African American studies faculty and staff highlights February 2025
Faculty members in Wayne State University’s Department of African American Studies are making strides in research, activism and public engagement, solidifying the department’s role as a hub for scholarship and social change. From exploring the legacy of Black anti-war activism to shaping discussions on global power dynamics, these scholars are influencing academic and public discourse on issues of race, history and justice.
Here are some recent highlights and updates from the department.
David Goldberg
David is convening a campus community committee to reflect on 50 years since the end of the Vietnam War. The committee will examine the role that Wayne State students, faculty and the people of Detroit can play in programmatic efforts to examine the underappreciated roles that Black activists—including many with Detroit connections—played in anti-war activism.
Rhonda Y. Williams
Rhonda will deliver a keynote (performance lecture) titled, "What Does a Well Society Look Like?," at Oakland University in spring 2025. A book Dr. Williams helped co-edit, "Black Urban History at the Crossroads" (U. Pittsburgh Press) was published in 2024. She is a co-contributor to the volume's intro, edited part III and wrote the part III Intro.
Charisse Burden-Stelly
Charisse is launching season two of "Life, Study, Revolution," her podcast about the realities of life, the importance of study and the politics of revolution with co-host and co-creator Dr. Layla Brown. She recently presented her new book, "Black Scare/Red Scare: Theorizing Capitalist Racism in the United States" (University of Chicago Press, 2023), at the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) in Pittsburgh, PA. "Black Scare/Red Scare" illuminates the anticommunist nature of the US and its governance but also shines a light on a misunderstood tradition of struggle for Black liberation.
Anwar Uhuru
Anwar's 2022 article ""Imbedded" Belonging and Black Being: A Critical Analysis of Blackness in Kendrick Lamar’s 2016 Grammy Awards Performance," Journal of Hip Hop Studies: Vol. 9: Iss. 1, Article 4. brings together, Hip Hop studies, Africana philosophy and performance theory to argue that the space of performativity moves beyond the notion of blackness as void and does not solely focus on the constraints of corporeal blackness. Instead, the Black body embeds the space it occupies. In doing so, it disrupts and reconfigures space, time and narratives of belonging.
Kefentse Chike
Kefentse was nominated to the City of Detroit Reparations Task Force. The task force will recommend economic development programs to address historical discrimination against Detroit’s Black communities.
Laval Duncan
Laval is the longest-tenured person in the department. He graduated from Harvard in the early 70s and started at WSU shortly after. He has spent his career studying literature produced by Detroiters and has conducted several critically important oral history projects, including course-based projects on the Brewster Oldyimers, the Detroit Westsiders and with Black radical autoworkers that included numerous conversations with and dialogue between Quill Pettway, David Moore and General Baker.
Daphne W. Ntiri
Daphne's paper, "Adult Literacy and the hidden hand of politics: A comparative look at Namibia in Southern Africa and the United States" (with emphasis on Detroit, Michigan and Gary, Indiana) was accepted for presentation at the International Society for Comparative Adult Education (ISCAE), University of Florence, Italy in cooperation with the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame (IACEHOF), Nov. 8-10, 2024.
Lisa Ze Winters
Lisa has devoted much time in recent years to institution building at Wayne State in addition to her writing and research. She was named associate chair of the Department of English and along with Charisse Burden-Stelly serves as co-chair of the WSU-Mellon Black Studies Faculty Enhancement Initiative Steering Committee.
Thiago Nascimento Krause
Thiago delivered a paper on the European market for enslaved-produced sugar and tobacco at the Early Caribbean Conference, held at the UCLA Center for 17th- and 18th-Century Studies on Oct. 16, 2024. In February, Krause conducted research at the State Public Archive in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, where he spent two weeks examining colonial records.
Robyn Spencer-Antoine
Robyn continues to co-host "Conversations in Black Freedom Studies" – a popular education series showcasing newly published books about the Black Freedom movement in the US. Sponsored by the Schomburg Library.
Lisa Doris Alexander
Lisa co-authored an article in the "Sociology of Sport Journal" entitled "Struggle in the Bubble: The National Basketball Association’s Response to Player Activism in the 2020 Bubble," published Oct. 11, 2023. Currently, she serves as the film, media, museum reviews editor for the "Journal of Sports History."
Melba Joyce Boyd
Melba spoke at the "Frontline Prophet: James Baldwin" exhibit opening at the American University in Paris. Photo of Dr. Boyd with artist Sabrina Nelson at James Baldwin Centennial Celebration in Paris.
Navid Farnia
Navid has a new article in Review of African Political Economy. "Africa, Multipolarity and the Collapsing White World Order" ROAPE Jul. 24, 2024. Dr Farnia’s article delves into the ongoing struggle for national liberation on the African continent in the context of deepening relations with China and the challenges posed to the Western-dominated world order by multipolarity.
Valerie Sweeney Prince
Valerie published two new books in 2024. "Kin" published by Wayne State University Press is described as a dynamic kaleidoscope of stories that honor the work of women. Wayne State theater students directed and produced a staged reading of Kin on Nov. 23. "Crazy as Hell: The Best Little Guide to Black History," co-authored with Bowie State University professor Hose S. Glover III, is an innovative remix of African American history that "offers brief breakdowns of one hundred influential, archetypal and infamous figures, building a new framework that emphasizes their humanity."
As Wayne State’s African American Studies faculty continue to break new ground in research, mentorship and activism, their work underscores the department’s mission to connect scholarship with social transformation, both locally and globally.