African, Black and Caribbean Studies Research
At Adelphi University, African, Black and Caribbean Studies research explores the histories, cultures, and experiences of people of African descent across the globe.
Through interdisciplinary research, students explore how race, identity, migration, literature, music, politics, and cultural expression have shaped societies and continue to influence the world today.
From your first year, you can explore research in areas such as African and African Diaspora history, African American literature, Caribbean studies, Black feminist theory, migration, citizenship, race, identity, and cultural expression. Through coursework and independent study, students develop strong research, writing, and analytical skills while examining the historical and contemporary experiences of African-descended communities around the world.
To receive credit for research:
- Meet with faculty early to discuss research interests
- Identify a focus area aligned with political science or international relations
- Develop a research question with faculty mentorship
- Register for independent study or research credits with approval
Students present their work at the Adelphi Scholarship and Creative Works Conference and may also share their research at regional and national conferences.
Through the SPARK Center (Scholars Pursuing Arts, Research and Knowledge), students can receive funding, mentorship, and support for independent research and conference presentations.
Faculty Research and Areas of Focus
Christopher Davis, PhD researches race, identity, migration, citizenship and intellectual history within the African Diaspora and the transatlantic world. His current work examines the spread of racial science throughout the Anglophone Atlantic, exploring how eugenic ideas originating in the United States and the United Kingdom influenced colonial policies and sought to undermine anti-colonial movements in the British Caribbean.
Patricia G. Lespinasse, PhD is a scholar of African American and African Diaspora literature whose research focuses on jazz studies, Black feminist theory, Caribbean literature, and representations of gender and identity in Black literary traditions. Her work explores how literature and music shape narratives of resistance, memory, and collective identity across the African Diaspora. She is the author of The Drum is a Wild Woman: Jazz and Gender in African Diaspora Literature (2022), which examines how Black women writers reshape jazz discourse through improvisation, resistance, and the reimagining of cultural traditions.