The Black Diaspora
and African American Intellectual History
June 27–28, 2019, Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz, Germany
Workshop (Convener: Prof. Axel R. Schäfer)
The efforts to internationalize American history in recent decades, historian Robin D.G. Kelley writes, owe much to the “diasporic vision or sensibility, shaped by antiracist and anti-imperialist politics…deeply ensconced in black intellectual and historical tradition.” This workshop explores the ways in which African American thought and culture have pioneered and continue to shape the transnational project.
This applies in particular to research on the relationship between slavery and global capitalism, the establishment of international social movement ties, the concept of diaspora, and the recovery of subaltern voices and visions.
The workshop is part of an M.A. course on “Transnational Approaches to American Studies: The Black Diaspora and African American History”, which introduces students to the methods and approaches of transnational research pursued at the Obama Institute to enable them to develop self-directed research projects. The workshop will give students an opportunity to engage with current scholarship on the topic and to discuss their research topics with scholars who are experts in the field.
The social media hashtag for this conference is: #blackdiaspora19
IIn cooperation with: 
