In Honor of W.E.B. Du Bois:
- A Conference on the Study of African American Problems
On February 23-24, some 30 scholars from the University and across the nation will gather at Penn to present papers in honor of W.E.B. Du Bois, in a conference bearing the title reminiscent of a paper by Du Bois, "The Study of the Negro Problem," published just over a hundred years ago in the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences. In that 1898 article, which proposed the study that became the landmark work he prepared while teaching at Penn, The Philadelphia Negro: A Social Study, Du Bois said,
- ...it is not one problem, but rather a plexus of social problems, some
new, some old,
- some simple, some complex; and these problems have their one bond of unity in the
- fact that they group themselves about those Africans whom two centuries of slave-
- trading brought to this land.
- some simple, some complex; and these problems have their one bond of unity in the
"At the end of the twentieth century Du Bois' blueprint is as vital, as relevant and as inspirational as it was at the start," organizers of the conference say. They will explore anew how the African American experience is studied, with papers presented and critiqued in the conference and then published in the Summer 2000 issue of The Annals.
Sponsors are the American Academy of Political and Social Science; Annenberg Public Policy Center; National Center on Fathers and Families; and School of Arts and Sciences' Afro-American Studies Program, Philadelphia Ethnography Project, Population Studies Center, and Department of Sociology.
The conference is free and open to the public, but participants are asked to register in advance: call 573-6085; fax 898-2024; or e-mail dwilliams@pobox.asc.upenn.edu; please indicate which of the sessions below will be attended and by how many.
Tuesday, February 23
Opening Remarks, Elijah Anderson, sociology; Welcome, Judith Rodin, President; Introductions, Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Annenberg School and Tukufu Zuberi, sociology; 3:30-4:30 p.m.; Meyerson, B-1.
1) Gender
Dark Princess-Respectability, Protection and Beyond: W.E.B. Du Bois and a Black Feminist Research Agenda, Farah J. Griffin, English; Toward a Gendered Analysis of Black Political Economy, Patricia Hill Collins, University of Cincinnati; Discussant: Vivian Gadsden, GSE; 4:30-5:45 p.m.; Meyerson, B-1.
2) Social Interpretation
The Emerging Philadelphia African American Class Structure, Elijah Anderson, sociology; The Limits of the Race Relations Vision, William J. Wilson, Harvard University; Discussant: Douglas Massey, sociology; 6-7:15 p.m.; College Hall, 200.
Wednesday, February 24
3) Political Economy
Race and the Welfare State, Michael Katz , urban studies; Racial Identity and Economic Performance, Gerald Jaynes, Yale University; Discussant: Thomas Boston, Georgia Institute of Technology; 9-10:15 a.m.; Logan Hall, Terrace Room.
4) Anthropological Measurement
Anthropology of African Americans: From Bones to the Human Genome, James E. Bowman, University of Chicago; Anthropological Measurement, Fatimah L.C. Jackson, University of Maryland; Discussant: Robert Murray, Howard University; 10:30-11:45 a.m.; Logan Hall, Terrace Room.
5) Statistical Investigation
Social Statistics and Race: Problems in Population Analysis, Tukufu Zuberi, sociology; Racial Prejudice and the Status of African Americans, Lawrence Bobo, Harvard University; Discussant: John Stanfield, Morehouse College; noon-1:15 p.m.; Logan Hall, Terrace Room.
6) Extending the Scope to the African World
The Encyclopaedia Africana, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Harvard University; The Du Bois Factor in the Conceptualization of Africa, Anthony Monteiro, University of the Sciences in Philadelphia; Discussant: Paul Jefferson, Haverford College; 2:30-3:45 p.m.; College Hall, 200.
7) Culture and the Arts
W.E.B. Du Bois and "The Negro Church," Barbara Savage, history; Romancing the Body Politic: Du Bois and the Propaganda of the Dark World, Herman Beavers, English; Discussant: Wilson J. Moses, Penn State University; 4-5:15 p.m.; College Hall, 200.
8) Philosophy
Problems without Problematized People: Du Bois's Challenge of a Humanistic
Philosophy of Human Sciences, Lewis Gordon, Brown University; W.E.B.
Du Bois on Scientific Study of Social Problems And Social Evolution: A Close
Reading of "The Study of the Negro Problem," Lucius T. Outlaw,
Haverford College; Discussant: Robert Washington, Bryn Mawr College; 5:30-6:45
p.m.; College Hall, 200.
Almanac, Vol. 45, No. 20, February 16, 1999