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Rarely does a document of this sort possess the potential for serving as both an archival resource and an inspiration. For those of us who received advanced degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, this compilation is a site of memory. Many of us will be drawn to the authors' names, undoubtedly because they recall the work of peers who struggled with us to complete degree requirements in timely fashion or because they remind us of the number of significant scholars which Berkeley has trained in a variety of fields, including Anthropology, Dramatic Art, Folklore, History, and Sociology. From 1907 through Spring 2001, graduate students specializing in African Diaspora research worked alone, often isolated in academic departments where the opportunity to share one's ideas with peers was the exception rather than the norm. In a sense, Phyllis Bischof has brought us together intellectually. The range of topics and sites is a fascinating review of graduate student commitment to the creation of fields which we now take for granted in the year 2002, namely African, African American, and Caribbean Studies.
For the current generations of graduate students, this document might well serve as both comfort and inspiration, particularly when, in any given department or period, we find ourselves listed as the only one working in African American Studies. Returning to Berkeley twenty-three years following my graduate training in the French department, I am delighted to have my dissertation recognized as part of a continuing tradition. We gather here with our elders, our contemporaries, and younger scholars as though we were seated around a communal table.
VeVe A. Clark
African & Caribbean Literatures
African American Studies &
Comparative Literature
March, 1992