Fall 2013 Newsletter

Pre-K to Prison Pipeline: Changing the Odds for Boys of Color ............................ 3 

FALL 2013

“Eslanda: The Large and Unconventional Life of Mrs. Paul Robeson” ........................... 5 

AASD Faculty Research Abroad ...... 11 

FinanAASD

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND THE DEPARTMENT OF AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES

Greetings from AASD Interim Chair Dr. Odis Johnson Jr. The African American Studies

the symposium, “Pre-K to Prison Pipeline:

Department (AASD) at the

Changing the Odds for Boys of Color” the first

University of Maryland is

week in September. The symposium sought to ex-

committed to the examina-

pose the systematic ways boys of color are intro-

tion of pressing social issues

duced to a life of incarceration, and to discuss efforts

that impact African Ameri-

at prevention, recovery and ways to aid boys of color

cans, our pursuit of social

in successfully negotiating social and educational

justice, and black communi-

risks. Our symposium included leading experts, over

ties around the world. Our department includes in-

500 participants and many more through online

ternationally recognized scholars, who engage com-

streaming. The success of this program was followed

munities and policymakers on the topics of health,

by our welcoming to campus Dr. James Jackson,

gender, education, youth, neighborhoods, and popu-

Daniel Katz Distinguished University Professor of

lations abroad, and offers degree programs that pre-

Psychology and Director of the Institute for Social

pare our graduates for careers in public policy, law,

Research at the University of Michigan. Finally, we

history and research among other professional fields.

recognized the tenure and promotion of Dr. Rich-

Our academic year began with an impressive

ardson, and myself, as Associate Professors and my

start! We welcomed two Postdoctoral Teaching Fel-

start as the Interim Chair of the African American

lows to the department, Dr. Christopher St. Vil

Studies Department. We want you to know about

from the Howard University, and Dr. Robert

these accomplishments and what we do, in part, so

Turner, most recently from the University of North

that you will want to join us in our journey, to invest

Carolina at Chapel Hill. The department also hosted

in us, and share in the joy of our successes!

The African American Studies Department 1119 Taliaferro Hall College Park, MD 20742 Ph. 301-405-1158 Fax: 301-314-9932 website: www.aasd.umd.edu AASD Fall 2013

History and Research Focus of AASD

Since its inception in 1969, the University of Maryland’s African American Studies Department (AASD) has evolved into a leading undergraduate program that has become an integral part of the University of Maryland and the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences.

African-American Studies Department at the University of Maryland offers a truly interdisciplinary program of excellence focused on the Black experience in the U.S., Africa and the African Diaspora. Our national and internationally renowned faculty conduct research on women and labor, social inequalities and health, educational inequalities and policy, incarceration and victimization, and family dynamics and health in sub-Saharan Africa.

In 2009, AASD celebrated its 40th anniversary. This celebration was a reminder of the important role that the department has played on our campus, providing intellectual leadership in studies of racism, colonialism, slavery and culture of Africa and the Americas, and advocacy, crucially at times, for African-descended people and issues within our state.

African American Studies has been a vital component in the University of Maryland’s efforts to address the state’s history of educational segregation. Absent AASD, African American people and issues of discrimination and diversity might have a far less central place at the University and the institution might not fulfill its mission of service to all citizens of the state as well as it does.

As aforementioned, AASD has played an important role in educating UMD undergraduate students. Indeed, the department has been responsible for a large number of seats contributing to UMD diversity requirements, about 1000 a year. The department’s very presence on campus is a reminder of how important African Americans have been nationally, internationally, in the State of Maryland, in greater Washington, DC and even more locally, in Prince George’s County. The department has achieved this "out-sized impact" on the scientific an policy-making communities while continuing its unwavering commitment to its undergraduate programs.

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pecial Event Event--Symposium Pre Pre--K to Prison Pipeline: Changing the Odds for Boys of Color

Stamp Student Union Atrium Room September 9, 2013 Moderator: Dr. Ruth Zambrana, University of Maryland Panelists: Dr. Pedro Noguera, Peter L. Agnew Professor of Education, New York University; Dr. Oscar Barbarin, Lila L. and Douglas J. Hertz Endowed Chair, Tulane University; Dr. Becky Pettit, Professor of Sociology, University of Washington; Dr. Howard Stevenson, Professor of Education and Africana Studies, University of Pennsylvania Co-sponsors: College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Office of Diversity and Inclusion, College of Education, Department of Psychology, Department of Sociology, Maryland Population Research Center, Maryland Center for Health Equity, Nyumburu Cultural Center, Consortium on Race, Gender & Ethnicity, and Iota Upsilon Lambda and Iota Zeta Chapters of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Photo courtesy Alexis Goring

