Inclusive Scholarship: Developing Black Studies - Ford Foundation

126 Inclusive Scholarship: Developing Black Studies in the United States
“Afro-American Studies in the 21st Century”that explored the various intellectual,
ideological, and cultural meanings of African American Studies.
At Michigan, funds were used similarly, with particular emphasis on
disseminating the most groundbreaking work in the field. The centerpieces
of the initiative there were lecture series and a major conference featuring
leading African Americanists. Reviewing the history of the field, conferees
addressed the topic: “Reflections and Revisions: Twenty Years of Afro-
American and African Studies.”
At Michigan State, the concern to establish a context for new research
led to the development of the first Ph.D. in Comparative Black History—a
program that evolved with Ford support. And at Berkeley, the Ford initiative
has strengthened the department’s emphasis on diasporic, interdisciplinary
research through course development, collaborative research
projects, and partnerships with secondary and community college teachers.
Pennsylvania, Harvard, and Yale have been especially concerned with
outreach to faculty at other institutions, sponsoring summer institutes, visiting
professorships, and conferences, respectively. The success of this first
funding cycle warrants the renewal of grants to these institutions and to
clusters of schools (e.g., in Washington, D.C., and New York City) to enhance
the possibilities for intellectual exchange among scholars.Within this
broad network, we would encourage the Foundation once again to allow
the institutions to articulate the best uses to which such awards might be
put, given the particular needs of their constituencies.