Departmental conditions and the emergence of new disciplines: Two cases in the legitimation of African-American studies

Theory and Society

Volumn 28, Issue 5, 1999, Pages 659-707

  Small, Mario L ^a  

^a HARVARD UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0011139155     PISSN: 03042421     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1023/A:1007034317576     Document Type: Article

References (181)

1. Charles Camic, "The Making of a Method: A Historical Reinterpretation of the Early Parsons," American Sociological Review 52 (1987): 421-439; Charles Camic, "Structure after 50 Years: The Anatomy of a Charter," American Journal of Sociology 95 (1989): 38-107; Charles Camic, "Three Departments in Search of a Discipline: Localism and Interdisciplinary Interaction in American Sociology, 1890-1940," Social Research 62 (1995): 1003-1033; Charles Camic and Yu Xie. "The Statistical Turn in American Social Science, 1890 to 1915," American Sociological Review 59 (1994): 773-805; Lawrence Nichols, "The Establishment of Sociology at Harvard," in Science at Harvard University, Clark Elliott and Margaret Rossiter, editors (Bethlehem, Penn.: Lehigh University Press, 1992); Rodney Triplet, "Harvard Psychology, the Psychological Clinic, and Henry A. Murray: A Case Study in the Establishment of Disciplinary Boundaries," in Science at Harvard University. See also Steven Diner, "Department and Discipline: the Department of Sociology at the University of Chicago, 1892-1920," Minerva 13 (1975): 514-553.
2. Charles Camic, "The Making of a Method: A Historical Reinterpretation of the Early Parsons," American Sociological Review 52 (1987): 421-439; Charles Camic, "Structure after 50 Years: The Anatomy of a Charter," American Journal of Sociology 95 (1989): 38-107; Charles Camic, "Three Departments in Search of a Discipline: Localism and Interdisciplinary Interaction in American Sociology, 1890-1940," Social Research 62 (1995): 1003-1033; Charles Camic and Yu Xie. "The Statistical Turn in American Social Science, 1890 to 1915," American Sociological Review 59 (1994): 773-805; Lawrence Nichols, "The Establishment of Sociology at Harvard," in Science at Harvard University, Clark Elliott and Margaret Rossiter, editors (Bethlehem, Penn.: Lehigh University Press, 1992); Rodney Triplet, "Harvard Psychology, the Psychological Clinic, and Henry A. Murray: A Case Study in the Establishment of Disciplinary Boundaries," in Science at Harvard University. See also Steven Diner, "Department and Discipline: the Department of Sociology at the University of Chicago, 1892-1920," Minerva 13 (1975): 514-553.
3. Charles Camic, "The Making of a Method: A Historical Reinterpretation of the Early Parsons," American Sociological Review 52 (1987): 421-439; Charles Camic, "Structure after 50 Years: The Anatomy of a Charter," American Journal of Sociology 95 (1989): 38-107; Charles Camic, "Three Departments in Search of a Discipline: Localism and Interdisciplinary Interaction in American Sociology, 1890-1940," Social Research 62 (1995): 1003-1033; Charles Camic and Yu Xie. "The Statistical Turn in American Social Science, 1890 to 1915," American Sociological Review 59 (1994): 773-805; Lawrence Nichols, "The Establishment of Sociology at Harvard," in Science at Harvard University, Clark Elliott and Margaret Rossiter, editors (Bethlehem, Penn.: Lehigh University Press, 1992); Rodney Triplet, "Harvard Psychology, the Psychological Clinic, and Henry A. Murray: A Case Study in the Establishment of Disciplinary Boundaries," in Science at Harvard University. See also Steven Diner, "Department and Discipline: the Department of Sociology at the University of Chicago, 1892-1920," Minerva 13 (1975): 514-553.
4. Charles Camic, "The Making of a Method: A Historical Reinterpretation of the Early Parsons," American Sociological Review 52 (1987): 421-439; Charles Camic, "Structure after 50 Years: The Anatomy of a Charter," American Journal of Sociology 95 (1989): 38-107; Charles Camic, "Three Departments in Search of a Discipline: Localism and Interdisciplinary Interaction in American Sociology, 1890-1940," Social Research 62 (1995): 1003-1033; Charles Camic and Yu Xie. "The Statistical Turn in American Social Science, 1890 to 1915," American Sociological Review 59 (1994): 773-805; Lawrence Nichols, "The Establishment of Sociology at Harvard," in Science at Harvard University, Clark Elliott and Margaret Rossiter, editors (Bethlehem, Penn.: Lehigh University Press, 1992); Rodney Triplet, "Harvard Psychology, the Psychological Clinic, and Henry A. Murray: A Case Study in the Establishment of Disciplinary Boundaries," in Science at Harvard University. See also Steven Diner, "Department and Discipline: the Department of Sociology at the University of Chicago, 1892-1920," Minerva 13 (1975): 514-553.
