 13, 2008

TO: The Faculty, Staff, and Friends of African American Studies
FROM: Virginia Sapiro, Dean of Arts and Sciences

I am very pleased to announce that Professor Linda Heywood has just accepted the position of Director of the African American Studies Program for a three-year term. Linda is on the faculty of African American Studies, the Department of History, and the African Studies Center. She is the author of Contested Power in Angola, editor of and contributor to Central Africans Cultural Transformations in the American Diaspora, and co-author with John Thornton of Central Africans, Atlantic Creoles, and the Foundation of America (Cambridge University Press, July, 2007). Her articles on Angola and the African Diaspora have appeared in The Journal of African History, Journal of Modern African Studies, Slavery and Abolition, and the Journal of Southern African Studies. She has served as a consultant for numerous museum exhibitions, including African Voices at the Smithsonian Institution, Against Human Dignity sponsored by the Maritime Museum, and the new exhibit at Jamestown, Virginia. She was also one of the history consultants and appeared in the PBS series African American Lives (2006) and Finding Oprah’s Roots (2007). The courses she teaches include African American History, African Diaspora in the Americas, and Women, Power and Culture in Africa.

Great support for Professor Heywood emerged during consultation with all faculty and staff associated with the African American Studies Program. She has great commitment to the Program and exciting ideas for the future. I’m sure you will join me in congratulating her and giving her the support she needs to continue the great work of the Program and fulfill her vision and lead it to new strengths.

I’m sure you will also join me in giving warm thanks to Professor Ron Richardson, who has carried the leadership of African American Studies over the years and has been responsible for building it to its current strength, especially through a successful program of faculty recruitment and the creation of important programs. Professor Richardson has left his mark on the Program and, I am sure, will continue to be eager to be one of its leading contributing members.

Best wishes for the summer.

Virginia Sapiro, Dean of Arts and Sciences
Professor of Political Science
Boston University