African American Anthropology
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47854/gbefys23Keywords:
African American, History of anthropology, decolonial methodology, Social justiceAbstract
This essay explores the history and origins of African American Anthropology. It asks how we can think about an anthropology made for and by African Americans? It sheds light on early African American pioneers in anthropology, and the key ideas, main lines, debates and developments of African American anthropology.
References
Allen, Jafari Sinclaire et Ryan Cecil Jobson, 2016, « The decolonizing generation: (Race and) theory in anthropology since the eighties », Current Anthropology 57(2) : 129-148, https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/685502
Baker, Lee, 1998, From Savage to Negro: Anthropology and the Construction of Race, 1896-1954, Oakland (CA), University of California Press.
Baldwin-Jones, Alice, 2018, « Charles Preston Warren II: Military forensic anthropologist, scholar, and applied scientist », in Ira Harrison, Deborah Johnson-Simon et Erica Lorraine Williams (dir.), The Second Generation of African American Pioneers in Anthropology, Urbana, University of Illinois Press : 15-26.
Barnes, Riché Daniel, 2018, « Johnnetta Betsch Cole: Eradicating multiple systems of oppression », in Ira Harrison, Deborah Johnson-Simon et Erica Lorraine Williams (dir.), Urbana, University of Illinois Press : 84-98.
Bolles, A. Lynn, 2001, « Seeking the ancestors: Forging a Black feminist tradition in anthropology », in Irma McClaurin (dir.), Black Feminist Anthropology: Theory, Politics, Praxis, Poetics, New Brunswick (NJ), Rutgers University Press : 24-48.
Boyd, Valerie, 2004, Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston, New York, Simon and Schuster.
Browne, Dallas, 2018, « James Lowell Gibbs Jr.: A life of educational achievement and service », in Ira Harrison, Deborah Johnson-Simon et Erica Lorraine Williams (dir.), The Second Generation of African American Pioneers in Anthropology, Urbana, University of Illinois Press : 1-14.
Castor, N. Fadeke, 2017, Spiritual Citizenship: Transnational Pathways from Black Power to Ifá in Trinidad, Durham, Duke University Press.
Cole, Johnnetta Betsch et Erica Lorraine Williams (dir.), 2023, Speechifying: The Words and Legacy of Johnnetta Betsch Cole, Durham, Duke University Press.
Covington-Ward, Yolanda, 2015, Gesture and Power: Religion, Nationalism and Everyday Performance in Congo, Durham, Duke University Press.
Davis, Dána-Ain, 2019, Reproductive Injustice: Racism, Pregnancy, and Premature Birth, New York, NYU Press.
Drake, St. Clair, 1978, « Reflections on anthropology and the Black experience », Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 9(2) : 85-109, https://www.jstor.org/stable/41067988
Garth, Hanna, 2020, Food in Cuba: The Pursuit of a Decent Meal, Stanford, Stanford University Press.
Garth, Hanna et Ashanté Reese, 2020, Black Food Matters: Racial Justice in the Wake of Food Justice, Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press.
Gibbs, James L. Jr, 1963, « The Kpelle moot: A therapeutic model for the informal settlement of disputes », Africa 33(1) : 1-11, https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/africa/article/abs/kpelle-moot-a-therapeutic-model-for-the-informal-settlement-of-disputes1/C118AD66C743CE66CD20EA4C1E4D742F
Gwaltney, John Langston, 1993, Drylongso: A Self-Portrait of Black America, New York, The New Press.
Harris, Betty, 2018, « Claudia Mitchell-Kernan: Sociolinguistic anthropologist, administrator, and innovator », in Ira Harrison, Deborah Johnson-Simon et Erica Lorraine Williams (dir.), The Second Generation of African American Pioneers in Anthropology, Urbana: University of Illinois Press : 200-214.
Harrison, Ira. E. et Faye Harrison (dir.), 1999, African American Pioneers in Anthropology, Urbana, University of Illinois Press.
Harrison, Ira, Deborah Johnson-Simon et Erica Lorraine Williams, 2018, The Second Generation of African American Pioneers in Anthropology, Urbana, University of Illinois Press.
Howell, Angela McMillan, 2018, « Anselme Remy and the anthropology of liberation », in Ira Harrison, Deborah Johnson-Simon et Erica Lorraine Williams (dir.), The Second Generation of African American Pioneers in Anthropology, Urbana, University of Illinois Press : 174-190.
Hutchinson, Janis Faye 2018, « Audrey Smedley: A Pioneers’ Pioneer Anthropologist », in Ira Harrison, Deborah Johnson-Simon et Erica Lorraine Williams (dir.), The Second Generation of African American Pioneers in Anthropology, Urbana, University of Illinois Press : 126-140
Jackson, Antoinette, 2018, « Vera Mae Green: Quaker roots and applied anthropology », in Ira Harrison, Deborah Johnson-Simon et Erica Lorraine Williams (dir.), The Second Generation of African American Pioneers in Anthropology, Urbana, University of Illinois Press : 191-199.