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he Pre-K to Prison Pipeline Symposium was conceived by Dr. Odis Johnson (Associate Professor and Interim Chair) and Dr. Joseph Richardson (Associate Professor) in response to the disproportionate number of Boys of color placed under juvenile justice supervision via the public school system. Gathering nationally renowned scholars on this issue was paramount in raising awareness among academics, practitioners, teachers, administrators, justice officials, community organizations, public school students and activists in the local metropolitan DC community. The event was well attended and based on conversations with several of the individuals and organizations present, this was one of the most informative and engaging symposiums they attended on the Pre-K to Prison Pipeline problem. It was clearly one of the largest events sponsored by a department in BSOS since I arrived at UMD in 2006. Every session was full and in some sessions additional seating was needed. We also received a tremendous amount of press coverage.

The speakers for the event, in our estimation, are the brightest minds in the nation on this issue. Drs. Pedro Noguera (NYU), Oscar Barbarin (Tulane), Becky Pettit (University of Washington) and Howard Stevenson (University of Pennsylvania) are all nationally acclaimed experts on Black boys, youth development, urban education and the juvenile/criminal justice systems. The panel was literally an ‘all-star cast’ on these topics. Ruth Zambrana, the moderator for the event, is recognized as one of the academy’s top scholars on race, gender and ethnicity. Dr. Zambrana serves as the director of the Consortium on Race, Gender and Ethnicity here at the University of Maryland. This event provided the opportunity for the community to be critically engaged with academics, a discourse which is often absent in academia. We were particularly impressed by the insightful questions posed by many of the District of Columbia public school students in attendance. Their questions and comments were thought provoking, stimulating and challenging.

This vulnerable population is most impacted by draconian zero tolerance policies so it was important that their voices were heard by adults. Although there was plenty of critical discussion about the Pre-K to Prison Pipeline, the event was not merely limited to critical discourse. It was also solution-oriented. Since the event discussions have emerged on developing a research/policy center which specifically examines vulnerable populations of youth in the District of Columbia metropolitan area. We plan to continue the momentum on addressing this national problem, we anticipate much more to come.

Written by Dr. Joseph Richardson

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AASD Spring Brown Bag Series Series--The Making of African America: The Four Great Migrations

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r. Ira Berlin discussed his book “The Making of African America: the Four Great Migrations” in the Lucille Maurer Library to a packed room of students and professors.

Dr. Berlin’s stated that in the years since 1965, when Con-

gress passed and President Johnson signed the Immigration and Nationality Act, the US has again become an immigrant society. The consequences of that change are a central to contemporary American life and politics. Less well known is that black America has also AGAIN become an immigrant society. The Making of African America: The Four Great Migrations explores the “Again”— migration as central theme of the African American experience.

Date: Wednesday, February 6th, 2013 Location: Lucille Maurer Library 1126 Taliaferro Hall, College Park, MD 20742 Time: noon-1:00pm

The Nuances of Blackness: Race, Complexion, and Mental Health

Date: February 25th, 2013 Time: Noon to 1:30pm Location: 1126 Taliaferro Hall College Park, MD 20742

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r. Verna M. Keith (Professor of Sociology and Director of the Race and Ethnic Studies Institute (RESI) at Texas Co-sponsors: A&M University) presented her work February 25th, Office of Diversity and Inclusion Department of Sociology 2013 in the Lucille Maurer Library. Dr. Keith discussed ideology Maryland Population Research Center of Colorism, the privileging of light over dark complexion and Eurocentric facial features over Afrocentric facial features, which has played a significant role in determining the economic, social, and psychological well-being of African Americans.

She identified that recently, two competing views have emerged regarding the continued significance of colorism with one suggesting that it has declined and the other suggesting that it is becoming more important as the U.S. becomes more multiracial. Dr. Keith’s study evaluates these two competing views as they relate to the mental health of African Americans. More specifically, using a race comparative framework, she examines whether black-white differences in mental health are consistent when complexion is considered and compare these findings to those yielded by other classifications of African Americans.

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arbara Ransby presented her book “Eslanda: The Large and Unconventional Life of Mrs. Paul Robeson (Yale University Press, January 8, 2013)” on March 13, 2013 at the Nyumburu Cultural Center.

