Deadline: October 15, 2011

Scholars of the sub-national, national, and international predicaments of Black people in the U.S., Africa, the Caribbean, South/Central America, and elsewhere in the African Diaspora continue to examine questions related to those first raised by "Black political science” in the late 1960s. We have greatly expanded beyond these assumptions, paradigms, theories, and methods to pursue 21st century questions and answers. To be sure, there are some elements of the global Black condition that have not fundamentally changed from the late 1960s, but most certainly there are elements that have – our task in creating new generations of "Black political science” is to understand and explain such differences. Even with the emergence of a U.S. President, Barack Obama, who has African ancestry and the prospects for democratization in various regions of the world, most recently the North Africa and the Middle East, Black people (globally defined) still confront persistent North-South and other structures of inequality as driven by state interests, corporate/market forces, and civil societies motivated by internal and external imperatives.

One set of evolving questions are related to the persistent vestiges and new manifestations of "neo-colonialism” as it has morphed into current forms of globalization and neoliberal economic restructuring; all of which continue to emanate out of a North-South underdevelopment divide. How are these relations further complicated by the lingering "War on Terrorism” interests and alliances that pervade U.S./Western foreign policy-making and nation-building? Likewise, another evolving set of questions are related to the persistent needs and/or demands Black citizens and their allies have for democratic governance and responsiveness, economic redistribution, and social equity/equality as these needs and demands often collide with Black-led nation-states, sub-national territories, and municipalities driven by incumbency interests and the maintenance of elite regimes. One other set of evolving questions relate to expanding the boundaries of how global Blackness and social identity are defined/delimited along the lines of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, class, ideology, religion, and region; especially as such identities serve as the basis for group identity, mobilization for democratic participation, civic engagement, social movements, and policy reform.

The organizers of the 43rd Annual National Conference of Black Political Scientists invite research presentations – paper presentations, roundtables, and poster presentations – from researchers interested in the persistent and dynamic features of the Black condition and more broadly of the exercise of political power in the 21st century.

The Program Committee Co-Chairs:
Todd Shaw
University of South Caroline
Email: Shawtc@mailbox.sc.edu
Phone: 803-777-6507

Clarissa Peterson
DePauw University
Email: cpeterson@depauw.edu
Phone: 765-658-4807