After graduating from the University at Buffalo, Nonso Ilogu knew what his plans were: attend graduate school for a concentration in African-American studies (AAS). A Buffalo native of Nigerian descent, Nonso wanted to master the complexities of the African Diaspora. There was a problem, however, as the only two graduate programs in New York State are at Cornell and Albany. Nonso chose to make the sacrifice of combining work from the American studies department and the Caribbean studies department to stay in Buffalo.
The website of AAS department states that a graduate program is forthcoming, but in light of recent trends, that vision seems to be slipping away. News of the statewide budgetary crises reverberated throughout campuses in the SUNY system last month, as colleges were forced to endure a hiring freeze that has not been called off and threatens to extend into the unforeseeable future. Faculty, equipment, and expenses for research work in all fields have been cut back, and for smaller departments, particularly nontraditional ones like AAS, the new restrictions only add on to worries about their continued existence.
The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 marked a tipping point for the tide of interest in black history and culture that had been rising throughout the decade. The first black studies program was established at San Francisco State University that year, and UB followed suit in 1969 with its own program, which evolved into the department of African/Afro-American studies in 1974. The past forty years have been full of continued self-reflection and criticism, both for UB’s department and for departments around the country. Beyond the initial question of what AAS is anyway—and the term itself mutates over time and institutions—the charges from more traditionally minded academics rotate around the academic legitimacy of the field. Former SUNY Trustee, Candace de Russy, is quoted as saying that black studies were “therapeutic in nature” and interested in “consciousness-raising as opposed to conveying solid scholarship” in 2002.
There are also trepidations about student awareness of the program. “I’m concerned about how unaware most students are to the smaller, more ethnically focused departments at this school,” said Sophia Azeb, a senior history and AAS double major, and vocal advocate for the department. “African-American studies is not just about African-American history, but about the Diaspora and everything that has come out of it: law, medicine, art, religion, environmental issues, and so on.” Both students and professors in the department agree that there is a misconception that a major in AAS is merely a major in black history.
“Within a small department there always this kind of dialogue,” said Professor Keith P. Griffler, Chair of the Department and associate professor, referring to the identity crises that began when the infant black studies programs of the sixties expanded to include the entire movement of African descended people around the world and their impact. The issue is not merely theoretical; the question of how, as Griffler puts it, “small units fit into a big college” affects a department’s funding, prestige, even its survival. Departments like AAS and global gender studies, notes assistant professor Peter J. Hudson, must continually justify their existence. The Chair realizes that they are entering the difficult part of the cycle under Governor Paterson’s budget cuts, which have amounted to a net impact of 210 million dollars on the SUNY budget this year.
“In the context of the broader economy, there is fear that smaller programs can’t justify themselves to administrators on fiscal terms,” said Hudson.
The department can claim seven faculty members and five adjuncts, as well as affiliated faculty in the many cross-listed courses the school offers. There are approximately 40 majors and 50 to 60 minors. It is admittedly tough to calculate off the top of one’s head, explained Griffler, as there are many students who consider themselves to be majors or minors but are not yet officially registered. Sophia and some other students are trying to reverse that ambivalence, as well as fight the nationwide trend of decreasing commitment among undergraduates to the field (less than 700 degrees were awarded in 2002, according to the department of education).
Azeb started a Facebook group, “Support African-American Studies at UB!” and is developing an African-American Studies Major Association in order to increase visibility and coax students on the fence to officially adopt AAS as a major or a minor. One such student is senior history major, Colin Eager. “I’m really interested in race as a subject. A lot of the courses I’ve taken tended to focus on the history of race. It made sense for me to pick up African-American studies as a minor.” When asked about the possibility of the department being downgraded to program status, Colin said, “I think African-American studies should stand alone as a department. Any attempt to fold it into something else would inevitably weaken it.”
“With department status, the biggest thing is the ability to control curriculum issues, to have integrity of discipline, to determine the fate of the field within the larger academic environment. We have legitimacy, respect, a public profile across the campus,” stated Professor Hudson. Certificate programs, on the other hand, are “easily eclipsed. Departments are the basic unit universities are made of,” he said, with a certain tone of finality.
UB’s AAS department is known to partake in social justice activism and community service, as do many departments around the country, which in turn fuels the “therapeutic” charge. Hudson admits this unapologetically, saying that even some African-Americans often look down at the department.
“You can be committed to academic excellence and still be committed to activist work and community service. It doesn’t have to be one or the other.”
Among the activities professors are involved in, Professor Peter K. Ekeh is involved in Nigerian politics, including the campaign for environmental protection of the Niger Delta, and Griffler has worked on a series of projects preserving Underground Railroad sites, including a documentary. The department is also involved in the Buffalo Niagara Freedom Station Coalitions’ National Lecture Series at the Michigan Street Baptist Church.
“African-American studies by nature is not just a place for high intellectual achievement, but to apply that acquired knowledge to our society, and it’s heartwarming to know the department uses that knowledge to help the community. Community is very important to the continued existence of the field,” said Azeb, herself having been involved in various activist causes on and off campus. For now she will continue focusing on recruiting more students and shedding light on the program, often hanging up flyers alone for events like the department’s open house. “As a prospective grad student (in AAS), it’s disappointing to see how few black studies departments exist and how small and under budgeted they are. I would like to prevent that from happening at UB.”
Nonso agrees, stating that there is a demand for Master’s level study in the field.
“It makes sense: how could the flagship university of the SUNY system not have such a program?” said Nonso.
