Introduction: Challenges to the homogenization of “African American”

Abstract

African American sociologists are beginning to confront the use of “African American/Black” as a homogeneous sociological category. In doing so they are laying the ground for improvements in social scientific research in general. One aspect of that improvement involves the use of people of African descent as subjects for theoretical statements about humanity at large rather than merely about other African descendent populations. Another aspect involves confronting the extensive segregation within the discipline around the research done by African American scholars. This introduction discusses the implications of these issues for African American scholars and for the discipline as a whole.