aaas.msu.eduDepartment of African American and African Studies

Michigan State University Search: Home About Purpose, Aspiration, Values and Practices Herstory Who Are We Undergraduate Academics AAAS Major AAAS Minor Current Course Offerings Advising Graduate People Connect & Engage Support Contact Us Black Lives matter AAAS unequivocally and unapologetically maintains that Black Lives Matter. This statement of fact precedes yet includes ideological and political intervention in response to antiblack racial oppression. We understand the meaning and fullness of Black life to be irreducible to Black genocide and state violence. We are more than what happened/s to us. Following the Black feminist wisdom of Audre Lorde, we are who we say we are and wholeheartedly committed to the work that is distinctively ours to do. Stacey Robinson ‘Cosmic Listening’ Digital Collage, 2016 When we view our living in the european mode, only as problems to be solved, we rely solely upon our ideas to make us free, for these were what the white fathers told us were precious. But as we come more into touch with our own ancient and original non-european view of living as a situation to be experienced and interacted with, we learned more and more to cherish our feelings, and to respect those hidden and deep sources of our power from whence true knowledge and, therefore, lasting action comes.” Audre Lorde "Poetry is Not a Luxury,” Sister Outsider (1984) I guess I don’t like taking what I’m given. That’s why I’m hoping there will be more black s.f. (science fiction) writers, more black writers period. Any minority group needs people who can speak from the group’s perspective, maybe not speak for the whole group, but at least from a certain point of view and experiences.” Octavia Butler Sci-Fi Visions: An Interview with Octavia Butler,” Conversations with Octavia Butler (2010) I am not wrong: Wrong is not my name My name is my own my own my own and I can’t tell you who the hell set things up like this but I can tell you that from now on my resistance my simple and daily and nightly self-determination may very well cost you your life” June Jordan Poem about My Rights,” The Collected Poems of June Jordan (2005) "We need to acknowledge those power differences between us and see where they lead us...I’m talking about Black women’s blood flowing in the streets—and how do we get a 14-year-old boy to know I am not the legitimate target of his fury? The boot is on both of our necks. Let’s talk about getting it off. My blood will not wash out your horror." Audre Lorde Revolutionary Hope: A Conversation Between Audre Lorde and James Baldwin, Essence Magazine (1985) "Perhaps the single most important reason the Black Movement did not work was that Black men did not realize they could not wage struggle without the full involvement of women." Michele Wallace Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman (1979) It’s not that we haven’t always been here, since there was a here. It is that the letters of our name have been scrambled when they were not totally erased, and our fingerprints upon the handles of history have been called the random brushings of birds.” Audre Lorde Wild Women in the Whirlwind: Afra-American Culture and the Contemporary Literary Renaissance (1990) After all, radical simply means ’grasping things at the root.’” Angela Y. Davis Let Us All Rise Together: Radical Perspectives on Empowerment for Afro-American Women in Women, Culture, & Politics (1990) What is needed are new questions and a new angle of vision…” Beverly Guy-Sheftall African-American Studies: Legacies & Challenges: What Would Black Studies Be If We’d Listened to Toni Cade” in The Black Scholar (2015) It is always through art that society changes-not politics or even education. Art, and music especially, speaks to people more than government and education.” Nina Simone I Got Thunder: Black Women Songwriters On Their Craft edited by LaShonda K. Barnett (2007) I deeply hope that more of us will want to learn to protect Black language. If we lose our fluency in our language, we may irreversibly forsake elements of the spirit that have provided for our survival.” June Jordan "White English/ Black English: The Politics of Translation," Civil Wars (1972) I write for young girls of color, for girls who don’t even exist yet, so that there is something there for them when they arrive.” Ntozake Shange Back at You” interview with Rebecca Carroll, Mother Jones (1995) Research is a formalized curiosity. It is a poking and prying with a purpose. It is a seeking that [s]he who wishes may know the cosmic secrets of the world and they that dwell within.” Zora Neale Hurston Dust Tracks on a Road (1942) MAKING THE REVOLUTION IRRESISTIBLE The is truly invested in how we can do higher education differently. We focus on Black feminisms, Black genders, and Black sexuality studies addressing important and often underexplored aspects of Black Studies. We work to cultivate imagination, which gives students tools to actually see, feel, and experience the world as it ought to be, as they want it to be, not how it is. Sonic Introductions In AAAS, we know you want an education that recognizes you as a whole person with brilliant ideas, creative vision, and a desire to remain connected to the people who support your growth. In order to achieve these goals, music helps us all to survive, thrive, inspire, move, remember, and feel. Sound and feeling music can be great sources of knowledge , motivators for study , and energies for living . The problem is schooling often drains us o f our spirit and creative energy by promoting a life of the mind detached from heart and all that our hands can make. In AAAS, we are scholars, artists, activists , and cultural workers who appreciate a good sound. That’s why we cr eated these sonic introductions. Here’s how it works: Press play, listen deeply, and enjoy the music and sounds that reflect our love of self, community, and AAAS! Ruth Nicole Brown​ phd Chairperson Suban Nur Cooley phd Assistant Professor LeConté Dill DrPH Associate Professor Olivia Furman phd Post-Doc/Research Associate Natasha N. Jones phd Associate Professor Chamara Jewel Kwakye phd Assistant Professor Sheri Lewis phd Assistant Professor Yvonne Morris phd Academic Specialist Gianina K.L. Strother Assistant Professor Renée Wilmot phd Assistant Professor Audio curation and mixing by Blair E. Smith, PHD Interested in following these sounds? View the Track List (sounds sourced) Our AAAS Bookshelf Linguistic Justice: Black Language, Literacy, Identity, and Pedagogy 2020 April Baker-Bell AAAS Transition Team Member Speaking for Ourselves: Reclaiming, Redesigning, and Reimagining Research on Black Women’s Health” 2018 LeConté Dill Black Female Sexualities 2015 Trimiko Melancon Unbought and Unbossed: Transgressive Black Women, Sexuality, and Representation 2014 Trimiko Melancon Hear Our Truths: The Creative Potential of Black Girlhood 2013 Ruth Nicole Brown Black Girlhood Celebration: Toward a Hip-Hop Feminist Pedagogy 2009 Ruth Nicole Brown Saving Our Lives Hear Our Truths (SOLHOT) is a space to celebrate Black girlhood in all of its complexity with Black girls and those who love and support us. In SOLHOT we dance, sing, discuss important issues, create art, and organize together to improve the communities of which we are a part. We do what needs to be done. The process of doing SOLHOT involves being together and deciding what our work will be based on the gifts, talents, and ideas of those who show up. More than anything we value Black girls’ lives and create spaces to affirm Black girl genius. Learn more Saving Our Lives Hear Our Truths (SOLHOT) is a space to celebrate Black girlhood in all of its complexity with Black girls and those who love and support us. In SOLHOT we dance, sing, discuss important issues, create art, and organize together to improve the communities of which we are a part. We do what needs to be done. The process of doing SOLHOT involves being together and deciding what our work...