The African American Cultural Center and the Libraries co-host the first Black Research Symposium in March

The African American Cultural Center and the NC State University Libraries invite the university community and the public to the first annual Black Research Symposium on March 23-25, centered around the theme “The Power of Community: Afro-Diasporic Worldbuilding and a Sustainable Futurity.”

As the first of its kind on NC State’s campus, the Black Research Symposium will feature Black diasporic learning, scholarship, and epistemologies via cutting-edge research, storytelling, creative works, discussion circles, community-based projects, and industry initiatives from the NC State campus and surrounding community. The symposium will include oral presentations, roundtables, poster presentations, visual art, cyphers, storytelling, creative practices and performances; as well as keynote speakers, panels, and networking opportunities. Programming will take place in campus spaces including the Libraries.

The symposium will ask these central questions: What is required to create a Black futurity where Black people are thriving? What do we need to sustain our communities? What critical theory and frameworks must we engage in in order to address social problems across the Black Diaspora? What types of political economics, systems, and institutions need to be abolished and dismantled? How do we build a future that is sovereign, just, and sustainable?

For a full description of the symposium—including its guiding principles and its grounding document—visit the Black Research Symposium site.

Call for proposals
Students, staff, faculty, and community members are invited to submit proposals to present at the symposium. See the call for proposals (PDF) for details; the submission deadline is Wednesday, Jan. 25. Please contact Andaiye Qaasim with questions or visit the African American Cultural Center in Witherspoon Student Center, third floor.

This post was originally published in NC State University Libraries.