African American Studies at University of California, Berkeley

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African American Studies at University of California, Berkeley

African American and African Diaspora Studies at the University of California, Berkeley

04/23/2026

Join us on April 29th from 1:00–2:00 PM for our Brown Paper Bag Conversation, “Anti-Blackness & AI: The Algorithm as the Scene of Violence”, (lunch will be provided!).

Location: Erskine A. Peters Reading Room (Room 675 Social Sciences Building)
RSVP: Link in Bio!

While AI is often marketed as a “neutral” tool for convenience, the data and logic behind it often perpetuate anti-Black violence. This workshop explores how AI creates harmful representations and impacts the real-world lives of Black communities, as well as the creative ways in which Black visionaries across the diaspora are redefining the role of AI in their communities.

Our guest facilitator is Willie Macharia, a software engineer and Master of Information Management and Systems candidate at UC Berkeley’s School of Information. He leads the Nairobi AI Community, running AI literacy cohorts across Nairobi, Lagos, and Johannesburg. At the core of his work, he asks: Who gets to build the systems that carry our stories, and which stories get amplified when AI is not inclusive?

If you have any accessibility needs to fully participate in this program, please contact: [email protected] / 510-664-4324.

04/22/2026

Library Pop Up

April 28, 3pm-5pm
675 Social Sciences Building
Erskine A. Peters Reading Room

Join us for Black books, Caribbean food, and community! Register: atbit.ly/ucbpopup, link in bio!

If you have any questions about accessibility, please contact Barbara Montano at [email protected] or 510-664-4324.

Art: The Entrance Place of Wonders: Poems of the Harlem Renaissance | Selected by Daphne Muse; Illustrated by Charlottle Riley-Webb.

04/20/2026

We are happy to officially introduce our In Defense of Black Studies: Black Digital Storytelling Team!

In a moment where Black Studies is under sustained attack—from the defunding of Critical Race Theory initiatives to the dismantling of doctoral programs—this work is a vital mechanism of resistance. We view our work as a diasporic tapestry: a living fabric woven from the threads of ancestral wisdom, communal memory, and digital innovation.

Rooted in the lineage of Griots, world-builders, healers, and world-shatterers, this project highlights how Black storytelling, as an evolving practice, allows us to question normalized violence and counter the narratives that seek to flatten Black histories and material realities.

As part of the department’s In Defense of Black Studies initiatives, our undergraduate fellows—supported by graduate researcher—seek to turn actionable theory into a living archive, and amplify the interventions our department offers in the face of genocide, state-sanctioned violence, and dispossession.

Beyond resistance, this project is a space for collective healing: using our stories to mend what has been ruptured and nurture the wellness of our community.

Follow along as we weave new truths and push the boundaries of reality-making alongside the community partners integral to this work!

”

04/14/2026

P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance

April 24, 2026 | 12:00 - 1:30 pm
650 Social Sciences Building, UC Berkeley

Authors and creators of the “Bad Bunny Syllabus,” Vanessa Díaz and Petra Rivera-Rideau, explore Puerto Rican resistance through the lens of Bad Bunny’s music in their new book, “P FKN R.” This talk will examine how the superstar blends joy and protest amidst ongoing colonial challenges. Organized by the Department of African American Studies.

RSVP via: events.berkeley.edu/africam.

For additional information and/or accessibility needs, contact: Barbara Montano at [email protected] or 510-664-4324.

04/09/2026

2026 St. Clair Drake Symposium
Walls Turned Sideways: Bridges in Black Study
The Department of African American & African Diaspora Studies, University of California, Berkeley
Celebrating the 15th anniversary of The VèVè A. Clark Institute for Engaged Scholars of African American Studies

May 7, 2026 | 8:00 am - 5:00 pm | David Brower Center
The Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies at UC Berkeley invites submissions for the 2026 St. Clair Drake Conference. Named in honor of the pioneering anthropologist and scholar of the African Diaspora, this conference creates a supportive space for graduate students whose research engages with Black Studies methodologies, frameworks, and theories across disciplines.

Call for Proposals:
Submission Deadline: Wednesday, April 20th, 2026
Notification of Acceptance: April 22nd, 2026
Conference Date: Thursday, May 7th 2026

We invite scholars from all disciplines exploring questions of thematic relevance through various methodological and disciplinary approaches. Submissions: africam.berkeley.edu/news/2026-st-clair-drake. Questions: [email protected].

If you have any accessibility needs to fully participate in this event, please contact African American Studies at [email protected] or 510-642-7084.

