Haiti Projects
The Center for Black Studies Research has distinguished itself as the major Haitian studies center west of the Mississippi. The Center has published the Journal of Haitian Studies, the official publication of the Haitian Studies Association, since 1995. In 1997, thirteen scholars at UCSB for a colloquium on Haitian Vodou, "The Spirit and The Reality: Vodou and Haiti." At the end of the conference, these scholars decided to institutionalize their efforts through a new association under the name, the Congress of Santa Barbara—KOSANBA.
The Center is a partner in the production of Poto Mitan: Haitian Women, Pillars of the Global Economy, a new documentary by award-winning filmmaker Renée Bergan and Mark Schuller of Tèt Ansam productions.
KOSANBA (the Congress of Santa Barbara)
A scholarly association for the study of Haitian Vodou
Divine Haiti
A guide to the Lwa of Haitian Vodou, illustrated with paintings by Hërsza Barjon and text by Kyrah M. Daniels.
Urban Studies Projects
Kalfou, a Journal of Comparative and Relational Ethnic Studies is a forthcoming journal associated with the Center's urban studies projects.
Other aspects of the project include environmental justice issues. Dr. Robert Bullard, one the of founders of the environmental justice movement, delivered the Center's 2009 Shirley Kennedy Memorial Lecture.
The Center has also provided support for student groups aiding relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina.
Race & Technology
Founded by former director Anna Everett in 2003, the Race & Technology Initiative provides a forum for researchers and professionals to discuss perceptions and realities beyond the digital divide.The two AfroGEEKS conferences and the anthology, AfroGEEKS: Beyond the Digital Divide (Anna Everett and Amber Wallace, eds.), are results of this initiative.
