Art & Culture | Department of African American Studies

Museums Are Filled With Stolen African Art. Is It Time To Return It?

Friday, Sep 25, 2020

NPR

The violent theft of thousands of works of African art by mostly-Western powers is well-documented—but the pieces remain in the collections of Western museums. Is it time to return Africa's looted art? And how should that process play out?
[Opinion] On-Screen and Off, Chadwick Boseman Was a Hero

Wednesday, Sep 30, 2020

Julia Chaffers

Boseman's influence extended beyond the industry. Through all of his movies he inspired moviegoers around the world, challenging preconceived ideas about who we could be. The countless stories of Black children elated by seeing Black Panther on screen reflect the power and potential of cinema. Boseman represented that power and that potential.
Seeing Empire

Friday, Sep 4, 2020

Anna Arabindan-Kesson, Panorama

We are living with the current forms of the lasting regime of American imperialism on which this nation was founded. Understanding and teaching this mitigates against narratives of US exceptionalism that declare America is not imperialist and that are therefore useless for challenging or imagining alternatives to our present. Untangling art history’s involvement in the project of nation building addresses the past to imagine what could have been, in order to sustain what can be.
Chika Okeke-Agulu Deutsche Welle 2018 Interview

Friday, Jul 10, 2020

Imo Dara

In a 2018 interview, Professor Chika Okeke-Agulu discusses France's promise of restitution of cultural works to Africa.

[Originally published on June 11, 2020 via Imo Dara]
African American Prints

Friday, May 29, 2020

Princeton University Art Museum

Spanning over 100 years, this selection of prints demonstrates not only the wide range of traditional and experimental techniques but also the pervasive current of iconic and narrative impulses that characterize the graphic work of African American artists from Henry Ossawa Tanner to Martin Puryear.
Corona Notebooks: Anna Arabindan-Kesson, Sri Lanka, Australia, and USA

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Anna Arabindan-Kesson, Warscapes

"Cooking's become a way for me to slow down." Anna Arabindan-Kesson prepares recipes from her childhood with her two young sons during this lockdown. She remembers her childhood in Sri Lanka and Australia, and reflects on questions of memory and heritage through physical practices.
Defiance and Pleasure in Unstable Times

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Twelve Gates Arts

Anna Arabindan-Kesson and Aisha Khan discuss the new series "Undisciplined Pleasures, Vigilant Defiance" with artist Sarah Khan.

[Originally published on April 9, 2020 via Twelve Gates Arts]
Chika Okeke-Agulu is Named 2020 Kirk Varnedoe Visiting Professor at the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU

Wednesday, Feb 5, 2020

New York University

The Institute of Fine Arts is delighted to welcome Chika Okeke-Agulu as the Kirk Varnedoe Visiting Professor for the spring 2020 semester.
Princeton University is hanging a series of portraits that honor its blue-collar workers

Tuesday, Jan 21, 2020

CNN

Mario Moore, the artist behind the paintings, views his artwork as more than just decoration. By showcasing the university's workers, he wants to pay tribute to them and "put them in positions of power," he told CNN.
How Christian Scott Atunde Adjuah Is Revolutionizing The Genre Of Jazz

Monday, Oct 21, 2019

Heath Pearson

Recent Certificate recipient, Heath Pearson, Ph.D. sits down with American Jazz Trumpeter, Christian Scott, to discuss his inspirations, his creative process, and the importance of musically challenging himself.