Jafari S. Allen

Jafari S. Allen
Academic background
Education
Academic work
DisciplineAfrican American and African Diaspora studies
InstitutionsColumbia University

Jafari Sinclaire Allen is a scholar in the field of African American and African Diaspora studies, with research interests in gender and sexuality, social movements, social networks, and social stratification. As of 2026, he is a professor at Columbia University, as well as the director of the Institute for Research in African American Studies and editor-in-chief of Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Society, and Culture.[1]

Education

Allen attended New York City Public Schools, graduating from Springfield Gardens High School in 1986. He then received degrees from Morehouse College (1990) and New York University (1998) before earning a Doctor of Philosophy in socio-cultural anthropology from Columbia University (2003).[1]

Research

Allen's research interests include gender and sexuality, social movements, social networks, and social stratification.[1] Among other works, Allen has published two books: ¡Venceremos?: The Erotics of Black Self-making in Cuba (2011) and There's a Disco Ball Between Us: A Theory of Black Gay Life (2022).

Allen's debut book, ¡Venceremos?, was published by Duke University Press in 2011.[2] The title references the slogan ¡Venceremos! (We shall overcome!) that arose during the Cuban Revolution. Despite calls for equality, many groups were still discriminated against. ¡Venceremos? provides an "ethnography on race, desire, and belonging among blacks in early-twenty-first-century Cuba",[3] with Allen focusing on the late 1990s to the early 2000s.[4] According to Noelle M. Stout, writing for New West Indian Guide, "One of the most significant contributions of ¡Venceremos? is its application of intersectionality [...] to lived experience", which "shapes each chapter, as multiple themes and historical eras crisscross throughout".[5] ¡Venceremos? was a finalist for the 2012 Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ+ Studies.[6]

Allen's second book, There's a Disco Ball Between Us, was published by Duke University Press in 2022.[7] Across three sections that use a mix of historiography, (auto)ethnography, and media analysis,[8] the book explores what Allen refers to as "Black gay habits of mind",[9] while highlighting "the specificity of Black sexualities as well as their similarities across diaspora".[10] According to Baird Campbell, the book "is a sometimes disorienting journey across time-space, bringing together the experiences and histories of Black gay men across North and South America, the Caribbean, East Africa, and Europe".[8] Despite this disorientation, Campbell concluded that "Allen has skillfully woven together the experiences of an 'anthologized generation' without falling into the trap of eliding them".[8] There's a Disco Ball Between Us was a finalist for the 2023 Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ+ Studies.[11]

Publications

  • ¡Venceremos?: The Erotics of Black Self-making in Cuba. Duke University Press. 2011. doi:10.1215/9780822393801. ISBN 978-0-8223-9380-1.
  • There's a Disco Ball Between Us: A Theory of Black Gay Life. Duke University Press. 2022. doi:10.2307/j.ctv23985hj. ISBN 978-1-4780-2189-6.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Meet the Director | African American and African Diaspora Studies Department". Columbia University. Archived from the original on 2025-03-18. Retrieved 2026-06-08.
  2. ↑ Feliciano, Talisa (November 2013). "¡ Venceremos ? The Erotics of Black Self‐Making in Cuba. JafariS. Allen. Durham: Duke University Press, 2011. 256 pp". The Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology. 18 (3): 536–537. doi:10.1111/jlca.12051. ISSN 1935-4932.
  3. ↑ Allen, Jafari S. (2011). ¡Venceremos?: The Erotics of Black Self-making in Cuba. Duke University Press. doi:10.1215/9780822393801. ISBN 978-0-8223-9380-1.
  4. ↑ Wirtz, Kristina (August 2012). "¡Venceremos?: The Erotics of Black Self‐Making in Cuba by Jafari S. Allen". American Ethnologist. 39 (3): 636–636. doi:10.1111/j.1548-1425.2012.01385_7.x. ISSN 0094-0496.
  5. ↑ Stout, Noelle M. (2013). "¡Venceremos?: The Erotics of Black Self-making in Cuba. Jafari S. Allen. Durham NC: Duke University Press, 2011. xii + 241 pp. (Paper US$ 23.95)". New West Indian Guide. 87 (3–4): 395–397. doi:10.1163/22134360-12340077. ISSN 1382-2373.
  6. ↑ "24th Annual Lambda Literary Award finalists announced". Windy City Times. 2012-03-20. Retrieved 2026-06-09.
  7. ↑ Snorton, C. Riley (January 2024). "There's a Disco Ball between Us: A Theory of Black Gay Life. By Jafari S. Allen. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2022. Pp. 415. $119.95 (cloth); $31.95 (paper)". Journal of the History of Sexuality. 33 (1) – via Project MUSE.
  8. 1 2 3 Campbell, Baird (February 2023). "There's a disco ball between us: A theory of Black gay life By JafariAllen. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2022. 440 pp". American Ethnologist. 50 (1): 156–157. doi:10.1111/amet.13121. ISSN 0094-0496.
  9. ↑ Allen, Jafari S. (2022). There's a Disco Ball Between Us: A Theory of Black Gay Life. Duke University Press. doi:10.2307/j.ctv23985hj. ISBN 978-1-4780-2189-6.
  10. ↑ Lane, Nikki (2024-04-01). ": There's a Disco Ball between Us: A Theory of Black Gay Life". Transforming Anthropology. 32 (1): 60–61. doi:10.1086/730090. ISSN 1051-0559.
  11. ↑ Upadhyaya, Kayla Kumari (2023-03-15). "Congratulations to the 2023 Lambda Literary Award Finalists!". Autostraddle. Archived from the original on March 15, 2023. Retrieved 2023-03-16.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.