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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

Abel A. Bartley

Abel A. Bartley

Professor
U.S. History; US 1945-1975; US since 1975; African American history
Email: abartly@clemson.edu
Office: 108 Hardin Hall
Phone: 864-656-5372


James M. Burns

James M. Burns

Professor and Director of the Humanities Hub
World History; Africa since 1850; Empire; Transnational history; Global History; Film Studies; Popular Culture
Email: burnsj@clemson.edu
Office: Hardin Hall 127
Phone: Hardin Hall 127


Orville Vernon Burton

Orville Vernon Burton

Professor of History; Director of the Clemson Cyberinstitute
U.S. History; U.S. South; African American history; legal and political history; quantitative methods; digital methods
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 Johnson

Kendra Johnson

Professor of Theatre
Costume History, African American Theatre, Costume Construction, African American Dress
Email: kjohns7@clemson.edu
Office: 211 Brooks


Cecilia Kyalo-Ogoti

Cecilia Kyalo-Ogoti

Email: ckyalo@clemson.edu
Office: 256B Sirrine Hall


J. Brent Morris

J. Brent Morris

Professor
South Carolina History, History of the South, Slavery and Abolition
Email: jbm9@clemson.edu
Office: Hardin Hall 114
Phone: (864) 656-3153


Angela Naimou

Angela Naimou

Associate Professor
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
Vincent R. Ogoti’s scholarship focuses on African, African American, and Caribbean Literature and Culture; Literature and Medicine; Queer Studies; Oral Literature; and Literary and Critical Theory
Email: vogoti@clemson.edu
Office: 811 Strode


George Palacios, Ph.D.

George Palacios, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Spanish
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


Kenneth Robinson

Kenneth Robinson

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


Gugu Selela

Gugu Selela

Lecturer
Intersectional feminism, Black and Afro feminism, Women’s leadership and political participation, gender mainstreaming, social justice, African politics, inclusive policymaking, and gender policy
Email: gselela@clemson.edu
Office: 256B Sirrine Hall


D'Ondre Swails

D'Ondre Swails

Assistant Professor
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
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
Email: mvillav@clemson.edu
Office: 116 Brooks


Kathryn Wiley

Kathryn Wiley

Race, Class, Gender, Wealth, Families
Email: kbwiley@clemson.edu
Office: 252 Sirrine Hall


Emeritus Affiliated Faculty

Beatrice Bailey

Beatrice Bailey

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


Bruce Ransom

Bruce Ransom

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


Global Black Studies
Global Black Studies | 256 Sirrine Hall Clemson, South Carolina 29634