Defining Ourselves

Abstract

What's in a name? For the discipline that has become familiar to so many of us as Black Studies, much can be made of this question. While the study of Black people from multiple approaches and perspectives reflective of African worldviews and orientations is at the very core of the discipline, properly naming the field with a single, unifying designation has remained an elusive goal. In the past 40 years, the multidisciplinary nature of the field has contributed to the ongoing development of new programs and academic units with specialized foci and creative titles to match. This article examines the historical emergence and expansion of the field of Black Studies and the challenges that remain in appropriately naming the discipline and correctly identifying those who portend to be its practitioners.