Temple University’s African American Studies PhD Program @ 30: Assessing the Asante Affect

Abstract

Temple University’s Department of Africology and African American Studies is celebrating its 30th year of operation as a PhD program. Since its inception in l988, the doctoral program at Temple has attracted and produced world-class scholars in the discipline of Africology. Initially started by students at San Francisco State University in l968 as Black Studies, the field has been called by many names, including Afro-American Studies, African American Studies, African World Studies, Africana Studies, Pan African Studies, and Africology. As this modern-day field of study marks its 50th anniversary, it is important that we examine the impact of the 30-year history of the establishment of the first PhD program in Black Studies in the nation, founded at Temple University in the City of Philadelphia. This article offers a preliminary assessment of the far-reaching impact of Temple’s academic leadership in establishing a fundamental base for innovative scholarship and the maturing of the discipline of Africology. More specifically, it focuses on Molefi Kete Asante’s influence, his vision for the discipline, and his extraordinary impact on the field of Africology.