Africana Studies and Research Center

Olufemi Taiwo
Professor

310 Triphammer Road

Ithaca, New York 14850
t. 607.254.8332
f. 607.255.0784
e. ot48@cornell.edu
africana@cornell.edu

October 5, 2020

Dear Officers and Members of the Caribbean Students Association,

Please accept my apologies for this late reply to your request that the faculty of our department
consider your request for a Minor in Caribbean Studies. As you know, the beginning of the
Semester always brings its own challenges.
The faculty have now met and carefully considered your request. First, I would like to convey to
your association the deep appreciation of the faculty for your initiative and interest in the work of
the department. We would also like you to know how seriously we take your request and the
reasons you adduced for it.
After due consideration, I regret to inform you that the department is unable to support a Minor in
Caribbean Studies. Our reasons follow.
1. Cornell Africana has a legacy of defining the field from its inception when those who founded it,
following upon demands like yours from an earlier generation of students, chose a model that
thought Africa and its Diaspora, with the African American component at its core, as an
interconnected whole. We do not exaggerate when we say that not only has that model worked for
the last fifty years, it has continued to inspire others both within the country and in other parts of the
world, especially now in Europe where nascent Africana programs are searching for models. We
would need an intellectual justification for splitting the framework and undermining our primary
goal of ensuring that our graduates do not think each of its components in isolation from the others
even as, as we point out below, we make a point of providing for specialization or concentration on
those component parts in our current curricular framework.
2. Legacy is one thing, how well the model works is another. Over its fifty years of existence,
Africana has nurtured and graduated students from all parts of the global African world and
provided a home for all comers who have come to be educated and enriched by its curriculum.
Pressures in the past for splitting up the framework have been entertained and generations of faculty
have always found that the model that educates students to the interconnections of the different
components of the global African world—including its Caribbean elements—has always delivered
more value than alternative ones. Not only have previous generations of Caribbean students found
Africana to be an ideal home, the graduates of our program from the area have gone on to be
incredible ambassadors for our Center.
3. A close look at our curriculum will show that we already have ample provisions for those of your
members who might want to concentrate on the Caribbean region in our extant Minor. Equally
important is the fact that we regularly offer classes that focus on the region, especially the
“Introduction to Caribbean Studies” class which, I might point out, is almost unique in the
department. We do not offer similar courses for the rest of the regions in our coverage area. This is
 a testament to the work that some of our faculty do to accommodate, even before this request, some
of the concerns that you have raised.
4. Needless to say, we remain open to tweaking the curriculum as you and others point out blind spots
in our course offerings. I cannot emphasize enough the availability of our faculty who work in the
area and even those who do not to guide, mentor, and supervise special classes, independent
studies, and so on, for your members.
5. I hope that this helps your association and enhances cooperation between your members and our
department.
6. Please feel free to let me know if you have more questions.

With best wishes to your members for the rest of the semester and beyond,

Olúfe ̣́mi Táíwò

Chair.