Africana Studies | Penn Today

Student standing next to signs for 2019 and 2020

‘School year’s resolutions’

Here, a collection of Penn faculty and students share some of their goals for the 2019-20 academic year, plus a quote that's keeping them motivated.

Amy Gutmann and Toni Morrison seated on stage with flags behind them

Penn remembers and celebrates Toni Morrison

The Penn community recalls the life and legacy of renowned author and teacher Toni Morrison, H‘88.

Toni Morrison, renowned writer, Nobel laureate and Princeton University professor, dies at 88

Herman Beavers of the School of Arts and Sciences memorializes the late Toni Morrison. “She taught us how not to be guided by the white gaze. She made it okay for us to really think about how we see the world and really be central in it,” Beavers said. “She showed us that we didn’t need white people to explain what our lives meant or even acknowledge it. We could do it ourselves.”

Dr. Ali Ali-Dinar of the Department of Africana Studies sits at a table in his office.

Q&A

Lamentations for Sudan

Sudanese scholar Ali Ali-Dinar, a senior lecturer in the Department of Africana Studies, discusses the ongoing uprising in the East African country and the Sudan massacre.

What you need to know about reparations after the first congressional hearing convened on the topic in more than a decade

Mary Frances Berry of the School of Arts and Sciences said the contemporary descendants of the enslaved Africans who demanded, but did not receive, pensions at the turn of the 20th century should be compensated today. “We have a group of people who we can identify, the descendants of those who argued for reparations, who sent stuff to Congress while they were being under surveillance and whose leaders were put in prison.”

Research, context, and community merge at Penn and Slavery Symposium

Students, faculty, and community members gathered to talk about the University’s connections to slavery.

Group of students and professor gathered at monument with mountain in back.

Seeing, hearing, and encountering post-apartheid South Africa

A Penn Global Seminar course taught by Carol Muller took the 16 undergraduates to South Africa to explore that nation's history and post-apartheid present day through music and culture. The students demonstrated the impact of the journey through final projects including a painting, a written paper, a poem, a film, a photo essay, a musical score—even a set of political cartoons.

Civil rights activist Mary Frances Berry visits Stark County

Mary Frances Berry of the School of Arts and Sciences paid a visit to Kent State University’s Stark campus and other schools in the area in honor of Black History Month. She urged students aspiring to change society to keep up the good fight. “Movements do work,” she said. “The answer to every social problem, every injustice, every grievance is to organize.”

Six people sitting on a stage during discussion.

Documenting refugees

A documentary film by Penn junior Sonari Chidi and a panel discussion at Perry World House focused on the depiction of refugees and immigrants in the media.

‘A Home for the Holidays’

On Dec. 31, Kyle Oden, a junior at Penn from Inglewood, Calif., and his family will be featured as part of a nationally televised holiday special: “A Home for the Holidays—the 20th Anniversary” celebrating families whose lives have been changed by adoptions.

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