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Who defines human rights—and what happens when democratic institutions fail to protect Black communities?

Taught by Professor Kia Lilly Caldwell, this course examines how African diaspora communities in the Americas and Europe have understood, challenged, and transformed ideas of democracy and human rights during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

Rather than treating democracy and human rights as abstract or universally agreed-upon principles, students will investigate how rights are claimed, denied, negotiated, and reimagined through struggles for racial, gender, economic, and civil justice.

The course takes a comparative and transnational approach, moving across Haiti, the United States, Germany, Brazil, and Colombia. Through historical, political, theoretical, and cultural materials, students will consider how African-descended communities have responded to injustice while developing broader visions of citizenship, freedom, equality, and political possibility.

The Council of Editors of Learned Journals has awarded our tenth anniversary Volume 10 its Special Issue Award for 2024-2025. Calling it “expertly edited,” CELJ’s judging panel praised Volume 10 as a collection of works which will “prove generative for scholarship and creative work to come.”

The Graduate Certificate in Global Black Studies, offered by the Department of African and African American Studies (AFAS), provides doctoral students at Washington University with rigorous interdisciplinary training in the humanities and social sciences beyond their primary department.

Through coursework, community engagement, and scholarly collaboration, the certificate equips students to examine Black experiences, thought, and movements across global contexts. This program fosters intellectual breadth and prepares scholars to engage in innovative, cross-disciplinary research on race, culture, and social transformation.

Eligibility: Open to current Washington University Ph.D. students in any discipline.

The Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Equity (CRE²) at Washington University in St. Louis is proud to launch a new initiative: the CRE2 Visiting Distinguished Fellow-in-Residence Program for Civic Leaders and Scholars.

This residency invites a prominent civic leader or scholar whose work aligns with CRE²’s mission to foster rigorous scholarship, creative practice, and meaningful community engagement. The Fellow will collaborate with CRE² and Washington University partners to curate and host a robust slate of public and campus-facing events usually over the course of the semester.

In recognition of Black History Month, faculty and affiliates in the Department of African and African American Studies share books they find especially meaningful to read, teach, and reflect on. These recommendations span literature, art history, urban studies, and Black cultural thought, offering insight into the texts shaping scholarship and classrooms across AFAS.