Discourse on Africana Studies: James Turner and Paradigms of Knowledge

Discourse on Africana Studies: James Turner and Paradigms of Knowledge is both a reader and an introspective tribute, comprised of writings by James Turner and commentary from several of his former students. The book strives to underscore critical connections between multiple dimensions of Turner’s legacy (as scholar, activist, institution-builder, teacher, and mentor), while also aiming to contribute to the growing historicized literature on the Black Studies movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. The contributors to this book hope to influence this early phase in Black/Africana Studies historiography and provide a resource for discourse on the future of the discipline.

“Discourse on Africana Studies pulls together a selection of [James Turner’s] essays and interventions, grouped here under the rubrics of black nationalism, the disciplinary formations of Black/African Studies, pan-Africanism and black internationalism, and the politics of race. Together, the essays demonstrate why Turner remains such a revered and respected figure in the field, while showing how his vision for both the political and intellectual claims of Black Studies are as relevant and urgent now as they were when the discipline was born in fire 50 years ago…. If the pedagogical impulse for the Black Studies curriculum is to provide a blue print for education for liberation, then Discourse on Africana Studies is our urgently needed text-book.”

—Africasacountry.com