General Resources

African and African-American Studies Research Center
The African and African-American Studies Research Center (AAASRC) is an independent research unit at UC San Diego with a rich, twenty-year history. Several European and African institutions have established ongoing exchange relationships with the Center most notably, the Centre d’Étude d’Afrique Noire (CÉAN) at the Universityé de Bordeaux IV, the African Studies Research Center (ARC) at the University of Leuven in Belgium, and the National University of Côte d’Ivoire. The African and African-American Studies Research Center is an oasis and an international crossroads for students, faculty, and community members interested in Africa, African-American, and multicultural research issues and teaching at UC San Diego.  We look forward to the upcoming year with enthusiasm and energy.

Carter G. Woodson Institute
The Institute was established in 1981 in response to student and faculty demands for a more coherent African-American and African Studies program and a more aggressive program of minority recruitment at Virginia University.

Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute
The Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute is the nations foremost research organization focusing on the educational status of African Americans of all ages from preschool through adulthood. The Institute is compelled to understand and expand the multiple pathways leading to educational attainment.

UCLA Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies
The Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies, founded in 1969 as the Center for African American Studies (CAAS), is the result of the struggle by black students at UCLA to have their history and culture recognized and studied. The Bunche Center was established as an Organized Research Unit (ORU), with the mission to develop and strengthen African American Studies through five primary organizational branches: research, academic programs, library and media center, special projects, and publications.

W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research
Named after the first African American to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard University (1895), the idea for the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research was proposed in the Report of the Faculty Committee on African and Afro-American Studies dated 20 January 1969. In May of 1975 in its progress report to President Derek C. Book, the Institute's Advisory Board announced the establishment of four fellowships for the 1975-1976 academic year. The fellowships were intended to "facilitate the writing of doctoral dissertations in areas related to Afro-American studies." As such, the Du Bois Institute is the nation's oldest research center dedicated to the study of the history, culture, and social institutions of Africans and African Americans.

African American Review

H-Slavery Discussion Network

Journal of African American History

Journal of Black Studies

National Academies of Science Engineering and Medicine

Souls: A Critical Journey of Black Politics, Culture and Society

UC San Diego's Library is a great place to start. It offers a plethora of library collections and databases that may aid your research. These resources can be accessed on and off campus using UCSD's VPN. 

See the African Studies subject homepage.

See the African American Studies subject homepage.

Book a Consultation here with our Library Liaison!

Advancing Faculty Diversity Cluster Hire Initiative: Strengthening STEM Research and Teaching for the Black/African American Diaspora

UC San Diego forged a new paradigm for engagement and collaboration between STEM/Public Health/Health Sciences and the Social Sciences/Arts & Humanities. The Black Diaspora and African American Studies Major (BDAAS) and the African American Studies Minor (AASM) programs partnered with eight different UC San Diego campus units to hire thirteen brilliant scientists who were eager to work within, outside, and across disciplinary boundaries to explore the relationships between Black and African American experiences and issues in the biological and physical sciences, engineering, medicine, health, and the environment.

The participating units included:

• Division of Physical Sciences

• Division of Biological Sciences

• Jacobs School of Engineering

• Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

• Scripps Institution of Oceanography

• Wertheim School of Public Health

• Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute

• UC San Diego School of Medicine

This initiative was part of the UC San Diego Advancing Faculty Diversity (AFD) Cluster Hire, an inventive program that extended beyond simply hiring new faculty. It aimed to build and strengthen Black professional communities and intellectual spaces through innovative campus programming, faculty collaboration, and instructional and mentorship support. The core goals of the AFD Cluster Hire were to:

• Cultivate Black intellectual spaces on campus

• Model excellence and increase support for Black undergraduate and graduate students

• Utilize interdisciplinary collaborations to address issues of race and racism

• Integrate knowledge about race and racism within all campus divisions

AFD faculty conducted research alongside nationally and internationally renowned and award-winning faculty, research centers, departments, and divisions across UC San Diego.

While AFD faculty were affiliated with AASM and BDAAS, they did not assume additional teaching or service requirements beyond their home departments. Courses designed and taught in AASM/BDAAS fulfilled departmental teaching assignments and/or counted toward expected leadership in service activities focused on underrepresented racial minority students.

Opportunities offered to AFD Cluster Hire faculty included:

• Engaging with Black faculty across multiple professional communities for networking and support

• Collaborating across disciplines to address issues of race, equity, and access in Black communities, both in the U.S. and globally

• Designing and teaching courses or leading programs and internships that connect STEM, Health Sciences, Public Health, Earth and Sea, and Black Diaspora and African American experiences

• Automatic admittance to the prestigious National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity Faculty Success Program

• Working with high-achieving students in the AASM and BDAAS programs

• Supporting graduate students examining intersections of Blackness and STEM

We sought candidates whose diverse experiences informed their understanding of traditionally underrepresented racial minority communities. Strong applicants demonstrated research agendas connected to race/ethnicity, a commitment to mentoring and advancing underrepresented students, and a record of service aligned with diversity, equity, and inclusion.

We are no longer accepting applicants for this initiative.

In the News

October 7, 2020 - "UC San Diego Receives Two Grants to Improve Faculty Diversity"

October 3, 2020 - "UC San Diego Hiring Up to 12 Faculty Members to Advance Diversity"

October 1, 2020 - "Grants Totaling $700K Fund Two Major Projects Aimed at Advancing Faculty Diversity"