Ashley Newby and John E. Drabinski - Department of African American and Africana Studies, University of Maryland

This is John Drabinski and you’re listening to The Black Studies podcast, a series of conversations examining the history of the field. Our conversations engage with a widerange of activists and scholars - senior figures in the field, graduate students, and everyone in between, culture workers, and political organizers - in order to explore the cultural and political meaning of Black Studies as an area of inquiry and its critical methods.Today’s conversation is between John E. Drabinski and Ashley Newby, both of whom teach in the Department of African American and Africana Studies at University of Maryland, As co-founders and co-hosts of The Black Studies Podcast, our discussion in this episode reflects on the moment of the podcast’s 300th episode, guided by questions sent to us by podcast listeners over social media. We explore how work on the podcast has impacted our understanding of Black Studies, how the podcast has enhanced our teaching and pedagogy, what moments stand out for us across the 300 episodes, feedback we have received from colleagues and listeners, and what hopes we have for the future of the project.