Brian Kwoba
Associate Professor | Director of African and African American Studies (AAAS)
Education
Ph.D., History, University of Oxford, 2017
MA in Teaching (political science), Tufts University, 2007.
BA in Philosophy, 2004, Cornell University.
Fields of Interest
My research interests include African-American political thought, social movements, and the politics of race, class, and gender across the African diaspora.
Courses taught
HIST 3881 African-American History; HIST 2020 US History Since 1877; HIST 7882/8882: Twentieth Century African American Historiography; HIST 7883/8883 Historical Studies of Black Radicalism; HIST 4882/6882 The Civil Rights Movement; HIST 3009/The History of Black Revolutions.
Representative Publications
B. Kwoba, , UNC Press, 2025.
B. Kwoba, 鈥淭he Life and Political Contributions of Hubert Harrison.鈥� Hubert Harrison: The Voice of Harlem Radicalism 1883-1918 (Vol. 1) and , New Politics, Winter 2022.
B. Kwoba, for the Journal of African-American History, Volume 105:3. Summer 2020.
B. Kwoba, 'Hubert Henry Harrison: Black Radicalism and the Colored International' in The Red and the Black Vol. 2: , Manchester University Press. 2022
(Book review) B. Kwoba, The Black Scholar, Summer 2019, Taylor and Francis.
Rose Chantiluke, Brian Kwoba, and Athinangamso Nkopo, eds.,. London: Zed Books, 2018.
, Black Perspectives (African American Intellectual History Society blog).
B. Kwoba, 鈥淲hite Skin Privilege and Marxism?鈥� , 2013.
B. Kwoba, 鈥淲ho Am I?鈥� , 2013.
Representative Conferences
鈥淧sychology of Medical Trauma: A Focused Look Into Gaza,鈥� Rhodes College, February 2024.
鈥淎 Teach-In on Gaza and Palestine鈥� University of Memphis, November 2023.
鈥淗ubert Harrison and Caribbean Radical Traditions.鈥� Caribbean Studies Association (CSA) Annual Conference, St. Croix, June 2023.
鈥淪tretching Marxist Analysis: Race, Class, and the Black Radical Tradition.鈥� African American Intellectual History Society (AAIHS) Annual Conference, Austin, March 2020.
鈥淭he (Ir)Relevancy of Black Liberation Theology in the Fields of African American History and Black Studies.鈥� Association for the Study of African-American Life and History Annual Conference, Charleston, October 2019.
"Hubert Harrison, the White World War, and the Colored International." Association for the Study of African-American Life and History Annual Conference, Indianapolis, October 2018.
"Afro-Pessimism, the Maangamizi, and the Problem of the Human." Afro-Asia: A New Axis of Knowledge Conference, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, September 2018.
"Unspeakable Anti-Blackness and the Maangamizi." Caribbean Philosophical Association Summer School, University of Memphis, July 2018.
"Rhodes Must Fall: the Movement To Decolonize Education in Britain and Beyond." Multimedia University of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya June 2018.
"Decolonizing Education in the Western Academy." Pwani University, Kilifi, Kenya, May 2018
"Lessons from History: the Movement for Black Lives and the 2016 Elections." #BlackLivesMatterUK Conference, Nottingham, England, Oct. 2015.
"Migration as a Driver of Black Politicization and Racial Identity Formation" Association for the Study of African-American Life and History (ASALH) 100th Anniversary Conference, Atlanta, Georgia, Sept. 2015.
"Race, Power, and Privilege," Global Scholars Symposium, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England, May 2015.
"The Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Experience in Education," The Oxford Education Conference, Oxford, England, May 2014.
Administration/Service
Director of the African and African Studies (AAAS) Program
Faculty Advisor to the Graduate Association of African American History (GAAAH), Teaching and Mentoring Committee, Undergraduate Studies Committee
Awards and Grants
2021-2022 Scholar-in-Residence, New York Public Library's Schomburg Center for Research
in Black Culture.
2021 University of Memphis Alumni Association Distinguished Teaching Award
Black Scholars Unlimited's Igniting Excitement Award for Academic Excellence (Memphis, 2020). Black Scholars Unlimited is a student Honor Society driven by the purpose of enhancing academic experiences in Scholarship, Leadership, and Service, with a special emphasis on African-American students.
Marcus Orr Center for the Humanities (MOCH) Freeburg Fellowship (University of Memphis, 2020), an award which relieves me of my teaching duties for the spring 2020 semester, so that I can make progress on my first single-authored book.
Eben Stone "Frederick Douglass As茅" Award (Memphis, 2019), in recognition for work as an outstanding educator in Memphis. 24th Annual Stone Awards, Memphis, TN.