A Convening: Conversations for Sustaining Black Studies in the 21st Century
The event was inspired by Irma McClaurin, then Program Officer for the Ford Foundation, who in 2005 asked thomas-houston to submit a proposal for a Black Studies convening that explored the needs of the field for the twenty-first century. Rather than conceiving the project as simply an event that produced a book on the subject, which had traditionally been the result of past proposals, thomas-houston—a visual anthropologist—documented the event for posterity with video recordings, as it was the first time these distinguished scholars and supporters had met to discuss the field.
The "A Convening" Archive of the iBlack Studies project exists on three open-source platforms: Scalar, Omeka, and Pressbooks. In order to take full advantage of the event, thomas-houston wanted to provide the public with access to all available documentation related to the event. Although the original invitation for the scholars to participate is not available, electronic copies of the original proposal, commissioned papers by the scholars (some of whom have since passed), biographical sketches with photographs, and video recordings of the event are stored in the Omeka platform, while a new digital edition of the special issue of the International Journal of Africana Studies is housed in Pressbooks.
The Omeka site “iBlack Studies: A Convening Database” is searchable by participant and topic and includes more than ten hours of catalogued video recordings of the conversations that took place, twenty-eight commissioned position papers by the invitees, and the original text (prior to copyediting) of the special issue of the International Journal of Africana Studies: Sustaining Black Studies in the 21st Century. The new digital edition of this special issue, housed in Pressbooks, includes most of the original 323-page text in addition to video clips of the conversation that break up the text. This iBlack Studies Scalar site is used as the entry hub to "A Convening" and includes descriptions of the book and database.
Other Contributors to "A Convening"
Contributing Editor: Irma McClaurinTechnical Assistance: Daniel G. Tracy, Janet Swatscheno, Joshua D. Lynch
Copy Editing: Tahlia Day, katharos editing | proofing
Date of section's addition to iBlack Studies: March 2019.