Dude, Where's My Black Studies Department?: The Disappearance of Black Americans from Our Universities (Terra Nova) [Paperback]

Cecil Brown (Author)

Book Description

Series: Terra Nova | Publication Date: May 15, 2007

***WINNER, 2008 PEN Oakland - Josephine Miles National Literary Award

Blacks have been vanishing from college campuses in the United States and reappearing in prisons, videos, and movies. Cecil Brown tackles this unwitting "disappearing act" head on, paying special attention to the situation at UC Berkeley and the University of California system generally. Brown contends that educators have ignored the importance of the oral tradition in African American upbringing, an oversight mirrored by the media. When these students take exams, their abilities are not tested. Further, university officials, administrators, professors, and students are ignoring the phenomenon of the disappearing black student – in both their admissions and hiring policies. With black studies departments shifting the focus from African American and black community interests to black immigrant issues, says Brown, the situation is becoming dire. Dude, Where’s My Black Studies Department? offers both a scorching critique and a plan for rethinking and reform of a crucial but largely unacknowledged problem in contemporary society.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“One of the most significant contributions of Dude, Where’s My Black Studies Department? is what Brown teaches us about the African-American oral tradition, namely, about how its ‘difference’ from white American culture poses a constant challenge, and threat, to the ideal of integration in the classroom and on campus.”
—Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor at Harvard University, editor-in-chief at the Oxford African American Studies Center

"Cecil Brown is one of the most gifted writers and brilliant intellectuals of his generation. His provocative analyses of contemporary black and American culture brims with insight. Unafraid to be controversial or to go against the grain, Brown never fails to make us think."
—Michael Eric Dyson, Avalon Foundation Professor in the Humanities at the University of Pennsylvania, and author of Debating Race

“Some of the severest criticisms of African-American culture are being issued on op-ed pages and in books written by Caribbean-Americans. Are some Caribbean-Americans being used as pawns in an attack on African-Americans? Have some of them been awarded honorary "white" status as a reward? How does this conflict play out in academia? Writer Cecil Brown is one of the few African-American public intellectuals with the nerve to tackle this subject and he does so with his usual wit, savvy, and brilliance.”
—Ishmael Reed, author of Mumbo Jumbo and Airing Dirty Laundry

About the Author

Cecil Brown holds a PhD in African-American Literature, Folklore, and Theory of Narrative from the University of California, Berkeley. He has published a number of novels, short stories, screenplays, and journal articles relating to African-American literature and life, and has taught classes in literature and popular culture at UC Berkeley, the University of San Francisco, and other universities throughout California.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: North Atlantic Books (May 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556435738
• ISBN-13: 978-1556435737
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 0.5 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #946,071 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars At last, someone's saying it, July 29, 2007

By 

Jed S. Bickman - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dude, Where's My Black Studies Department?: The Disappearance of Black Americans from Our Universities (Terra Nova) (Paperback)

This is an important book because it critiques a glaring problem in higher education in general, and specifically in the massive University of California system. Ever since proposition 209 was passed in California, effectively outlawing affirmative action, the black student population in the UC system has dropped to absurdly small numbers. In schools like UC Berkeley, which were once centers of the Black and Civil Rights movements, Blacks are now almost invisible outside of a few courageous and well-executed protests. Along with the drop in the student population comes a hollowing-out of Black Studies departments. These departments were formed in the '60's with a mission of community outreach and action. The idea was to have at least one department in the academy that reflected and worked with the communities that the universities were geographically close to, instead of keeping the Ivory Tower locked and isolated. But since then, Black Studies departments have lost that mission; they have become much more focused on the global African Diaspora than on African Americans. Although the African Diaspora is certainly worth studying, it should not overshadow the importance of African Americans in our own society and culture. Brown discusses the cultural import of Hip-Hop and its impact on the academy.

Cecil Brown discusses all this with the voice of experience: he has been in and out of the UC system for much of his life, and experienced shocking racism and exclusion from the system.

This is a book that the right people need to read. Anybody who is in higher education (especially administrators) should spend time with this book, and think about these issues. In a time when racial diversity has become a catch-phrase, what are we doing to create a truly more equitable society?

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars fun gossip but no good for anything else, June 5, 2010

By 

M. M. Wright "mimawright" (chicago, il, usa) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dude, Where's My Black Studies Department?: The Disappearance of Black Americans from Our Universities (Terra Nova) (Paperback)

Far too reliant on personal, anecdotal evidence--often gets facts such as names, dates, places and definitions wrong. Fun if you want to read what pisses Brown off; other than that, worse than useless because it is so opinionated.