March 2015
Willam Hart, Professor and Head, Religion, Ethics, and Politics at University of North Carolina Greensboro lectured on Malcolm X as a guest of the CERCL's African American Religious Studies Forum.
This Forum presents and promotes innovative scholarship related to the study of African American religion. In this way, CERCL presents and helps to advance the success of scholarship often considered marginal to the Academy. As the number of academic posts decreases, it is important to advance the use of intellectual skills beyond the traditional employment paths for those in the Humanities in general and the study of Religion in particular. Mindful of this, the Forum also provides activities and programming meant to help students refine their capacities for “non-traditional” posts.
African American Graduate students and Faculty are particularly challenged with respect to the exercise of leadership (as defined by the Center) within the Academy. As a way of addressing this, and in light of one of the growing areas of interest in the social sciences and humanities, the African American Religious Studies Forum provides opportunities for graduate students and interested faculty working in African American religion to: (1) dialogue with leading off-campus scholars in the study of African American religion who provide feedback on graduate student projects as well as advice regarding professional life within the Academy; (2) present their research and receive feedback, in this way they gain greater ability to provide and constructively receive critique; (3) international opportunities to present their research and network.