Ransby is a historian, writer and longtime activist. She is a Professor of African American Studies, Gender and Women’s Studies, and History at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) where directs both the campus-wide Social Justice Initiative and the Gender and Women’s Studies Program. Professor Ransby is author of the multi-highly acclaimed biography, Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision.

Ransby’s discussed her deeply researched biography that chronicles the remarkable events by Mrs. Paul Robeson over her lifetime. Ransby brought aspects of Essie’s life to the forefront--life events that were not predominantly known such as her tireless advocacy of women's rights or her outspoken anti-colonial and antiracist activist, and an internationally sought-after speaker.

Co-sponsors: Women’s Studies Department, The Center for Historical Studies and African American Political Culture Workshop

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r. Odis Johnson was a panelist for “Academic Achievement: It’s Not So Black and White” on April 18, 2013 in the Charles Carroll Room-Stamp Student Union.

The panel addressed the following questions: Why do gaps in academic achievement persist among racial and ethnic groups? How is academic achievement connected to social, economic, and political forces? What can be done to eliminate inequities related to academic achievement? The event sponsored by African American Studies and The Department of Sociology brought together five experts in Education and Sociology to discuss real strategies for addressing these questions in policy and in practice.

Moderator: Dr. Patricia Hill Collins, Distinguished University Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Maryland Panelists: Dr. Angel Harris, Associate Professor of Sociology, Princeton University Dr. Karl Alexander, John Dewey Professor of Sociology and Department Chair, John Hopkins University Dr. Michelle Espino, Assistant Professor, College of Education, University of Maryland Sponsored by the Departments of Sociology & African American Studies

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Sangeetha Madhavan

is Associate Professor, African-American Studies Department and Associate Director, Maryland

Population Research Center. Dr. Madhavan presented her research on family linkages in South Africa in a panel discussion on “Comparative Perspectives on Family Complexity” with UMD colleagues, Natasha Cabrera (Human Development) and Kevin Roy (Family Science). The event was held on April 22, 2013 at MPRC and moderated by Prof. Fran Goldscheider (Sociology). Earlier in the year, she presented a paper, “Father Contact Following Union Dissolution for Low Income Children in Urban South Africa” at the Annual Meetings of the Population Association of America, New Orleans, April 10-13. Dr. Madhavan also presented a paper on new methods in qualitative research and served as a Discussant at the General Meetings of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population in that took place on August 2014 in Busan, South Korea. In addition, she was invited to make presentations on her research at McGill University, Penn State University and the University of Missouri.

Dr. Joseph Richardson presented “Exploring the Risk Factors for Recurrent Violent Injury, Linkages to Care and HIV Risk-Related Behaviors Among Young African American Men in Prince Georges Count” as a panelist for Situating Risk, Home and Health: Qualitative Research Methods Across Disciplines Moderated by Dr. Sheri Parks Associate Dean for Research, Interdisciplinary Scholarship and Programming, College of Arts & Humanities; Associate Professor, Department of American Studies. The event was held on Wednesday, May 1, 2013 from 2:00pm – 2:00pm in the Maryland Population Research Center.

On August 8-10 Associate professors Dr. Odis Johnson, Dr. Joseph Richardson, and Research Associate Dr. Christopher St. Vil presented at the 43rd annual meeting of the Association of Black Sociologists. Dr. Richardson and Dr. St Vil’s presentation: “Situating a Clinical Ethnography of Violent Injury among Young African American Men in an Urban Trauma Unit,” highlighted the methodological issues some researchers may face when conducting ethnographic research within a hospital setting. The data for this presentation was derived from and based on their current data collection efforts at the Prince George’s County Hospital Center. Dr. Johnson’s presentation, “Race-Gender Inequality across Residential and School Contexts: What can Policy do?” introduced data that demonstrated that the achievement gap between black and white youth is driven by the educational performance of black boys and that more attention should be focused on enriching the academic experience of black males. Policy recommendations were offered as to how to educate black boys.

