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The University of Pittsburgh’s graduate program in Africana Studies has announced that it will enroll its first cohort of students in its Ph.D. program this coming fall. The new Ph.D. program will offer students the choice of three different concentrations:
Race & Equity: Drawing from various methodological and theoretical approaches, this research theme articulates an understanding of race as a social construct with material, intellectual, cultural, political, and bioethical implications. It aims to create and develop the tools to achieve social justice and equity throughout Africa and its diaspora.
Migration & Community Transformation: This research theme analyzes the causes and implications of the movements of people of African origin throughout time and space.
Culture & Creative Production: Researchers in this concentration will seek to illuminate the intersections between socio-economic, political, intellectual, and psychological transformation and Black cultural productions in music, literature, performing, and visual arts, as well as film & media.
Robin Brooks, the program’s inaugural director, is an associate professor of Africana studies. “We see that change happening nationally, where these programs are now being institutionalized as departments and recognized as departments at different institutions. We think that the impact of 2020: the collision with a pandemic, George Floyd, all of those things, are working together for the good concerning the overall field of Africana studies.”
Dr. Brooks added that “there are continually advancements in the field and different approaches, because we’re not in a silo. We’re in a moving, rolling developing world. And so, as the world transforms, so does the field, of course. At the center of our attention is always people of African descent and the lived experiences of people of African descent across the world.”
In a January 12 letter to the College Board, the nonprofit organization that oversees Advanced Placement coursework, the Florida Department of Education’s Office of Articulation said the course is “inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value.” As a result, the state was refusing to offer the course in Florida high schools.
Later, on January 23, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis attacked the content of the College Board due to its inclusion of the study of reparations, “queer theory” and political movements such as Black Lives Matter.
The governor said, “that’s a political agenda. That’s the wrong side of the line for Florida standards. We believe in teaching kids facts and how to think, but we don’t believe they should have an agenda imposed on them when you try to use Black history to shoehorn in queer theory, you are clearly trying to use that for political purposes. In Florida, we do education, not indoctrination.”
Later, the College Board released the curriculum for the course. Many of the sections objectionable to Governor DeSantis were removed. The College Board claims that the changes were made to the curriculum before Governor DeSantis made his criticism known.
On February 11, the College Board issued a statement that said, “we are proud of this course. But we have made mistakes in the rollout that are being exploited. We deeply regret not immediately denouncing the Florida Department of Education’s slander, magnified by the DeSantis administration’s subsequent comments, that African American Studies ‘lacks educational value.’ Our failure to raise our voice betrayed Black scholars everywhere and those who have long toiled to build this remarkable field.”
The College Board went on to say that “we should have made clear that contemporary events like the Black Lives Matter movement, reparations, and mass incarceration were optional topics in the pilot course. Our lack of clarity allowed the narrative to arise that political forces had “downgraded” the role of these contemporary movements and debates in the AP class. While it has been claimed that the College Board was in frequent dialogue with Florida about the content of AP African American Studies, this is a false and politically motivated charge.”
On February 13, Governor DeSantis responded that the state would reevaluate it’s relationship with The College Board. “So this College Board, they’re just kind of there and they’re providing service,” he said. “And so, you can either utilize those services or not. And so, they’ve provided these AP courses for a long time, but you know, there’s probably some other vendors who may be able to do that job as good or maybe even a lot better, so I’ve already talked with House Speaker Paul Renner, and I think the legislature is going to look to reevaluate kind of how Florida is doing that and, of course, our universities can or can’t accept College Board courses for credit.”
Ron DeSantis, the newly re-elected governor of Florida and probable candidate for the Republican Party’s nomination for president of the United States in 2024, has notified all state-operated universities in Florida that they are required to “provide a comprehensive list of all staff, programs, and campus activities related to diversity, equity and inclusion and critical race theory.” The universities are also expected to provide information on the “costs associated with the administration of each program or activity,” including a description of the activities, paid positions, and percentage of the operating costs that are provided by state funds.
Angie Nixon, a Democratic legislator from Jacksonville, criticized the Governor’s demands on Twitter by stating “in the so-called free state of Florida under Gov. DeSantis, the freedom to run DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) programs at public colleges and universities appears next on the radar for destruction. Nothing is safe and it’s sickening.”
Governor DeSantis has already taken on the teaching of critical race theory in the state’s schools. In April 2022, he signed the Freedom From Indoctrination Act – also referred to as the Stop Woke Act – that prohibited the teaching of critical race theory at all levels of public education in the state.
“We must ensure school systems are responsive to parents and to students, not partisan interest groups, and we must ensure that our institutions of higher learning are focused on academic excellence and the pursuit of truth, not the imposition of trendy ideology,” Governor DeSantis said at his second inauguration. Earlier in his victory speech on election night, he stated that “we fight ‘the woke’ in the Legislature. We fight ‘the woke’ in the schools. We fight ‘the woke’ in the corporation, and we will never ever surrender to the woke mob – Florida is where woke goes to die!”
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