Socialism and Democracy welcomes interested contributors to submit papers for a special issue devoted to the topic of “What Is African American Studies, Its Focus and Future?”
In the past forty years, African American Studies, as an academic undertaking, has survived numerous challenges and subsequently has emerged as pivotal in many institutions of higher education. Furthermore, some advocates of African American Studies argue for the establishment of practical links with the Black community and hence the need to extend its work outside of the confines of academia. These academic and practical issues undoubtedly generate a host of philosophical questions relevant to the institutionalization of African American Studies and its future development.
Philosophical questions relating to the substance and scope, methods and theories as well as curriculum and pedagogy of African American Studies are some of the topics we seek to address in this special issue of Socialism and Democracy. Recent conferences and publications have engaged some of these questions -- e.g., Philosophy Born of Struggle Conference What Is Black Studies? [November 2008]; Temple University Conference Black Studies Forty Years Later, 1969-2009 [May 2009]; and Journal of Black Studies special issue Defining Ourselves: One Name, One Discipline?, Vol. 40, No. 1 [September 2009]. Socialism and Democracy enters this dialogue with a specific focus on the role of historical materialism as a significant paradigm for African American Studies. This focus includes critical analyses of Marxism in relation to other dominant paradigms within this area of inquiry, e.g., Afrocentricity, postmodernism, black feminism, etc. Papers focused on these topics and related questions are most welcomed. Accepted submissions will complement a selection of papers from the aforementioned conferences which have been solicited for this special issue. Book reviews of recently published [2005-2010] works in, or relevant to, African American Studies which engage issues of class struggle and political radicalism are also welcomed.
Socialism and Democracy is published by Routledge/Taylor and Francis and distributed internationally. For additional general information about the journal please visit the website www.sdonline.org where online versions of previous issues are available. The publication date for this special issue is March 2011 and the final copy goes to press in November 2010. Contributors should send a one page proposal no later than March 15th and a polished first draft no later than May 15th. Please send proposal and draft via email as a Microsoft Word attachment to both Guest Editors, John H. McClendon III at Dr.J at att.net and Yusuf Nuruddin at yusufnuruddin at yahoo.com . Inquiries may also be sent to these email addresses.