Inclusive Scholarship: Developing Black Studies - Ford Foundation

144 Inclusive Scholarship: Developing Black Studies in the United States
The Ford-funded projects here include Transition, a scholarly magazine
of the Black Fiction Project, and a thrust to hire new faculty members in a
program that is rebuilding. Each effort complements the others. Visiting
scholars are considered as possible new faculty appointees. The Black Fiction
Project supports the research of fellows, regular faculty, and students.
Transition broadcasts the questions raised in working groups and colloquia to
a broader community.
There are still problems at Harvard. Student majors complain that
there are too few courses, and that those offered are so diverse as to feel diffused.
Some worry that too much of the program that works well is riding
on the coattails of one key scholar (Professor Gates). The students wonder,
if he leaves, what would remain?
Despite such questions, the visitor leaves Harvard very impressed
with its high purposes and strengths. The visit makes clear that, by supporting
Harvard, Ford has assisted in the“pipeline drama.”Visitors—junior and
senior—are helped in their efforts at research (and thus in the thrust for
promotion and tenure); while those in “permanent” residence—faculty
and students—are also supported. What’s most striking here is that, in addition
to assisting with the pipeline, Ford’s other grants have helped in the
equally vital project of producing concordances, encyclopedias, annotated
editions, ongoing research projects (like the Black Fiction Project) which at
last provide the basic materials for a field that is coming-of-age.
Indiana University
The Department of Afro-American Studies at Indiana University confronts
many of the same challenges as other schools we visited. It is a large public
institution in the Midwest, located in a state with a small African American
population. The Department at Indiana has been able to use Ford resources
to enhance its strengths,to heighten its visibility on campus and nationwide,
to support especially graduate students and junior faculty members, and to
alleviate the problem of student isolation. We were impressed here too by
the extraordinary feeling of enthusiasm, productivity and collegiality.
Given the limited level of university funds available for faculty and graduate
student research support, significant portions of the Ford grant have been