Spelling Our Proper Name Reconceptualizing the Order of Africana/Black Studies

This article examines internal and external intellectual discourses that have developed around Africana Studies as an academic discipline within the United States from its inception to the present. It explores intellectual constructs and discursive contexts that have shaped the variations, complexities, and contradictions in the conceptualization, scope, and philosophical direction of Africana Studies as a discipline. It argues that the name or names of the discipline should reflect the nature and scope, curriculum content and structure, declared goals and expected outcomes of Africana Studies.