{"product_id":"dude-wheres-my-black-studies-department-isbn-9781556435737","title":"Dude, Where's My Black Studies Department?","description":"***WINNER, 2008 PEN Oakland - Josephine Miles National Literary Award\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Blacks have been vanishing from college campuses in the United States and reappearing  in prisons, videos, and movies. Cecil Brown tackles this unwitting \"disappearing  act\" head on, paying special attention to the situation at UC Berkeley and the University  of California system generally. Brown contends that educators have ignored the importance  of the oral tradition in African American upbringing, an oversight mirrored by the  media. When these students take exams, their abilities are not tested. Further, university  officials, administrators, professors, and students are ignoring the phenomenon of  the disappearing black student – in both their admissions and hiring policies. With  black studies departments shifting the focus from African American and black community  interests to black immigrant issues, says Brown, the situation is becoming dire.  \u003ci\u003eDude, Where’s My Black Studies Department?\u003c\/i\u003e offers both a scorching critique and a  plan for rethinking and reform of a crucial but largely unacknowledged problem in  contemporary society.“One of the most significant contributions of \u003ci\u003eDude, Where’s My Black Studies Department?\u003c\/i\u003e is what Brown teaches us about the African-American oral tradition, namely, about  how its ‘difference’ from white American culture poses a constant challenge, and  threat, to the ideal of integration in the classroom and on campus.” \u003cbr\u003e —Henry Louis  Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor at Harvard University, editor-in-chief  at the Oxford African American Studies Center\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"Cecil Brown is one of the most gifted  writers and brilliant intellectuals of his generation. His provocative analyses of  contemporary black and American culture brims with insight. Unafraid to be controversial  or to go against the grain, Brown never fails to make us think.\"\u003cbr\u003e —Michael Eric Dyson,  Avalon Foundation Professor in the Humanities at the University of Pennsylvania,  and author of \u003ci\u003eDebating Race\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Some of the severest criticisms of African-American  culture are being issued on op-ed pages and in books written by Caribbean-Americans.  Are some Caribbean-Americans being used as pawns in an attack on African-Americans?  Have some of them been awarded honorary \"white\" status as a reward? How does this  conflict play out in academia? Writer Cecil Brown is one of the few African-American  public intellectuals with the nerve to tackle this subject and he does so with his  usual wit, savvy, and brilliance.”\u003cbr\u003e —Ishmael Reed, author of \u003ci\u003eMumbo Jumbo\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eAiring  Dirty Laundry\u003c\/i\u003eCecil Brown holds a PhD in African-American Literature, Folklore, and Theory of Narrative from the University of California, Berkeley. He has published a number of novels, short stories, screenplays, and journal articles relating to African-American literature and life, and has taught classes in literature and popular culture at UC Berkeley, the University of San Francisco, and other universities throughout California.","brand":"North Atlantic Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46303178784997,"sku":"NP9781556435737","price":15.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781556435737.jpg?v=1767725747","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/dude-wheres-my-black-studies-department-isbn-9781556435737","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}