Image source and description: San Francisco Call Bulletin (July 06, 1965), Views of protesters marching down a sidewalk,
The San Francisco News-Call Bulletin Newspaper Photograph Archive. Via The Bancroft Library.

04/01/2026

Annual Department of African American Studies Black Graduation 🎓
Class of 2026 🎉

Open to all majors and colleges, undergraduates and graduate students. Congratulations, class of 2026!

May 19 | 2:00 pm | Zellerbach Hall

Students: register by May 4, 2026. africam.berkeley.edu/black-graduation. Link in bio!

Image description: Flier features a black and gold design with a graduation cap in the center and the above text.

03/31/2026

When Home is a Photograph: Leigh Raiford in Conversation with Delphine Sims

April 16, 2026 | 4:30 pm
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA)
2155 Center Street, Berkeley

Join us for a celebration of Leigh Raiford’s new publication with a book signing to follow, sponsored by the Department of African American Studies and hosted in partnership with BAMPFA at UC Berkeley.

In “When Home Is a Photograph,” Raiford asks how Black people use photography to make home in the world. Raiford focuses on a selection of Black American activists and artists, including Marcus Garvey, James Van Der Zee, Eslanda Goode Robeson, and Kathleen Neal Cleaver to explore the complex relationship between racialized subjects and the medium of photography. As they traveled the world for study, for work, for pleasure, or for survival, these artists and activists took and collected photographs to express their political platforms and personal sense of self. Raiford considers the everyday image-making practices that these Black Americans employed to improve the condition of Black lives globally by imagining, identifying, inhabiting, leaving, defending, and destroying “home.” “When Home Is a Photograph” shows how these figures did not merely utilize photography to emplace themselves in the world—they demonstrated how the use of photography is itself a way to mediate one’s relationship to the world.

For more information: events.berkeley.edu/africam. For accessible accommodations to fully participate in this event, please contact BAMPFA at [email protected] or 510-642-0808. This event is part of Leigh Raiford’s spring book tour, please see other events on the tour at leighraiford.com.

Pictured on slide two: Leigh Raiford, photo credit: Sophie Nawova. Pictured on slide three: Delphine Sims, photo credit: Lewis Watts.

03/19/2026

On March 4-5, 2026, the department’s Black Critical Theory Initiative hosted its second speaker, Dr. Axelle Karera (Emory University), for a public lecture and graduate student workshop exploring her work-in-progress on the habits of reading Frantz Fanon’s corpus that have taken shape in contemporary philosophy. Many thanks to Dr. Karera for sharing her important work, and for her generosity with our students!

For more information about the initiative, see our website: https://africam.berkeley.edu/initiatives/black-critical-theory-initiative.

03/16/2026

Summer Sessions ‘26: African American Studies

Take a class with African American Studies this summer!

AFRICAM 119
Language Politics in Africa’s Digital age
Instructor: Dr. David Kyeu
Session D, TWTH 10-1230, 155 SSB
CN: 15902

AFRICAM 125AC
History of the Modern Civil Rights Movement
Instructor: Dr. Ula Taylor
Session D, Online
CN: 12930

AFRICAM 136L
Race, Policing and Surveillance in the U.S.
Instructor: Dr. Nikki Jones
Session A, online
CN: 12168

AFRICAM 139L
The Black Panther Party and American Popular Culture
Instructor: Dr. Rickey Vincent
Session D, TWTH 2-430, 170 SSB
CN: 12931

AFRICAM 142AC
Race and film
Instructor: Dr. Michael Cohen
Session D, Online
CN: 16065

Learn more: africam.berkeley.edu/news/summer-2026-courses-registration-open

03/12/2026

✨Today is the Day: Big Give 2026! ✨
Support African American Studies at UC Berkeley! 🖤

March 11th - March 12th, 9 pm - 9 pm P.T.
Give directly to African American Studies: givingday.berkeley.edu/giving-day/108613/department/108753. Link in bio!

This Big Give, we need your support to sustain our student-centered programs, such as Black Graduation - a longstanding tradition hosted by the Department of African American Studies.

Gifts to African American Studies will be doubled up to $1,500 with generous matches from Jennifer Madden Ragland and Paul Reisz ‘82! 🎉

Thank you for your support! 🙏🏾

biggive.berkeley.edu

Address

Berkeley, CA
94720

Website

https://www.instagram.com/calblackstudies/, http://africam.berkeley.edu/, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0lMKlGP3Aykp

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