Student Voices in Africana Studies 2008

Dear Readers:

This year of Student Voices showcases the critical essays and personal reflections of undergraduate students in Africana studies courses, ranging from Introduction to Africana Studies to Civil War to Katrina: Reconstructing New Orleans and Black, White, and Read All Over: the American Slave Narrative Reconsidered. Their papers reflect the diverse pedagogical interests and approaches that comprise the interdisciplinarity of the Center for Africana Studies. Three students in Introduction to Africana Studies, Elizabeth Fuller, Andrea Sherman, and Val Washington look closely at the meaning of Afrocentric education and its benefits and limitations to diverse populations of students. Dan Menaged, a senior in Civil War to Katrina: Reconstructing New Orleans, explores the birth of Jazz and the factors the contributed to its emergence in New Orleans. While he explores the historical trends that give rise to this musical form, James Etheridge and Ami Kumordzie, both students in Black, White, and Read All Over: the American Slave Narrative Reconsidered, examine the literary continuities that exist between African-American and white American literature. Each of these essays insightfully offers an exploration into the issues and concerns of Africana Studies. I am certain that you will enjoy reading them. Join us as we discuss.

Tara Bynum, Editor
Ph.D. Candidate
Department of English

Download Essays:

(Word documents)

Liberty and Justice for All?
By Ami Kumordzie

The Birth of Jazz
By Dan Menaged

The impact of Frederick Douglass’ The Heroic Slave on Herman Melville’s Benito Cereno
By James Etheridge

Race and Education in the United States
By Elizabeth Fuller

The Voices of African American Women Must Be Part of a Relevant Africana Education
By Andrea Sherman

A Reaction to Black Studies: Avoiding Another Mis-Education
By Val Washington