U. opens Center for Africana Studies

Faculty, students and administrators gathered together to celebrate the opening of the Center for Africana Studies yesterday.

The new center combines the Afro-American Studies Program and the Center for the Study of Black Literature and Culture. It will provide opportunities for the study of African-American experiences and the African Diaspora.

"This is really a cause for celebration," University President Judith Rodin said. "It is proof to me that big dreams do come true."

Rodin was referring partially to the attention and resources the Center has received over the last several months.

In addition to the new name, the Center received a new office, located at 3401 Walnut Street, and four new faculty members this summer.

Other speakers at the event included the Center's Director Tukufu Zuberi, School of Arts and Sciences Dean Samuel Preston, Philadelphia Mayor's Office representative Nancy Morgan and several new African-American Studies professors, including high-profile scholar Michael Eric Dyson.

Each speaker expressed pride in the new Center and an excitement about its potential for influence and growth within the University.

However, according to Zuberi, the event also served as "a time to reflect."

Zuberi spoke about the importance of integrating African-American and Africana Studies within the realm of academia and in the context of understanding humanity.

"If we think we're seeking knowledge of what it means to be a human being, we cannot do that in isolation," Zuberi said.

He later added, "We think it is critically important to understand what Africa and the African Diaspora has done."

Speakers devoted attention to the tradition of black involvement in the University and the history of the African-American Studies Program.

Preston spoke specifically about W.E.B. Dubois, who worked on The Philadelphia Negro while at Penn, despite the fact that he was refused faculty status based on his race.

Preston said that the new Center was a reflection of the legacy Dubois left for the University.

"With the opening of the Center for Africana Studies, we've acted upon Dubois' notion of finding a single, definite locality for the study of African-American and Africana studies at Penn," Preston said.

This year also marks the 30th anniversary of the Afro-American Studies Program at Penn.

The Center will be honoring the anniversary with a series of events throughout the year under the theme, "Back to the Future of Civilization."

However, although the Center is celebrating the development of the Program since its birth, it is also planning for future growth.

"We're going to keep climbing even though we think we're already there," Rodin said.

Preston later added, "I think the sky is the limit."

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