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Lamentations for Sudan
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
    Philadelphia Inquirer

    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
    Professors speaking to a conference

    Penn professors Kathleen Brown and Dorothy Roberts, with CUNY professor Deirdre Cooper Owens, spoke to a room packed with students, experts, and community members in the Class of 1978 Orrery Pavilion in the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center. 

    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.

    Gwyneth K. Shaw

    Seeing, hearing, and encountering post-apartheid South Africa
    Group of students and professor gathered at monument with mountain in back.

    The Penn Global Seminar course Seeing, Hearing, and Encountering South Africa, taught by Professor of Music Carol Muller, took 16 students on two weeks of travel throughout that nation, including Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Pretoria. 

    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
    The Independent

    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.”

    Documenting refugees
    Six people sitting on a stage during discussion.

    A documentary film by Penn junior Sonari Chidi,“Shattering Refuge,” premiered at Penn, followed by a panel discussion at Perry World House on the depiction of refugees and immigrants in the media. From right, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, Michel Gabaudan, Chidi, Sozi Tulante, Fatemeh Shams, and Emma Restrepo. 

    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’
    Kyle Oden

    (Photo courtesy: School of Arts and Sciences)

    ‘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.

    Penn Today Staff

    Meeting of minds
    Camille_Z_Charles

    Camille Z. Charles, the Walter H. and Leonore C. Annenberg Professor in the Social Sciences, a professor of sociology, Africana studies, and education, and the director of the Center for Africana Studies.

    Meeting of minds

    With the Penn Alumni Reading Club, the Center for Africana Studies delivers intellectual engagement directly to alumni—and the public.

    Penn Today Staff

    The new canon: What’s the most influential book of the past 20 years?
    Chronicle of Higher Education

    The new canon: What’s the most influential book of the past 20 years?

    On a list of most influential books, PIK Professor Dorothy Roberts’ Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty was described as an “interdisciplinary tour de force” that contains “more than a few lessons for our current moment.”

    The Healing Word
    Deborah Thomas in front of bookcase

    nocred

    The Healing Word

    Deborah Thomas embeds herself in communities stricken by violence to chronicle the humanity revealed during the aftermath.

    Blake Cole