I am seeking three visiting scholars in the Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. areas to give a lecture on knowledge acquisition and assessment in the Black Diaspora. The lectures will be part of a proposed NEH-funded project titled “Knowledge Acquisition and Assessment in the Black Diaspora: A Faculty Lecture Series and Workshop at Morgan State University.” The short-title is “The Knowledge Project.”

The Knowledge Project is a one-year interdisciplinary faculty lecture series and workshop that seeks to address this complex and multifaceted subject. The project’s objective is to highlight different ways of knowing and learning in the humanities, as well as to encourage faculty collaboration in interdisciplinary teaching and curriculum development. Invited scholars will give a one-hour lecture on their topic and participate in the discussion following their lecture.

Participants could propose a topic from any field, including the following:

1. African/Black/African-American Studies
2. Anthropology
3. Communication Studies
4. Cultural Studies
5. Fine Arts (Art/Music/Theatre)
6. Genealogy
7. History
8. Language
9. Linguistics
10. Literature
11. Philosophy
12. Political Science
13. Psychology
14. Religious Studies
15. Sociology

Possible topics include the following:

1. The problem of conceptualization and identification: What is knowledge? How does it compare and contrast with related concepts such as data, information, experience and intelligence? Are there different fields of knowledge, such as cultural knowledge, traditional knowledge, indigenous knowledge, experiential knowledge and institutionalized knowledge?
2. The problem of access: Who is allowed or denied access to knowledge acquisition? On what basis (i.e. racial/ethnic, gender, social or economical)?
3. Means of acquisition: How knowledge is acquired. That is, whether by institutionalized means such as public schooling, by intra-personal means such as knowledge-by-experience, by interpersonal means such as apprentissage and home schooling, or by ritualized means such as griotissage.
4. The manifestation of knowledge: What we consider to be products of knowledge. This includes products ranging from the Sphinx in Giza, to the graffiti in the inner city. It also includes fields of study or literary works and/or movements influenced by the subject of Black knowledge (e.g. Afrocentricity, Negritude and the Harlem Renaissance).
5. The evaluation and valuation of knowledge: How we assess and/or value knowledge. This includes discussion on the rationale and politics behind testing and grading policies, and a discussion of the depiction of knowledge manifestations (such as creative works and artifacts) in historical and contemporary texts, as well as in the broader mass media such as radio, television and film.
6. Implications for teaching style and grading criteria
7. Implications for learning and teaching the humanities at Morgan State University

Interested participants should submit to me the following no later than Monday April 26, 2004:

1. A two-page resume.
2. A one-page abstract of their proposed presentation on any aspect of the topic, from any field within the humanities.
3. A bibliography of recommended readings on the subject, ranked by order of importance from most to least important.

You may send your submissions by fax or by e-mail.

Selected participants will be:

1. Given a $300 honorarium
2. Provided a complimentary set of the project’s finalized list of readings.
3. Reimbursed their travel expenses.

I eagerly anticipate your cooperation. I can be reached for further inquiries by phone or e-mail.