Dr. Gniesha Dinwiddie presented "Residential Segregation and Disparities in Anti-Depressant Use: Evidence from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey" at the Academy Health Annual Research Meeting in Baltimore, MD June 22, 2013. The paper examined race specific population adjusted rates of office, inpatient and outpatient physician-patient encounters documenting diagnosis of depression and use of antidepressants for its treatment by residential segregation. Principal findings reveal socioeconomic status, public insurance and physician type (psychiatrist vs. non-psychiatrist) explain much of the variation in anti-depressant use for African Americans residing in isolated neighborhoods. Implications of the findings suggest the Affordable Care Act should focus on attracting qualified psychiatrists to practice in undeserved areas that are segregated and predominantly African American and Latino in order to reduce mental health disparities.

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AASD Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Joseph Richardson Since the beginning of the year, I have directed two studies on violence and trauma among young African-American men in Baltimore and Prince George’s County. These jurisdictions account for 75 percent of the violent assaults and homicides in the state. My first study in Baltimore is a secondary data analysis of 191 African-American men admitted to the University of Maryland Medical Systems R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center for violent injury (gunshot wound, stabbing or assault). The analysis has produced several significant findings which my research team (Dr. Christopher St. Vil, Dr. Michael Wagner, Dr. Tanya Sharpe and Dr. Carnell Cooper) and I are currently drafting a manuscript on that will be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal within the next months. One of our most significant findings is the relationship between incarceration and recurrent violent injury. Approximately 88 percent of our sample has been incarcerated for six months or more and 58 percent of the sample has been hospitalized two or more times for violent injury. These findings speak directly to the impact of mass incarceration on violence in poor communities. In April 2013 I initiated second research project, a longitudinal ethnographic research study of 20 young African-American men (ages 18-34) admitted to the Prince George’s Hospital Center Trauma Unit for violent injury. Dr. Christopher St. Vil (Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, UMD Department of African-American Studies) and Dr. Carnell Cooper (Chief Medical Officer, Prince George’s Hospital Center) are also Co-Principal Investigators on this study.

The participants were recruited at bedside in the trauma unit. They participate in an in-depth life history interview three times per year. Participants are also provided a referral for psycho-social services. This pilot study will be used to inform the development of a larger study of violent injury at trauma units in Baltimore and Prince George’s County, MD. The data is also being used to develop a hospital-based violence intervention program at Prince George’s Hospital Center PGHC). Our study at PGHC has been identified as an emerging violence intervention program by the national network of hospital-based violence intervention programs. This network consists of over 30 hospital-based violence intervention programs that collaborate primarily with university-based hospital trauma units in major US cities. Our program is called ALIVE1, A Longitudinal Intervention of Violence through Empowerment. We serve the National Capital Border Area in Prince George’s County, MD. This area situated in Prince George’s County on the border of the District of Columbia has high rates of violent assault and homicide.

The study at PGHC also examines high risk behaviors among violently injured young African-American men, specifically HIV risk behaviors. Presently, Maryland ranks 1st among US states in rates of HIV infection. Baltimore and Prince George’s County are the two regions driving the rates of infection in the state. Thus, our study examines the intersection between violence and HIV. As the Affordable Care Act becomes law in the state, I am also examining how young men in the study navigate the new healthcare system. All of the young men in our sample are uninsured or underinsured.

What I am most proud of is the development of the public service announcements we have created to address gun violence. I have produced one PSA on gun violence and plan to produce several over the next year. I am also developing a website, this website will provide data from our current studies as well as national data on violence, social media and blogging on gun violence. Finally, I was awarded promotion to Associate Professor this year. I am proud of this accomplished and look forward to my journey towards Full Professor.

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Dr. Odis Johnson, Jr., an Associate Professor in the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences at the University of Maryland is the recipient of the 2013 Outstanding Review of Research Award from the American Educational Research Association, the leading professional association of education research. He is Interim Chair of the Department of African American Studies in which he offers courses in program evaluation, policy analysis, and urban/community studies. With funding from the National Academies Ford Foundation Fellowship Program, National Science Foundation, American Educational Research Association, and the Spencer Foundation, Dr. Johnson has explored neighborhood influences on racial differences in children’s achievement, and linkages between neighborhood role modeling opportunities and adolescents’ masculine dispositions toward education. He has published widely within peer-review journals, and serves on the editorial boards of the Review of Educational Research and the Urban Review. Dr. Johnson frequently advises private and governmental agencies in the evaluation of social programs, collection and analysis of data, and budget allocations.

