Transdisciplinary Methods (TASR): Reframing Research in Black and Africana Studies
Transdisciplinary Methods (TASR): Reframing Research in Black and Africana Studies provides a foundational guide for scholars seeking to conduct rigorous research that reflects the intellectual traditions, cultural knowledge systems, and methodological innovation at the heart of Africana Studies.
Authored by distinguished economist and Africana Studies scholar Dr. James B. Stewart, the volume articulates a structured framework for what he defines as Transdisciplinary Africana Studies Research (TASR), an approach that moves beyond rigid disciplinary boundaries to synthesize insights from the social sciences, humanities, historical analysis, and cultural knowledge systems.
Stewart demonstrates that traditional disciplinary frameworks alone are insufficient for interpreting the complex historical and contemporary experiences of people of African descent. Instead, TASR integrates multiple modes of inquiry, enabling researchers to generate more coherent interpretations of Black historical trajectories, cultural production, political economy, and social dynamics.
The book introduces several distinctive analytical constructs including research frames such as Cultural Knowledge Excavation, Liberatory Concept Generation, Sankofan Historiography, and Cultural Continuity analysis, all of which provide scholars with concrete strategies for designing research projects grounded in Africana Studies epistemology.
Drawing on intellectual traditions shaped by figures such as W.E.B. Du Bois, Imhotep, and Afrocentric scholarship, Stewart demonstrates how transdisciplinary inquiry can illuminate patterns in Black historical experience while supporting the development of policy-relevant scholarship and community-grounded research agendas.
Designed for graduate students, faculty, researchers, and institutional scholars, this volume serves as both a methodological handbook and a conceptual roadmap for advancing Africana Studies research in the twenty-first century.
Vol. 5 of the Little Black Book Series, the text contributes to an expanding body of scholarship dedicated to strengthening methodological clarity, research design, and intellectual infrastructure within the discipline.
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