In addition to my scholarly activities I have been the director of the Center for Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. I was the director of the Center when it was transformed from the Afro-American Studies Program to the Center for Africana Studies. In this capacity, I have worked with scholars from around the nation in an effort to define what it means to be a 'Center for Africana Studies.' These conversations have helped shape my vision of an Africana studies that situates the study of African and its Diaspora in one intellectual space. This space, or center if you will, contains many projects that overlap and diverge. Intellecutally, the center does not focus on a place, but on an intellectual space that contains several national and transnational projects. Some of these projects can be defined as Afro-American studies, others as African Studies, and yet others as Caribbean studies.