Sangeetha Madhavan is an Associate Professor in the Department of African-American Studies and Associate Director of the Maryland Population Research Center, University of Maryland, College Park. Demographer and sociologist by training, her research focuses on family structure and functioning, children's well-being, parenting, and the social context of HIV/AIDS in the context of sub-Saharan Africa. Rather than assuming that particular family structures work better than others, she asks “what arrangements, in their myriad forms, actually work for children?” Her recent work has appeared in Demography, Fathering, Culture, Health and Sexuality and the International Journal of Epidemiology and her forthcoming publications will appear in Journal of Adolescent Research, Journal of Family Issues and Journal of Southern African Studies. She recently received funding from the National Institutes of Health to examine the living arrangements of the elderly in rural South Africa and has recently submitted a proposal for funding to the National Institutes of Health to examine the support networks of poor single mothers in slum communities in Nairobi, Kenya .

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Professor Sharon Harley is completing a book on The Nexus of Gender, Race and Citizenship in the Lives of Post-Emancipation Black Women and a journal article on “W.E. B. Du Bois and Gender.” The Du Bois essay was completed with the support from a 2013 UM Graduate School Summer RASA grant. An associate editor of the journal, Black Women, Gender & Families, this summer she served on a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship review panel. In the fall, Dr. Harley will join the county executive of Prince George’s County Rushern Baker on a panel celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Department of History at Howard University. In addition, she will lead a live, content-based professional development seminar for the National Humanities Center (Research Triangle, NC) on “African American Women and Race Relations” for teachers across the U.S. This summer she was asked by Professor Henry Louis Gates, director of Harvard University‘s W. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute at The Hutchins Center for African and African American Research and Dr. Lawrence Bobo, chair of the Department of African and American Studies at Harvard, to deliver the distinguished Nathan I . Huggins Lectures at Harvard University. Her upcoming three Huggins Lectures will be published by Harvard University Press. Professor Harley will serve as a commentator on the session, “New Perspectives on Twentieth Century African American Women’s History,” at the 2014 annual meeting of the American Historical Association. She was re-appointed for a fifth term to the Education Task Force by the Maryland State Superintendent of Public School—in collaboration with the Reginald Lewis Museum of Maryland African History and Culture. In the 2015-16 academic year, she plans to complete the second half of her fellowship at the Hutchins W.E. B. Du Bois Center at Harvard University.

Dr. Gniesha Dinwiddie is an Assistant Professor of African American Studies, Faculty Associate at the Maryland Population Research Center and Faculty Affiliate in the Department of Sociology at the University of Maryland College Park. She is also Associate Faculty at the Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. Dr. Dinwiddie earned a B.A. in Social Science from the University of California at Irvine, M.A. in African American Studies from the University of California at Los Angeles and Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to coming to the University of Maryland, she was a National Institutes of Health Post-Doctoral Fellow in Demography in the Office of Population Research at Princeton University. Dr. Dinwiddie is a Medical Sociologist and Demographer with research interests in the social determinants of health, bio-psycho-social processes of cardiovascular disease risk, and neighborhoods and health. Her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Maryland Population Research Center and the UMD College of Behavioral and Social Sciences. Dr. Dinwiddie’s work appears in the American Journal of Public Health, Social Science and Medicine, Health Services Research, Medical Care Research and Review, Medical Care, Social Science Quarterly, and others. Dr. Dinwiddie is currently working on a project that examines biopsychosocial pathways of race/ethnic disparities in inflammation which is a major indicator of cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality. "This research asks What are the pathways leading to differential cardiovascular disease risk for African Americans and Latinos in the United States?” This research is one of the first interdisciplinary investigations which provides a critical unexplored piece in the health disparities literature. This project is funded by a seed grant awarded from the UMD College of Behavioral and Social Sciences. Dr. Dinwiddie will present findings from this project at the 2013 American Public Health Association meetings in Boston in November. Also, on October 18th, Dr. Dinwiddie will be the plenary speaker at St. Agnes Hospital’s Cardiology Symposium in Baltimore, MD. 9 AASD Fall 2013

hristopher St. Vil currently serves as a research associate and adjunct professor at the University of Maryland

at College Park African American Studies Department and the Project Coordinator for the Men of Faith Preventing Violence against Women Project which is housed at the Howard University School of Social Work. Dr. St. Vil received his PhD from the Howard University School of Social Work and his Masters’ degree in Social Work from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Dr. St. Vil previously served as an adjunct professor at the University of the District of Columbia and Morgan State University where he taught courses in both social work and criminology.

