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Global Black Studies

People

Meet the Director

L. Kaifa Roland joins Clemson from the University of Colorado at Boulder, where she has been Associate Professor of Anthropology since 2006 and served as Chair of Women and Gender Studies since 2020. 

Roland holds a B.A. in Third World Studies at Oberlin College, an M.A. in African Studies from Howard University, and a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from Duke University.

Her career as an instructor began at Duke University, where she taught courses in Contemporary Culture in Cuba and the Caribbean. After Duke, she was a visiting instructor and visiting professor in anthropology at Kenyon College. She has been on faculty at University of Colorado at Boulder since 2006.

As a cultural anthropologist, Roland’s research has focused on the Caribbean, specifically Cuba. Belonging is a central theme of her book, “Cuban Color in Tourism and La Lucha: An Ethnography of Racial Meanings,” as well as of multiple articles and chapters she has penned describing the black experience.

Kaifa Roland portrait

“Global Black Studies introduces students to the experiences, histories, and cultures of African-descended people around the world. It attends to the creativity and resilience of these communities in the Americas, Europe, and across Africa in the context of post-colonial racialization. In short, the program teaches students about the lived realities of a world of Black people.”

L. Kaifa Roland
Director
Global Black Studies

Affiliated Faculty

Susanna Ashton

Susanna Ashton

Professor
Research Interests: Notions of authentication and identity in slavery & freedom narratives; 18th-, 19th-, and early 20th-century American Literature; collaboration; surveillance studies; copyright; history of the book; periodical culture; abolitionist literature; Charles W. Chesnutt; American Literary Realism; Life Writing
Email: sashton@clemson.edu
Office: 611 Strode


Abel A. Bartley

Abel A. Bartley

Professor
Courses: African-American, Urban, & Civil Rights History, History of Sports
Research Interests: U.S. History; US 1945-1975; US since 1975; African American history
Email: abartly@clemson.edu
Office: 108 Hardin Hall
Phone: 864-656-5372


Orville Vernon Burton

Orville Vernon Burton

Professor of History; Director of the Clemson Cyberinstitute
Courses: American History, Southern History, Digital History
Email: vburton@clemson.edu
Office: Hardin Hall 120
Phone: 217-649-0608


Elizabeth Jemison

Elizabeth Jemison

Associate Professor of Religion
Email: ejemiso@clemson.edu
Office: Hardin 220
Phone: 864-656-2001


Kendra Lynette Johnson

Kendra Lynette Johnson

Professor of Theatre
Courses: Costume Design (THEA 4670), African American Theatre I (THEA 3170), African Theatre II (THEA 3180), Theatre Appreciation (THEA 2100)
Research Interests: Costume History, African American Theatre, Costume Construction, African American Dress
Email: kjohns7@clemson.edu
Office: 211 Brooks Center


William C. McCoy, Ed.D.

William C. McCoy, Ed.D.

Director of the Rutland Institute for Ethics
Email: wmccoy@clemson.edu
Office: 242 Hardin Hall
Phone: 864-656-6147


Angela Naimou

Angela Naimou

Associate Professor
Courses: Literatures of the Middle East and North Africa; Postcolonial and World Literatures; World Literature; American Literatures of Race, Ethnicity, and Migration
Research Interests: Literatures in English since 1900; Anti-colonial and Postcolonial Theory; Studies of Race, Diaspora, and Migration; Law and Literature; World Literature in Translation
Email: anaimou@clemson.edu
Office: 709 Strode


Vincent R. Ogoti

Vincent R. Ogoti

Assistant Professor, English and Global Black Studies
Courses: ENGL 3560 - Science Fiction; ENGL 4300 - Dramatic Literature; ENGL 2160 - African American Literature; ENGL 4420 - Cultural Studies; GBS 1010 - Africa and the Atlantic World
Research Interests: Dr. Ogoti’s scholarship focuses on critical theory, biopolitics, queer studies, postcolonial studies, Black drama, literatures, and technoculture.
Email: vogoti@clemson.edu
Office: 811 Strode


George Palacios, Ph.D.

George Palacios, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Spanish
Courses: Introduction to Hispanic Literary Texts, The Hispanic World: Latin America, Hispanic Narrative Fiction, Intermediate Grammar & Composition, Spanish through Culture, Spanish Language Immersion in Seville, Spain.
Research Interests: Afro-Latin America, Latin America, Colombian and Brazilian Literatures and Cultures, US-Latin American Relations, Literary and Cultural Relations of the Global South.
Email: gpalaci@clemson.edu
Office: 515 Strode
Phone: 864-656-3393


Melva Persico, Ph.D.

Melva Persico, Ph.D.

Senior Lecturer of Spanish
Email: mpersic@clemson.edu
Office: 215 Daniel
Phone: 8646562852


Bruce Ransom

Bruce Ransom

Chair of Policy Studies, Strom Thurmond Institute
Email: bii@clemson.edu
Phone: 864-656-0214


Kenneth Robinson

Kenneth Robinson

Associate Professor
Research Interests: Agribusiness Extension Specialist
Email: KRBNSN@clemson.edu
Office: 132 Brackett
Phone: (864) 656-1449


L. Kaifa Roland, Ph.D.

L. Kaifa Roland, Ph.D.

Director of Global Black Studies
Courses: Introduction to Global Black Studies, Black Women and the Pursuit of Happiness,Cuba Study Abroad
Research Interests: Cuba and the Caribbean, Cultural Anthropology, Race and Belonging, Tourism
Email: lroland@clemson.edu
Office: 252 Sirrine Hall
Phone: 864-656-2584


Joe Stewart

Joe Stewart

Professor of Political Science
Email: jstewa4@clemson.edu
Office: 231B Brackett Hall
Phone: 864-656-3234


D'Ondre Swails

D'Ondre Swails

Assistant Professor
Research Interests: U.S. History, U.S. History 1877-present, African American, Cultural, Intellectual, Pop Culture
Email: dswails@clemson.edu
Office: Hardin Hall 116


Rhondda Robinson Thomas

Rhondda Robinson Thomas

Calhoun Lemon Professor of Literature
Courses: ENGL 4820: American Literature to 1920; ENGL3980: American Literature Survey I; ENGL3990: American Literature Survey II; ENGL4960: Senior Seminar
Research Interests: Black self-writing, Black historiography, and 18th- and 19th-century Black literature and culture
Email: rhonddt@clemson.edu
Office: 711 Strode


Melvin Villaver

Melvin Villaver

Assistant Professor of Audio Technology and Global Black Studies


Emeritus Affiliated Faculty

Beatrice Bailey

Beatrice Bailey

Professor, English Education
Email: cbeatri@clemson.edu
Office: 201 Tillman
Phone: 864-656-5126


Barbara Logan

Barbara Logan

Research Consultant, Health Disparities Department
Email: logan@clemson.edu
Office: 412 Edwards Hall
Phone: (864) 656-1575


Global Black Studies
Global Black Studies | 252 Sirrine Hall Clemson, South Carolina 29634