Today’s guest is Dr. Joshua Myers, Associate Professor of Africana Studies at Howard University and author of Of Black Study, Cedric Robinson: The Time of the Black Radical Tradition, and We Are Worth Fighting For, a history of the 1989 Howard University student protest. In this conversation, Dr. Myers reflects on the revolutionary roots of Black Studies, exploring whether the field has moved away from its origins in Black radicalism, Pan-Africanism, and Third World Liberation movements. We discuss the intellectual legacy of thinkers like Sylvia Wynter, Cedric Robinson, W\.E.B. Du Bois, and Jacob Carruthers, and examine how Black Study offers a way of knowing and being that challenges dominant systems of knowledge and the violence embedded in the Western academy.Dr. Myers critiques the ways interdisciplinarity can fragment the field, calling instead for a non-disciplinary approach rooted in African and diasporic epistemologies. He emphasizes that Black Study is not simply academic—it is political, communal, and spiritual, and must be grounded in lived experience. We also explore how people outside of universities can meaningfully engage in Black Study, and the broader implications of political appointments in HBCUs, such as the controversial selection of Marva Johnson as FAMU’s new president. This is a powerful and timely conversation about reclaiming the liberatory mission of Black Studies and transforming how we think, live, and learn in the tradition of Black radical thought.
