Inclusive Scholarship: Developing Black Studies - Ford Foundation

196 Inclusive Scholarship: Developing Black Studies in the United States
Phyllis Bischoff suggested that a Library Science focus be developed
within the African American Studies degree program. Given the growth in
the field and the revolution in how libraries function based on dramatic
changes in information technology, these proposals seem especially apt.
The Cooperative Africana Microform Project, currently underway, is a collaboration
of more than thirty libraries. Administered by the University of
Chicago and the Center for Research Libraries, it digitizes newspapers and
journals for use as online resources.
Reviewers’ Recommendations
The department might address the extent to which its faculty is overworked
by monitoring its FTEs more effectively. One complicated aspect of this
problem involves the use of its faculty to support graduate work in other
departments that have neither joint appointments nor permit African
American Studies faculty to chair dissertation committees. Before the department
had its own doctoral program, this sort of unrewarded service on
the part of its faculty was understandable. However, it constitutes a major
drain on faculty time when the African American Studies doctoral program
is going to constitute an increasing demand for faculty attention. Perhaps
some negotiation with other departments might prove fruitful.
University of California, Los Angeles
Cultural Studies in the African Diaspora Project
UCLA’s Ford-funded Cultural Studies in the African Diaspora Project
(CSADP) set out to “encourage an extensive dialogue between humanists
and social scientists working in African American Studies, ... Cultural
Studies, and African Studies” envisioning them as clearly compatible. “Ideally,”
wrote Valerie Smith and Marcyliena Morgan, “both areas challenge
disciplinary boundaries, situate cultural processes and productions within
the context of social and political relations, and expand the body of texts
available for scholarly consideration.” Ideally, too, both endeavored “to en-