Mission and Vision

Our mission

Founded in 2020, the Center for Africana Studies and Culture (CASC) is the programming and community-engaged research arm of the Africana Studies Program in the IU Indianapolis School of Liberal Arts and therefore aligns with the academic program mission to provide an academically rigorous, socially engaging, and relevant learning environment for the study of Africa and the African Diaspora.

The center embodies this mission through three major thrusts: Supporting the teaching and work of the Africana Studies Program, Co-creating Community-Engaged Programming with members of the surrounding community, and developing faculty and undergraduate research.

Our vision

The Center provides avenues for the flowering of cultural programming that promotes strategic and inclusive pathways to community-engaged activity, enhanced participation in undergraduate research, and creative academic inquiry.

Our core objectives

• Serve as a primary curator of cultural experiences for the campus and surrounding communities.
• Engage public scholarship and research that explores diverse and wide-ranging depictions of the depth and breadth of the Black intellectual tradition.
• Leverage collaborations with campus and community partners to facilitate relevant participatory research.
• Develop and support student-centered participatory research with a focus on Africana ways of knowing in conjunction with the Executive Director of the Olaniyan Scholars Program. This objective will focus on engaging faculty and community-based independent scholars with undergraduate researchers.
• Support students through offering them alternative spaces for expression and inquiry.
• Provide professional learning experiences and continuing education programming within Africana Studies to community members, teachers, and other professionals.