Johnson-Simon, Deborah, 2018, « John Langston Gwaltney: The Development of a Core Black Ethnography and Museology », in Ira Harrison, Deborah Johnson-Simon et Erica Lorraine Williams (dir.), The Second Generation of African American Pioneers in Anthropology, Urbana, University of Illinois Press : 99-113.
Jones, Delmos, 1970, « Towards a native anthropology », Human Organization 29(4) : 251-259, https://www.jstor.org/stable/44125050
Klugh, Elgin, 2018, « Delmos Jones and the end of neutrality », in Ira Harrison, Deborah Johnson-Simon et Erica Lorraine Williams (dir.), The Second Generation of African American Pioneers in Anthropology, Urbana, University of Illinois Press : 52-67.
Lewis, Diane K., 1977, « A Response to Iinequality: Black women, racism, and sexism », Signs, 3(2) : 339-361, https://www.jstor.org/stable/3173288
Louis, Bertin, 2018, « Oliver Osborne: African american nurse-anthropologist pioneer », in Ira Harrison, Deborah Johnson-Simon et Erica Lorraine Williams (dir.), The Second Generation of African American Pioneers in Anthropology, Urbana, University of Illinois Press : 165-173.
Marshall, Jennifer Freeman, 2023, Ain’t I an Anthropologist: Zora Neale Hurston Beyond the Literary Icon, Urbana, University of Illinois Press.
McClaurin, Irma, 2001, « Theorizing a Black feminist self in anthropology: Toward an autoethnographic approach », in Irma McClaurin (dir.), Black Feminist Anthropology: Theory, Politics, Praxis, and Poetics, New Brunswick (NJ), Rutgers University Press : 49-78.
Nwokocha, Eziaku Atuama, 2023, Vodou en Vogue: Fashioning Black Divinities in Haiti and the United States, Chapel Hill, UNC Press.
Ralph, Laurence, 2020, The Torture Letters: Reckoning with Police Violence, Chicago, University of Chicago Press.
Reese, Ashanté, 2019, Black Food Geographies: Race, Self-Reliance and Food Access in Washington, D.C., Chapel Hill, UNC Press.
Shack, William, 1974, The Central Ethiopians: Amhara, Tigrina and Related Peoples, Londres, International African Institute.
——, 1966, The Gurage: A People of Ensete Culture, Londres, Oxford University Press.
Shange, Savannah, 2019, Progressive Dystopia: Abolition, Antiblackness, and Schooling in San Francisco, Durham, Duke University Press.
Smith, Christen, 2016, Afro-Paradise: Blackness, Violence and Performance in Brazil, Urbana, University of Illinois Press.
Sudarkasa, Niara, 1996, The Strength of Our Mothers: African and African American Women and Families, Trenton (NJ), Africa World Press.
——, 1977, « Women and migration in contemporary West Africa, Signs 3(1) : 178-89, https://www.jstor.org/stable/3173090
——, 1973, Where Women Work: A Study of Yoruba Women in the Marketplace and in the Home, Ann Arbor, University of Michigan, Museum of Anthropology, Anthropological papers 53.
Watkins, Rachel, 2018, « George Clement Bond : Anthropologist, africanist, educator, and visionary », in Ira Harrison, Deborah Johnson-Simon et Erica Lorraine Williams (dir.), The Second Generation of African American Pioneers in Anthropology, Urbana, University of Illinois Press : 141-164.
Warren, Charles Preston, 1984, « Black Asians in the Philippines: The “Negrito problem” revisited », Pilipinas 5 : 53-67.
Williams, Erica, 2018, « Niara Sudarkasa: Inspiring Black women’s leadership », in Ira Harrison, Deborah Johnson-Simon et Erica Lorraine Williams (dir.), The Second Generation of African American Pioneers in Anthropology, Urbana, University of Illinois Press : 68-83.
Winn, Alisha R., 2018, « Ira E. Harrison: Activist, scholar, and visionary pioneer », in Ira Harrison, Deborah Johnson-Simon et Erica Lorraine Williams (dir.), The Second Generation of African American Pioneers in Anthropology, Urbana, University of Illinois Press : 114-125.
Downloads
Published
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Anthropen

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Unless otherwise stated, content comprised on this website, including text, photographs, illustrations, trademarks, logos, audio or video clips, is protected by copyright law. All rights, titles and interests in the content belong exclusively to Anthropen. With the exception of works licensed under CC BY NC ND 4.0 any copying, reproduction, distribution, total or partial modification is strictly prohibited without the written permission of Anthropen and may expose the offender to legal sanctions.