The John L. Warfield Center for African and African American Studies
Dr. John L. Warfield served as Director of CAAAS from 1973 to 1986 before retiring in 1999. In acknowledgment of his visionary leadership, activist scholarship, and passionate teaching, The University of Texas Board of Regents has approved the renaming of CAAAS to The John L. Warfield Center for African and African American Studies, effective May 2008.
Look for dedication events this fall to mark this naming.Every month is
Black History Month
at the
Center for African and African American Studies
John L. Warfield Center for African & African American Studies
Since its inception at the University of Texas at Austin in 1969, the John L. Warfield Center for African & African American Studies (until May 2008 formerly known as the Center for African and African American Studies) has been a focal point for campus and community life around the cultural, sociopolitical, economic, and historical experiences of African and their descendants.
In collaboration with other University departments, centers, and schools, the Center seeks to establish an activist intellectual community that considers the processes of race, gender, culture, and power operating within and upon Black communities.
Faculty and students affiliated with the Center engage in research and coursework in four principal areas: African and Africans, The African Diaspora, Blacks in the U.S., and Expressive Culture. Operating at the flagship institution of higher education in the capital of Texas, the Center brings together a wealth of graduate and undergraduate course offerings, cultural and intellectual programming, library resources, research fellowships, and conferences to create a strong foundation in African and African American Studies.
Current News
The John L. Warfield Center for African and African American Studies welcomes Joy James as Visiting Professor for the 2008-2009 academic year
Professor James is the John B. and John T. McCoy Presidential Professor of the Humanities and College Professor in Political Science at Williams College
One of this nation's leading black feminist scholars and renowned for her work on race and incarceration she is the author of Shadowboxing: Representations of Black Feminist Politics, Transcending the Talented Tenth: Black Leaders and American Intellectuals, Resisting State Violence: Radicalism, Gender and Race in U.S. Culture, and the forthcoming Memory, Shame and Rage: The Central Park Case, 1989-2002. Her edited volumes on incarceration include: Imprisoned Intellectuals, The New Abolitionists, and Warfare in the American Homeland.
Professor Toyin Falola receives Quintessence Award from African Writers Endowment, Inc. and Proclamation from New Jersey governor
Prof. Falola's Quintessence Award from the AWE
On April 5, 2008, History Professor Toyin Falola was awarded the Quintessence Award from the African Writers Endowment, Inc. (AWE) for his literary achievements and leadership role world wide.
Emerging Scholars: The Class of 2008 featuring Dr. Kevin Cokley
Publishing, Rather Than Perishing
Dr. Kevin Cokley effortlessly excelled as a high school student in his small rural town of Pilot Mountain, N.C. When he arrived at Wake Forest University, however, he struggled in the classroom for the first time in his life.
Wolé Sóyínká, Nigerian Writer and Critic
Nigerian Writer and Nobel Laureate Wolé Sóyínká Discusses Sudan Crisis
Wole Soyinka, Nobel laureate, Nigerian playwright, poet and political activist, will discuss the crisis in Darfur, Sudan at The University of Texas at Austin, March 2-3. Soyinka is the first African to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature (1986)
