Inclusive Scholarship: Developing Black Studies - Ford Foundation

Inclusive Scholarship: Developing Black Studies in the United States 7
West, Michael Eric Dyson, bell hooks, and others. Significantly, these three
stories presented different perspectives on African American Studies: Gates
represented a kind of liberal multiculturalism, Asante Afrocentrism, and the
various scholars featured in the Atlantic Monthly range from the conservative
Glenn Loury to the more leftist Cornel West or the feminist bell hooks.
Even though these more visible developments greatly affected the way
the field was seen by the world outside of the academy, major tremors were
taking place within as well. On the one hand, Black women scholars challenged
the field’s masculinist biases and in so doing helped to bring together
critical discourses of race and gender. On the other hand, with the
founding of the first Ph.D. in African American Studies, Afrocentric scholars
secured a foothold in the academy. Although Afrocentricity was little
felt within the elite academy, it exerted a major influence on African American
Studies nationwide and in nonacademic Black institutions, such as
Afrocentric charter schools (and public school curricula), spiritual and religious
rituals, and rites of passage programs for young people. 5 Although
a few Black public intellectuals received positive media coverage, Afrocentric
scholars were often harshly criticized and caricatured in the mainstream
press, which gave a great deal of attention to the most extreme and
controversial stances and figures in the field.
The Pipeline
Although the field gained more visibility within and outside of the academy,
there was still a dearth of young African Americans pursuing Ph.D.s.
In 1985, the Ford Foundation committed resources to address the pipeline
problem by adding predoctoral and dissertation fellowships to their postdoctoral
fellowship programs for underrepresented minorities. This program,
administered by the National Academy of Sciences, joined a long line
of Ford Foundation initiatives devoted to Black faculty. Earlier programs
provided resources for faculty development at historically Black colleges
and universities, but by 1969 eligibility was expanded to include Black faculty
at any institution of higher education.Also in 1969, a doctoral program