5. Charles Camic, "The Making of a Method: A Historical Reinterpretation of the Early Parsons," American Sociological Review 52 (1987): 421-439; Charles Camic, "Structure after 50 Years: The Anatomy of a Charter," American Journal of Sociology 95 (1989): 38-107; Charles Camic, "Three Departments in Search of a Discipline: Localism and Interdisciplinary Interaction in American Sociology, 1890-1940," Social Research 62 (1995): 1003-1033; Charles Camic and Yu Xie. "The Statistical Turn in American Social Science, 1890 to 1915," American Sociological Review 59 (1994): 773-805; Lawrence Nichols, "The Establishment of Sociology at Harvard," in Science at Harvard University, Clark Elliott and Margaret Rossiter, editors (Bethlehem, Penn.: Lehigh University Press, 1992); Rodney Triplet, "Harvard Psychology, the Psychological Clinic, and Henry A. Murray: A Case Study in the Establishment of Disciplinary Boundaries," in Science at Harvard University. See also Steven Diner, "Department and Discipline: the Department of Sociology at the University of Chicago, 1892-1920," Minerva 13 (1975): 514-553.
6. Charles Camic, "The Making of a Method: A Historical Reinterpretation of the Early Parsons," American Sociological Review 52 (1987): 421-439; Charles Camic, "Structure after 50 Years: The Anatomy of a Charter," American Journal of Sociology 95 (1989): 38-107; Charles Camic, "Three Departments in Search of a Discipline: Localism and Interdisciplinary Interaction in American Sociology, 1890-1940," Social Research 62 (1995): 1003-1033; Charles Camic and Yu Xie. "The Statistical Turn in American Social Science, 1890 to 1915," American Sociological Review 59 (1994): 773-805; Lawrence Nichols, "The Establishment of Sociology at Harvard," in Science at Harvard University, Clark Elliott and Margaret Rossiter, editors (Bethlehem, Penn.: Lehigh University Press, 1992); Rodney Triplet, "Harvard Psychology, the Psychological Clinic, and Henry A. Murray: A Case Study in the Establishment of Disciplinary Boundaries," in Science at Harvard University. See also Steven Diner, "Department and Discipline: the Department of Sociology at the University of Chicago, 1892-1920," Minerva 13 (1975): 514-553.
7. Charles Camic, "The Making of a Method: A Historical Reinterpretation of the Early Parsons," American Sociological Review 52 (1987): 421-439; Charles Camic, "Structure after 50 Years: The Anatomy of a Charter," American Journal of Sociology 95 (1989): 38-107; Charles Camic, "Three Departments in Search of a Discipline: Localism and Interdisciplinary Interaction in American Sociology, 1890-1940," Social Research 62 (1995): 1003-1033; Charles Camic and Yu Xie. "The Statistical Turn in American Social Science, 1890 to 1915," American Sociological Review 59 (1994): 773-805; Lawrence Nichols, "The Establishment of Sociology at Harvard," in Science at Harvard University, Clark Elliott and Margaret Rossiter, editors (Bethlehem, Penn.: Lehigh University Press, 1992); Rodney Triplet, "Harvard Psychology, the Psychological Clinic, and Henry A. Murray: A Case Study in the Establishment of Disciplinary Boundaries," in Science at Harvard University. See also Steven Diner, "Department and Discipline: the Department of Sociology at the University of Chicago, 1892-1920," Minerva 13 (1975): 514-553.
8. Camic, "Three Departments in Search of a Discipline: Localism and Interdisciplinary Interaction in American Sociology, 1890-1940."
9. Camic, "Three Departments in Search of a Discipline: Localism and Interdisciplinary Interaction in American Sociology, 1890-1940."
10. Joseph Ben-David. The Scientist's Role in Society (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984); Talcott Parsons and Gerard Platt, The American University (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1973).
11. Joseph Ben-David. The Scientist's Role in Society (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984); Talcott Parsons and Gerard Platt, The American University (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1973).
12. Hamilton Cravens, The Triumph of Evolution: American Scientists and the Heredity-Environment Controversy, 1900-1941 (Philadelphia: University of Philadelphia Press, 1978); Camic and Xie, "The Statistical Turn in American Social Science, 1890 to 1915."
13. Hamilton Cravens, The Triumph of Evolution: American Scientists and the Heredity-Environment Controversy, 1900-1941 (Philadelphia: University of Philadelphia Press, 1978); Camic and Xie, "The Statistical Turn in American Social Science, 1890 to 1915."
