IRAAS Newsletter - Winter 2016 Edition IRAAS Newsletter Winter 2016 | Page 2

The Institute for Research in African-American Studies (IRAAS) of Columbia University, founded in July 1993 by Dr. Manning Marable, is an academic resource center. The purposes and activities of IRAAS are grounded within the best scholarship of the black intellectual tradition. Towards that end, the Institute administers the Undergraduate and Master's degree programs in African-American Studies at Columbia University; regularly sponsors academic conferences, lectures and forums on a wide variety of topics; produced the scholarly publication SOULS: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture and Society, which is distributed throughout the U.S. and internationally from 1995 to 2011. The Fall 2015 Newsletter is published by the Institute for Research in African-American Studies. Contributing Writers Elizabeth Sarah Ross ‘16, and Tameeka Weekes, Editor Zoraida Lopez Front cover image by Allison Janae Hamilton Allison Janae Hamilton is a visual artist based in New York City. She has exhibited at galleries and institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution, the Museum of Contemporary Photography (Chicago, IL), the SilverEye Center for Photography (Pittsburgh, PA), and Rush Arts Gallery (New York, NY. Hamilton was a 2013 Summer Artist-in-Residence at the School of Visual Arts (New York, NY) and was the 2014 Summer Artist-in-Residence at Rush Arts Gallery in New York, NY. She was a 2013-2014 Fellow at the Whitney Independent Study Program, sponsored by the Whitney Museum of American Art. She was also a recipient of the 2016 Outwin Boochever Portrait Prize. Hamilton received her PhD in American Studies at New York University and is a current MFA candidate in Visual Arts at Columbia University ('17). Please visit http://www.allisonjanaehamilton.com/ to learn more about her work 4! 5! Fall 2015 Course offerings and Faculty List! ! IRAAS’ New Director Samuel K. Roberts discusses the organization’s ! ! ! ! ! 8! 12! ! Professor Marcellus Blount shares his work within IRAAS and! An interview with Professor Robert Gooding- Williams on Philosophy, ! ! 16! ! ! 2 ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 7! 10! 11! 14! 18 !