He serves as a clinical counselor for a Runaway and Homeless Youth Shelter in Virginia, substitute teaches for DC Public Schools, and is a co-investigator on a research study at the Prince George’s Hospital Center Trauma Unit examining violence and trauma among young black men. Dr. St. Vil’s research interest include black masculinities, neighborhood effects, domestic violence, HIV/AIDS, and violence and trauma.

Dr. Robert W. Turner II holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from The Graduate Center, CUNY. Currently, Robert is Research Fellow in the African American Studies Department at the University of Maryland, College Park. After graduating from James Madison University, Robert played football professionally for three leagues over a four-year span. Robert is developing a manuscript for Oxford University Press entitled The NFL means Not For Long: Fame, Fortune, & Equal? This ethnographic project offers a description and analysis of the social worlds of professional football players based on the author’s personal experience, interviews with current and former players, archived resources that discusses the socialization of young athletes, the relationship between the NFL and the NFL Players Association, and how athletes transition from the NFL to life after football. Though playing in the NFL is often thought of as privileged reserved for only the best players, this case study suggests ways for examining how race and class refract the experience of athletes. As a result of his extensive field observations and interviews, Robert is inspired to examine how former NFL athletes cope with issues such as weight gain and obesity, depression and mental health problems related to sport concussions, and chronic pain associated with osteoarthritis as a result of traumatic sport injury or joint overuse.

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AASD Faculty Research Abroad Dr. Sangeetha Madhavan’s Personal Diary ~ excerpts from her research trips to South Africa

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he Gender and Generation project set out to better understand how elderly men and women a rural community cope with the pressures brought on by HIV/AIDS. With funding from CRGE and MPRC, I spent 2 months

in the field with Dana Loll, a UMD undergraduate (who is now a doctoral student at Univ. of Michigan), conductTRAINING SESSION, GENDER ing these AND GENERATIONS PROJECT, interAGINCOURT VILLAGE, SOUTH views. In AFRICA, JULY 2007 this pic. ture, I (pregnant with my son), am observing a mock interview between two of our fieldworkers. These training sessions are truly collaborative in that I learn as much if not more than the fieldworkers. For example, during this training, we

got into really lively debates around what it means to be “old” in South Africa and in the U.S. In this community, it is expected that people who are old enough to be your grandmother or grandfather should be addressed as “Gogo” (the Zulu word for grandparent) even if they are strangers you meet at the grocery store. This makes perfect sense to me but imagine calling someone you don’t know “granny” in the U.S. Note: Funding for this project was provided by the National Institutes of Health (R03) and a seed grant from the Maryland Population Research Center .

Combining work and family, Lillydale village, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa, July 2009

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outh Africa has indeed become a second home to me. Therefore, I want my children to feel as comfortable there as I do and indeed they do!! I feel very strongly that the exposure to different cultures ought to start in childhood for these early experiences leave a lasting positive imprint throughout life. Both my kids have been fortunate enough to accompany me on many of my trips to South Africa, have made lots of friends, and have come to love the country. Moreover, both have spent extended periods of time living with me in the village shown in this picture where I have developed many close friendships. In fact, two members of one family in this village actually stayed with me in the U.S. during their visit and even came to see my AASD office on campus. Contrary to what I was told by friends, my love of travel and spending time outside of the US has not abated since becoming a mother. All that has changed is that now I have young travelling companions who enable me to appreciate such experiences in an entirely new way!!

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MEET AASD LECTURER’S

ichols

Jason N

Jason Nichols is an academic and artist with a range of interests which include Black masculinities, hip-hop music and dance, and Black and Latino identities and relations.

He is the current Editor-in-Chief of Words Beats & Life: The Global Journal of HipHop Culture, the first peer-reviewed journal of Hip-Hop Studies. Dr. Nichols is also a rap artist who raps under the moniker Haysoos and is one half of the internationally recognized rap group, Wade Waters.

African American Studies Department 1119 Taliaferro Hall College Park, MD 20742 Ph. 301-405-1158 Fax: 301-314-9932 www.aasd.umd.edu Alumni like our Facebook page to keep updated on upcoming events and pertinent information on AASD activities!!!

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Jonathan

England

Jonathan England is a lecturer in the African -American Studies Department and Doctoral Candidate in Government and Politics. He teaches several courses in the AfricanAmerican Studies Department, including Introduction to African-American Studies, African-American Politics from Frederick Douglass to Barack Obama, Race and Sports, and Washington and Prince George's History, Culture and Politics.

For questions or comments contact the editor : Marci Deloatch Email: mdeloatc@umd.edu