Brie Gorrell, Ashley Newby, and John E. Drabinski - Departments of Africana Studies and English, University of Maryland

This is Brie Gorrell and you’re listening to The Black Studies podcast, a Mellon grant sponsored series of conversations examining the history of the field. Our conversations engage with a wide range of activists and scholars - senior figures in the field, graduate and undergraduate 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 myself, Ashley Newby, and John Drabinski, hosts of The Black Studies Podcast, reflecting on the 100th episode and what the series has taught us about the meaning of Black study and Black Studies. We discuss the unique contributions made by the field of Black Studies, how critical framings across the series impact pedagogy and research, and what sorts of hopes, aspirations, and expectations we have for the future of the podcast.