Africana-Studies Chair Gains Distinguished Incumbent

January 2, 2010

Patricia van Leeuwaarde Moonsammy, assistant professor and Distinguished Chair in Africana Studies, gathered after the chair installation with three of the four newly declared Africana-studies majors. From left: Grace Perry ’11, Rockyatu Otoo ’11 (nonmajor), Corinthia Jacobs ’11, Moonsammy and Christina Mullen ’12. Students will have the opportunity to submit ideas for a new name for the chair.

Patricia van Leeuwaarde Moonsammy became Dickinson’s first Distinguished Chair of Africana Studies during an Oct. 23 ceremony that highlighted the history and importance of the field. To recognize the establishment in 2008 of the Africana-studies major at the college, the event featured presentations from Lynn Johnson, assistant professor of English and Africana studies, and Jerry Philogene, assistant professor of American studies, in addition to Moonsammy’s discussion of the inter- action of race, geography and performance.

Johnson and Philogene detailed higher education’s slow recognition of the importance of black studies throughout the last 40 years and stressed the important role Africana studies will play in supporting Dickinson’s distinctive, engaged brand of the liberal arts.

“Africana studies fosters an attitude of engagement with the wider world and provides opportunities to connect theory to application,” said Johnson, noting that the program will provide service-learning and internship opportunities in the local community and abroad.

Moonsammy presented a glimpse into her research, which focuses on how “blackness is differently negotiated and articulated in different locations around the world.” Presenting several photos of participants in Trinidadian festivals, she explained how Trinidad’s history of ethnic relations and colonialism is embodied by contemporary rituals such as face-painting and masquerading. This research, she noted, is an example of using the “lived experience” to gain a deeper understanding of multicultural communities, which is what she hopes the Africana-studies major will prepare students to do.

“Through teaching, scholarship and community engagement,” she said, “I hope to develop, in concert with my colleagues, opportunities for our students … to broaden their world views and their ability to engage an increasingly complex, diverse world.”

Funded by a $1.5 million gift from anonymous donors, the new chair is the 13th endowed faculty chair established by the First in America capital campaign, which aims to add 20 by the end of the campaign in 2011 and has already secured funding for three more.