Telling their stories: Black Lives in the Diaspora

Howard University has teamed up with Columbia College to publish a new scholarly book series related to the field of Black Studies, called “Black Lives in the Diaspora: Past/Present/Future.”

According to Howard University, this collaboration is the first of its kind, and it “represents the first step in a larger partnership between the two universities to publish more robustly in Black studies and to recruit and support a cohort of editorial fellows to provide an entryway for recent HBCU graduates to begin careers in the publishing industry.” The series will be published by Columbia University Press in conjunction with the University’s African American and African Diaspora Studies Department.

“The new Howard X Columbia partnership is exciting news for all who recognize the need for publications examining the Black experience, past, present and future,” said Rubin Patterson, Ph.D., dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “[This collaboration] provides an opportunity to bring a similar caliber of issue-reframing scholarship to today’s critical issues, such as white supremacy and other antidemocratic movements in the U.S. and globally.”

The new series will be overseen by an editorial board made up of four faculty members from each school. According to Howard University, the series will publish in the humanities and social sciences at the junior, midcareer and senior levels. Acquisitions for two to three publications per year in the new series will begin immediately. Funding is currently being sought to expand the program to publish up to 20 titles per year and augment the staff of Columbia University Press with a new full-time Black studies editor and graduate student fellows.

Those who have been selected as members of the board include:

Howard University

• Clarence Lusane, professor of political science and former chair, Department of Political Science;
• Rubin Patterson, dean, College of Arts and Sciences, and professor of sociology;
• Nikki Taylor, chair and professor of history, Department of History; and
• Amy Yeboah, associate professor of Afro-American studies.

Columbia University

• Kevin Fellezs, associate professor of music and African-American and African diaspora studies;
• Farah Griffin, chair, Department of African-American and African diaspora studies, and William B. Ransford Professor of English and Comparative Literature and African-American Studies;
• Frank Guridy, associate professor of history and African-American Studies; and
• Josef Sorett, chair, Department of Religion, and professor of religion and African-American and African diaspora studies

The series hopes to enrich the understanding of Black experiences throughout time and strives to be reach a broad audience, across academia and the general public. Howard University stated on its website, “It is a goal of the series that the books will reach beyond the academy and become part of the urgent national and international conversation about the experiences of people of African descent.”