The Survey on Issues in Africana Studies: A First Report
Abstract
The Survey on Issues in Africana Studies collected data on the attitudes, backgrounds, perceptions, social contacts, and pedagogical practices of AfricanAmerican/Africana Studies professors. Using data from 221 respondents, I found that Africana Studies professors tend to see their programs as having a well-established place in the university. They report that enrollments are stable and faculty size is increasing. As their discipline resembles many social science and humanities fields, African-American Studies professors are evenly divided between men and women, and they are politically liberal. I found that respondents believed that the field has its own research tools and core ideas. Respondents agree that African-American Studies should become part of a larger African Diaspora Studies field, which suggests that the Diaspora perspective has gained acceptance within Africana Studies. Respondents were divided about undergraduate student involvement in departmental decision-making. A set of questions regarding key texts in the field show that only one book has achieved a nearly unanimous status as a canonical text, W. E. B. Du Bois’ The Souls of Black Folk.
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