Rebuilding Af-Am Studies

The departure of prominent professors K. Anthony Appiah and Cornel R. West ’74 last spring left the Afro-American studies department facing a difficult transition this year. Fortunately, the University has taken substantive steps to rebuild the department—but more work remains to be done.

The addition of three new professors—Professor of Government and Afro-American Studies Michael C. Dawson, Assistant Professor of English and Afro-American Studies Glenda Carpio, and most recently Evelynn Hammonds—is a positive move. It is heartening to see that the University moved quickly to replenish the intellectual capital that was diminished when Appiah and West decamped to Princeton.

Professor Hammonds puts Harvard on the cutting edge in the combined study of race and science, a subject that has received too little attention in the past. She is the leading scholar in the world on race, gender and science, according to the department’s chair, Henry Louis “Skip” Gates Jr. Her work on the influence of technology and scientific development on the African-American experience in American culture will undoubtedly attract students wishing to explore this emerging area of study. And Hammonds has years of her prime academic work ahead of her, fitting with Summers’ expressed intention to tenure younger faculty.

It is also important to make progress towards diversifying the Faculty. In addition to Hammonds’ manifest qualifications, it is encouraging to see another black woman receive tenure; Hammonds is only the fourth black woman out of the 442 tenured Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) professors. The lack of women and minority Faculty has been a long-standing problem in FAS—which is particularly startling because, as Hammonds says, the presence of minority faculty supports and inspires minority students in their own work.

After the mess last semester when the confrontation between West and University President Lawrence H. Summers came to light, it is more important than ever for Summers to demonstrate the depth of the University’s commitment to a strong Afro-American studies department. For the last decade, Harvard has been recognized as the center of Afro-American studies; the events of the last year should not be allowed to erase that accomplishment, which was one of former University President Neil L. Rudenstine’s greatest legacies. Summers must make all efforts to ensure that no more of the University’s premier Afro-American scholars depart, and he should work with Gates to recruit promising professors in the field.

Rebuilding the Afro-American studies department will be a long process, and addressing the historic imbalance in the Faculty will take even longer. But Hammonds’ arrival is a solid start, and we look forward to similarly impressive appointments in the future.