Name Change for Black Studies Department

By: Aisha Al-Muslim

Posted: 5/1/06

The Black Movement and Civil Rights Movement days of the 1960's are now in the past, but questioning the meaning of blackness never seemed to stop. Prompted by the identity issues concerning students of African descent, the Black Studies department officially became the African and African American Studies department on March 1.

The decision was finalized after the department, the Lehman FBNE Committee and the CUNY Board of Trustees approved the change. Some potential department names suggested were African, African American and Caribbean Studies department or Africana Studies, but the department did not agree on those since one was too lengthy and the other would be mistaken by students as just African Studies. Along with the name change, the department will change its course acronym from BLS to AAS.

James Jervis, Professor and Chairman of the department, explains that when the Black Studies department was established in 1970, people identified themselves as Blacks and they wanted to reflect the society in which the department was surrounded by. Now the name change of the department is trying to do just that. "[The department name change] reflects the changing times," Professor Jervis said. "At the time when the Black Studies department was created, that was a time of great consciousness of the Black identity." Professor Jervis believes that this new title for the department illustrates our surroundings. He feels that the term "Black Studies" excluded those of African descent, who did not identify themselves as Black. "As we move toward the twenty-first century, here and elsewhere, we begin to move away from the emphasis of black," Professor Jervis said. "That battle is almost behind us. We now are in the second battle that is to identify with a much more global setting, going back to the roots of Africa."

Junior Mosunmola Modupe is from Nigeria and a minor in Black Studies, and she agrees with Jervis. She feels that the department had a good reason for changing the name. "I don't think it has to do with identity, because people who say they are African Americans are still black because they are black in complexion," Modupe said. "When people say I am Black or African American you are still talking about the same thing because your ancestors were originally from Africa."

African and African American Studies Professor Bertrade Ngo-Ngijol Banoum agrees with the department's decision to change the name from Black Studies because she feels the title gives the color too much emphasis. "It's time to make the move, otherwise we tend to focus so much on the color and that color is metaphorical, is not black," she said.

Professor Jervis explains that other high education institutions like Harvard, Princeton and Stanford have adopted the name African and African American Studies in their universities. He feels that Lehman should also follow this pattern that would focus more on African Studies. "We felt that in the interest of the society and the country that we need to spend more attention to what is going on in Africa and putting the name 'African and African Studies' is the reason which is to give Africa more attention from an academic perspective."

Still, some students believe this new department name only involves African societies. Senior Sabrina Germain feels that they should have kept the name 'Black Studies'
because it is more inclusive. "I do not think it should only be focused on African societies," Germain said. "I think it should be based on all black people."

But Junior Leon Wilson, who is from Jamaican parents, believes that most people do not identify themselves as Black. He welcomes this new departmental title because it focuses on the African ancestry. "I feel more 'African or African American Studies' than I do 'Black Studies, '" Wilson said. "I think the change is hot." Wilson worries that Caribbean and Latino students will feel that the new name does not pertain to them. "It might seem that it excludes them, but really it doesn't because they're really African if you ask me," Wilson said.

Although Wilson feels that way, Professor Jervis wants students to become scholars by looking to the Black experience in a global setting. "We have to begin to see the similarities of the experience and the one thing that ties us together is that common heritage, which is slavery and our African ancestry," Professor Jervis said. "If you are from the Caribbean or if you're from Brazil, you have a little different experience, but overall it came from the same roots."