Cluster focus

The African Diaspora and the Atlantic World Research Circle was originally funded as the African Diaspora Cluster. It explores the dispersion of African peoples from their original homelands, not only within the continent of Africa, but also worldwide — to places such as the United States, Europe, the Caribbean and South America. In the past, African Diaspora research emphasized mainly the study of Africans who dispersed from the continent, and very rarely looked at dispersal within the continent. This cluster bridges these two categories to provide a global context to the study of African peoples. It looks at different historical waves of dispersals and studies their catalytic factors and directions of movement. It explores how the connections between the African and African diasporic communities reflect the dynamics of their forced or voluntary migration; their interactions and relations with other societies and/or among each other; and the adaptation, reproduction and transformation of African cultural, social institutions and expressive forms. This interdisciplinary approach to studying the global African world is a logical extension of UW-Madison’s strong African-American Studies Department, African Languages and Literature Department, and African Studies Program, as well as a host of other international and cultural study programs. The cluster’s wide-ranging areas of study include geography, history, literature, medicine, art, music, dance, education, political science and sociology.

Cluster accomplishments

  • The cluster advances knowledge about the African Diaspora through the teaching of such interdisciplinary courses as “African Diaspora Peoples and History,” “Population Migration and Diffusion,” “Women of the African Diaspora,” “African Diaspora Cultural Studies,” “African Diaspora: Theory and Practice,” “Contemporary African and Caribbean Drama,” “African and African American Linkages,” and “African and African Diaspora Literature and Culture.”
  • The cluster’s landmark book, African Diaspora and the Disciplines, will be published in 2010 by Indiana University Press, one of the most prestigious publishers of African diaspora scholarship. The book, which is the first of its kind in African diaspora studies, is one of the cluster’s major contributions to the field in particular, and to the wider field of diaspora studies in general. The book grew out of an international conference (of the same name as the book) hosted by the cluster in 2006 and devoted to exploring how the interdisciplinary scholarship and research elements of the field can blossom in the contexts of generally rigid departmental structures of universities, and to facilitating interdisciplinary dialogues and debates on methods and practices of African diaspora studies. The book is edited by Tejumola Olaniyan and James H. Sweet.
  • The cluster just won a grant from the A.W. Mellon Foundation Interdisciplinary Workshops in the Humanities through the UW Center for the Humanities. The grant is for a seminar on “African Diaspora, Genetics and Genealogy” that the cluster will run during the 2009-10 academic year. The seminar will examine the impacts of recent advances in Genetics and DNA testing on understandings of the African diaspora. It will include readings, screening of documentaries, and invited lectures from prominent geneticists and anthropologists.
  • The cluster hosts regular discussion seminars and lectures where faculty, students and community members with an interest in African and African diaspora matters read and discuss canonical and cutting-edge research, listen to speakers, and watch and discuss films and plays.
  • The cluster has been involved in transnational collaborations through the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) of which UW is a member. The cluster joined the UW Postcolonial, Migration, and Transnational Studies research group to host a WUN-sponsored international conference on “Diaspora and Cosmopolitanism” in June 2008. The conference was a follow-up to an earlier one held at Leeds University, U.K., in June 2006.
  • A cluster faculty, Tejumola Olaniyan, is co-founder and co-coordinator of a new cluster, “Music, Race, and Empire,” just funded by the International Institute for a three-year cycle beginning from 2009-10 academic session.
  • The cluster also co-sponsors several community outreach events and major speakers on campus in partnership with departments and units.
  • The cluster has built strong partnerships with universities in Nigeria, and is communicating with possible partners in South Africa, Jamaica and Brazil.
  • The cluster has also worked closely with other clusters, research circles, departments and programs to co-sponsor campus and outreach events that appeal to diverse audiences.

Cluster structure

The African Diaspora and Atlantic Research Circle cluster has evolved into a place where scholars from different locations can exchange their views on African studies and create international linkages across the globe. The cluster faculty serve as the core of a larger Advisory Board, and work together with affiliated faculty from more than 15 departments and programs (i.e., History, Geography, English, African Studies, African-American Studies, and Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies). Cluster faculty also meet once or twice a month to assess cluster progress and programs, and plan future courses, conferences and outreach activities.

Cluster coordinator, faculty and lead dean

Cluster Coordinator

Cluster Faculty

  • Tejumola Olaniyan, Professor, English & African Languages and Literature
  • James Sweet, Associate Professor, History
  • Keisha Lindsay, Assistant Professor, Gender and Women's Studies & Political Science (Fall 2010)

Lead Dean