{"id":7,"date":"2010-07-07T16:38:06","date_gmt":"2010-07-07T16:38:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/african-american\/about\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T22:34:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T02:34:23","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/africana\/","title":{"rendered":"Africana"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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The Program in Africana encompasses the study of world making in Africa and its global diaspora.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About the Program in Africana<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Africana adopts progressive interdisciplinary approaches to the understanding of people of African descent in the Atlantic world: Africa, the Americas\u2014 with special attention to the United States\u2014and Europe. Our courses examine conceptualizations of \u201crace\u201d and its use as a tool of critical analysis. Attention to the intersection of \u201crace\u201d with other social and political identities informs all aspects of the intellectual project of Africana at Bates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Learn more about the Africana x DCS Symposium on race, data science, and AI.<\/p>The Symposium<\/span><\/path><\/svg><\/a><\/div>

The AfroAlgorhythms Symposium<\/h2><\/div>

Learn more about the Africana x DCS Symposium on race, data science, and AI.<\/p>The Symposium<\/span><\/path><\/svg><\/a>

The AfroAlgorhythms Symposium<\/h2><\/div><\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n
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First day of classes in First-Year Seminar with Assistant Professor of History Patrick Otim.\n\nFYS 468 – Beyond Nelson Mandela: Themes and Personalities in South African History\nNelson Mandela became South Africa’s first black president in 1994 after more than three centuries of white dominance. Today, he is considered the greatest African leader of the twentieth century. This popular perception, born of Mandela’s charisma after walking out of jail and becoming president, cut out many actors and events in the history of South Africa. This course introduces students to these obscured actors and events. It begins by exploring the encounter between Europeans and Africans, then examines the institutionalization of the apartheid state, and concludes by studying the reactions to, and defeat of, the apartheid state.<\/p><\/div>

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\""According

“According to Mark: Part I: Blood in the Revolution.” Commencing a series of plays marking Black History Month at Bates, this 10-minute reading is one of four looking at the 18th-century experiences of black New Englanders and written by Lecturer in Theater Clifford Odle. Sponsored by the Africana program. \nCommons, Fireplace Lounge\n\nThe title character in According to Mark \u201cwas a slave who could read and was looking for a way to free himself from an oppressive master. And he felt the Bible provided a path to murdering him as long as he didn\u2019t spill blood.\u201d\n\nThe play is set during the planning of the murder, which also involved two other slaves, Mark\u2019s sister Phyllis and a woman called Phoebe. In the actual event, Mark was hanged for the murder and Phyllis was burned at the stake \u2014 a punishment that in Colonial America was reserved for female slaves who kill their masters, Odle says.\n\nCast: \nCharles Nero as Mark\nPerla Figuereo as Phyllis\nSam Alexander as Phoebe\nDawrin Silfa as Quaco<\/p><\/div>

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The Bates College Philip J. Otis Committee invites you to attend The 25th Annual Otis Lecture, made possible by the Philip J. Otis \u201995 Endowment\n\nCarolyn Finney, author of Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors will deliver a talk entitled \u201cReparative Gestures: On Race, Redemption and (Re)making a Green World.\u201d A book signing will follow the lecture.\n\nWednesday, October 12, 2022\n7:30 p.m.\nOlin Arts Center Concert Hall\nBates College<\/p><\/div>

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\"\u201cIn

\u201cIn many ways, my honors thesis has been a source of love, for which I will forever be grateful.\u201d\n\nA crowd of about 50 students, faculty, and staff gathered on the front steps of Coram Library to celebrate Sam Jean-Francois \u201923 of Medford, Mass., and bind Jean-Francois\u2019 honors thesis in Africana, titled \u201cColonialism as the Disaster: Retelling the Fight for Haitian Sovereignty,\u201d with Associate Professor and Co-Chair of Africana Sue Houchins serving as Jean-Francois\u2019 \u201cproud adviser.\u201d\n\nThe thesis \u201chas been a heuristic exercise centered in my journey to uncover more about my history, my family\u2019s history, and Haiti\u2019s history as the world\u2019s first free Black republic,\u201d said Jean-Francois.\n\n\u201cThrough this thesis I\u2019ve had the opportunity to engage with the works of Haitian scholars such as Myriam Chancy, and reconnect with my mother tongue, Kreyol.\u201d\n\nLaughing at calls to read the whole thesis aloud (all 126 pages of it,) Jean-Francois read the acknowledgments page aloud, and then bound the thesis, with the help of Verina Chatata \u201926 of Lilongwe, Malawi, followed by a joyous shake-and-pop with a bottle of champagne, adorned with a Haitian flag.<\/p><\/div>

