Black Studies

Center for Black Studies

Established in 1970, the Center for Black Studies at Portland State University facilitates the study of the past and present experiences of black America. Among the goals of the center is to act as a forum between faculty members and students of different disciplines who share an interest in Black Studies; to collect and disseminate information which accurately reflects and helps improve the black experience; and to link the University and black communities by maintaining an active role in community service.

The center provides the University and the broader community with cultural activities and the stimulation of an exciting and enlightening intellectual atmosphere in the Portland community, contributing to greater understanding and cooperation between races. A lecture series brings to the campus and the Portland community black speakers of different disciplines and philosophies who have made notable contributions to society. The center promotes national and international activities in this area through the generation of grants, proposals, and programs that combine University staff, money, and expertise with resources from the government and the private sector.

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Center for Black Studies
Visiting Scholar Program

The Center for Black Studies visiting scholar position hosts local, national, and international scholars who are interested in researching, teaching, and presenting at Portland State University using a Black Studies pedagogical lens.

Visiting Scholar 2025-2026

Dr. Trevor Makhetha

Trevor Makhetha Profile Photo

 

Biography

Dr. Trevor Makhetha is a sociologist and educator whose work is at the intersection of Technologies, Education, and African identities in Africa and the Diaspora. His research explores how education and technology shape, and are shaped by, African identities.  In addition, his scholarship advances socially responsive methodologies that rehumanise knowledge and knowledge production. Dr. Makhetha’s current study, "Educational Technology and Student Success in South Africa, Brazil, and the United States of America", is a comparative investigation into how first-generation Black students navigate digital learning, academic transitions, and aspirations across diverse educational systems. Grounded in critical pedagogy and Ubuntu ethics, the research examines how technology mediates experiences of access, belonging, and transformation, revealing both the possibilities and limitations of digital tools in advancing equity in higher education. During his fellowship at PSU’s Centre for Black Studies, Dr. Makhetha will lead the U.S. component of his comparative study by conducting interviews, focus group discussions, and photovoice workshops with first-generation Black students, collaborating on cross-country data analysis, mentoring emerging researchers, and co-develop equity-driven interventions for student success.

Visiting Scholar 2024-2025

Dr. Carmen P. Thompson

Carmen P. Thompson Headshot

 

Biography

Carmen P. Thompson is a historian and author of The Making of American Whiteness: The Formation of Race in Seventeenth- Century Virginia. She earned her PhD in U.S. History from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and her Masters of Arts in African American Studies from Columbia University in New York. Dr. Thompson is a highly sought expert on Race and Whiteness in America. Her scholarship was quoted in the December 2022 Oregon State Supreme Court decision, Watkins v. Ackley, in support of the Court’s conclusion of disparate racial impact of non-unanimous jury decisions. She wrote the introduction to the newly published book, Protest City: Portland’s Summer of Rage, a photo book that chronicles the yearlong protests in Portland, Oregon after the murder of George Floyd by police in 2020. And she co-edited and authored articles in the peer reviewed journal, Oregon Historical Quarterly, 2019 special issue on White supremacy in Oregon. Currently, Thompson holds a visiting scholar appointment in the Center for Black Studies at Portland State University. She has also held visiting scholar appointments at the Institute for Research in African American Studies at Columbia University in New York and in the Black Studies Department at Portland State University, and has taught a wide range of courses on the Black experience and Whiteness at Portland State University and Portland Community College.
 

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Digital Archive

This archive serves student research and education regarding issues of racial and cultural diversity in the Portland metro area.

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