This symposium will be hosted by Valerie Grim, professor of African American and African diaspora studies at Indiana University, and Michael Tillotson, associate professor of Africana studies at SUNY Cortland. It will feature the history, culture, and achievements of African American and African Diaspora Studies (formerly Afro-American Studies) at Indiana University and ask one of the many essential questions, including: where do we go from here? Conversations relative to this and other inter-related questions will be discussed using the Africana studies theory, Agency Reduction Formation, which was developed by Africana studies scholar, Michael Tillotson. Agency Reduction Formation is operationalized as a way to examine “any system of thought that distracts, neutralizes, or reduces the need and desire for assertive collective agency by African Americans.”

Scholars and graduate students joining us for the celebration and conversation include, but are not limited to:

• Dr. Jakobi Williams, Chair, Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies (AAADS), Indiana University
• Dr. James Stewart, Emeritus Professor, Pennsylvania State University
• Dr. Lewis Gordon, University of Connecticut
• Dr. Stephen Finley, Louisiana State University
• Dr. Valerie Harris, Temple University
• Dr. Charisse Burden-Stelly, Carleton College
• Professor Kevin Brown, Maurer School of Law, Indiana University
• Dr. Michael Tillotson, SUNY Cortland
• Dr. Valerie Grim, AAADS, Indiana University
• Dr. Tyron Cooper, AAADS, Indiana University
• Dr. Gloria Howell, Neal-Marshall Black Cultural Center, Indiana University
• Dr. Candis Smith, AAADS, Indiana University
• Dr. Maria Hamilton Abegunde, AAADS, Indiana University
• Dr. Nana Amoah-Ramey, AAADS, Indiana University
• Dr. Carolyn Calloway-Thomas, AAADS, Indiana University

Graduate student participants include:

• Taylor Duckett, AAADS Ph.D. student, Indiana University
• Dhakir Abdullah, AAADS Ph.D. student, Indiana University

Our department is excited to have the opportunity to present this forward-looking conversation.

The full-day symposium will take place on Indiana University’s scenic Bloomington campus at the Cook Center for Public Arts and Humanities, 8:00 a.m.–5:30 p.m. A reception is planned for Wednesday, April 20, 2022, 5:30 p.m.–7:30 p.m., in the University Club at the Indiana Memorial Union.

A block of hotel rooms has been reserved for April 20-22. You may call the Indiana University Memorial Union Biddle Hotel (800–209–8145 or 812–856–2536) and ask to reserve a room at your expense from the set aside hotel block using the code “AAADS2022”.