Theory and Practice of Africana Cultures and Policy Studies
The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, TransAfrica Forum, Institute of the Black World have all influenced the ACPSI paradigm in an effort to re-examine the connections between Africana Studies and policy studies.
Africana cultures and policy studies (ACPS) has been interpreted differently by the fellows of ACPSI. Generally, the consensus exists that ACPS is an integrated, interdisciplinary investigations between the people, cultural practices and their environment.
Key contributors to ACPS have been Zachery Williams, Floyd Beachum, Babacar M'Baye, Robert Smith, Carlos McCray, Tim Lake and Seneca Vaught.
Williams' major contribution to ACPS has centered on an evaluation of policies on a local, national, and transnational/international level. In the Williams school, ACPS dialogues with Africana Studies, Global Policy Studies, American Culture Studies, as well as more traditional disciplines including but not limited to history, education, philosophy, religion, law, English, etc. The policy process is addressed from a top-down and a bottom-up perspective enabling ACPS to serve as a bridge between theory and practice effectively connecting academia, various community constituencies, and related institutions. Furthermore, ACPS links culture studies and policy studies in a systematic manner that promotes the critical examination and evaluation of cultural issues such as continuity and change or dislocation, thereby applying such analysis to the policy research and development process.
Smith has emphasized the importance of law in his contributions to ACPS. The relationship between policy and people have driven particular questions the role of law and policy on African American identity and opportunity. Research into the impacts of various types of legislation and case law highlights the unique convergence of race and law. Vaught's contributions to the discourse of ACPS have followed in a similar fashion. Vaught has broadly defined the role of ACPS as rooted in a policy concept of relationships vying for increased power through social contracts that are largely informed by cultural experiences.
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