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\"Welcome

Welcome back!\n\nThe winter semester at Bates began today, Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024. After consecutive snow and rain storms \u2014 one of each \u2014 the warmth of the sun reappeared midday, along with the pleasure of reconnection.\n\nSwipe left for photographs of folks who were willing to be described as \u201chappy to see one another after winter break.\u201d\n\nTheir smiles tell the story.\n\nTim Ruppert \u201927 (in black jacket and tan pants) of Edina, Minn., stops for a chat on Alumni Walk with Jack McAvoy \u201924, a politics and philosophy major from Scarsdale, N.Y., and as they return to campus after winter break. \n\nMcAvoy was Ruppert\u2019s AESOP Habitat for Humanity II trip leader in Rockland, Maine. They teamed up with other students to build a cul de sac. \n\nBooks on display for MLK Day 2024, featuring cookbooks by keynote speaker Bryant Terry.<\/p><\/div>

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Two close friends who met on their first day at Bates chose to bind their senior theses together on the steps of Hathorn Hall on April 17, 2024.\n\nIn the company of friends, staff, and faculty, Aaliyah Moore \u201924 and Prinnes Wilson\u201924 paid tribute to each other, to those gathered, and to family members who have supported them along the way.\n\nWilson, a psychology major from Las Vegas, wrote a thesis titled \u201cThe Relationship Between Aging and Proximity to Clothing,\u201d under the supervision of Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology Katherine Mathis. After the binding, Wilson expressed pride in his thesis. \u201cIt\u2019s a good representation of me,\u201d he said.\n\nMoore, a double major in Africana and politics from Phoenix, Ariz., bound two theses. Her honors thesis in Africana, written under the supervision of Professor of English Ther\u00ed Pickens, is titled: \u201cAlice Walker\u2019s \u2018The Color Purple\u2019: An Authentic Depiction of Confinement in Historical Fiction.\u201d Moore called Pickens her \u201cspiritual guide\u201d whose \u201cunwavering support, grace, and kindness know no bounds.\u201d\n\nMoore\u2019s politics thesis, written under the supervision of Professor of Politics Stephen Engel, is titled \u201cRethinking the Supreme Court\u2019s Approach to Discrimination Cases: Adopting a Comprehensive Framework.\u201d<\/p><\/div>

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\"Moments

Moments from the event, “Who is Trayvon Martin? Celebrating Black Life & Legacy in Perry Atrium on March 26, 2025. Sponsored by the Program in Africana as part of our Black Life & Legacy Series. Marcelle Medford, associate professor of sociology, Frances Bell, visiting assistant professor of history, Catherine Saunders, visiting assistant professor of africana, Ian Khara Ellasante, assistant professor of gender and sexuality studies and Charles Nero, Benjamin E. Mays ’20 Distinguished Prof of Rhetoric, Film, and Screen Studies.\n\n (Theophil Syslo | Bates College)<\/p><\/div>

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Day in the Life of Ladd Library on March 12, 2025. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>

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\"Bates

Bates English professor Myronn Hardy spoke about his new book, “Aurora Americana,” and read poems from it in Gomes Chapel on Oct. 11. Myronn Hardy’s Poetry Book Launch and Reading\nOctober 11, 2023\nPeter J. Gomes Chapel\n7:00 – 8:30 PM\n\n\nMyronn Hardy, Assistant Professor of English, will read from his newly published book of poems, Aurora Americana (Princeton University Press, 2023).\n\nHis other books of poems include: Approaching the Center, The Headless Saints, Catastrophic Bliss, Kingdom, and Radioactive Starlings. \n\nHe has received several awards and fellowships.<\/p><\/div>

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\"Academic

Academic Fair in Pettengill Hall’s Perry Atrium. For three hours this morning, faculty spoke with members of the Class of 2023 about their departments’ offerings.\n\nCharles Nero, rhetoric<\/p><\/div>

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