NC State to Host Black Research Symposium

Black researcher highlighting article

“Marginality much more than a site of deprivation. In fact I was saying just the opposite, that it is also the site of radical possibility, a space of resistance.”

– bell hooks / Marginality As a Site of Resistance

The African American Cultural Center, Africana Studies and our partners at NC State Libraries invite the campus and surrounding community to our first annual Black Research Symposium. This year marks the 30th anniversary celebration of the African American Cultural Center, and of Black communities, creating a home at NC State in a dedicated physical space.  In honor of this legacy, we center the theme “Creating Home: Afro-Diasporic Worldbuilding and a Sustainable Futurity.”  More than ever before, African-diasporic communities are grappling with the question and practice of creating “Home” — whether that home is physical, epistemological, cultural, spiritual or virtual. 

The Black Research Symposium will feature cutting-edge research, creative works, community-based projects and industry initiatives from the NC State campus and surrounding community.  The symposium is a three-day event that will take place April  8–10, 2022, with both virtual and face-to-face offerings. We invite students, scholars, faculty, social justice activists, artists, creators, storytellers, entrepreneurs and community members to attend and submit proposals. Interdisciplinary and multimodal research, community-based projects and cultural work are encouraged in a variety of formats, which include but are not limited to, presentations, digital posters, workshops, panels, teach-ins, community discussions, photo essays, music demos, cyphers, art displays, multimedia presentations, performance, embodied movement, and more. 

Research Tracks

Within our overarching theme, proposals could reflect a variety of topic areas.

Research tracks will include the following:

  • Track One: Climate justice (as it intersects with international relations, war and imperialism, racial equity and social determinants of health); food justice; farming; migration/immigration and displacement; land rights; ecofeminism; ecowomanism; 
  • Track Two: Economic displacement and economic justice; gender and sexuality; religion and spirituality; community and grassroots organizing, coalition-building; community-campus partnerships; critical perspectives on liberation, abolitionism and applications of critical theory in the community.
  • Track Three: Arts and activism; hip-hop community-based arts groups; Afro-diasporic arts-based traditions; fine arts; performing arts; intersection of arts, technology and entrepreneurship; gaming; digital arts; animation; Black creatives; creative economy; and arts-based community action.

Stay tuned for more information and visit go.ncsu.edu/brs2022 for details.

Black Research Symposium

  • Friday, Apr. 8 – Sunday, Apr. 10, 2022
  • 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.
  • African American Cultural Center, Hill Library and virtual

For more information or questions, please contact Andaiye Qaasim, assistant director of the African American Cultural Center, at aaqaasim@ncsu.edu.