14. Anthony Oberschall. editor, The Establishment of Empirical Sociology: Studies in Continuity, Discontinuity, and Institutionalization (New York: Harper and Row, 1972). See also, Maulana Karenga, Introduction to Black Studies (Los Angeles: University of Sankore Press, 1993); Johnella Eutler and John Walter, editors, Transforming the Curriculum: Ethnic Studies and Women's Studies (Albany: State University of New York, 1991).
15. Anthony Oberschall. editor, The Establishment of Empirical Sociology: Studies in Continuity, Discontinuity, and Institutionalization (New York: Harper and Row, 1972). See also, Maulana Karenga, Introduction to Black Studies (Los Angeles: University of Sankore Press, 1993); Johnella Eutler and John Walter, editors, Transforming the Curriculum: Ethnic Studies and Women's Studies (Albany: State University of New York, 1991).
16. Anthony Oberschall. editor, The Establishment of Empirical Sociology: Studies in Continuity, Discontinuity, and Institutionalization (New York: Harper and Row, 1972). See also, Maulana Karenga, Introduction to Black Studies (Los Angeles: University of Sankore Press, 1993); Johnella Eutler and John Walter, editors, Transforming the Curriculum: Ethnic Studies and Women's Studies (Albany: State University of New York, 1991).
17. "The Statistical Turn in American Social Science, 1890 to 1915," 791. But see Diner, "Department and Discipline: The Depart nent of Sociology at the University of Chicago, 1892-1920," and Cravens, The Triumph of Evolution: American Scientists and the Heredity-Environment Controversy, 1900-1941.
18. "The Statistical Turn in American Social Science, 1890 to 1915," 791. But see Diner, "Department and Discipline: The Depart nent of Sociology at the University of Chicago, 1892-1920," and Cravens, The Triumph of Evolution: American Scientists and the Heredity-Environment Controversy, 1900-1941.
19. "The Statistical Turn in American Social Science, 1890 to 1915," 791. But see Diner, "Department and Discipline: The Depart nent of Sociology at the University of Chicago, 1892-1920," and Cravens, The Triumph of Evolution: American Scientists and the Heredity-Environment Controversy, 1900-1941.
20. One may also speak of sub-disciplines, such as social psychology or the sociology of organization, which may be defined as having a specific topic of study, but borrowing explicitly from the methods or approach of an independent discipline, and making no claims to being a separate discipline. In this article, for reasons that follow, I restrict my analysis to the distinctio i between the first two.
21. For convenience, I use this term as a general rubric to describe emerging disciplines, sub-disciplines, or inter-disciplinary fields.
22. See, e.g., Camic and Xie, "The Statistical Turn in American Social Science, 1890 to 1915," 791.
23. For convenience, I use the terms "Black Studies," "Afro-American Studies," and "African-American Studies" interchangeably. These terms, in addition to "Africana Studies" and "Africology" are used variously by different institutions, usually uncovering a particular ideology. For a discussion, see Dalene Clarke Hine, "Black Studies: An Overview," in Africana Studies: A Disciplinary Quest for Both Theory and Method, James Conyers, editor (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, 1997).
24. Andrew Abbott, The System of Professions (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995).
25. Thomas Gieryn, "Boundaries of Science," in Handbook of Science and Technology Studies, Sheila Jasanoff, Gerald Markle, James Petersen, and Trevor Pinch, editors (Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 1995).
26. Joseph Ben-David and Randall Collins, "Social Factors in the Origins of a New Science: The Case of Psychology," American Sociological Review 31 (1966): 451-465.
27. This and subsequent figures refer only to African-American Studies, and not to degrees in African Studies. Departments that offer a joint-degree in "African and African-American Studies" are included here.
28. Index of Majors and Graduate Degrees (New York College Entrance Examination Board, 1998).
29. Terry Kershaw, "The Emerging Paradigm in Black Studies," in Black Studies: Theory, Method, and Cultural Perspective, Talmadge Anderson, editor (Pullman: Washington State University Press, 1990); James Conyers, editor, Africana Studies: A Disciplinary Quest for Both Theory und Method (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1997); James Turner, editor. The Next Decade: Theoretical and Research Issues in Africana Studies (Ithaca: African Studies and Research Center, Cornell University, 1984).
30. Terry Kershaw, "The Emerging Paradigm in Black Studies," in Black Studies: Theory, Method, and Cultural Perspective, Talmadge Anderson, editor (Pullman: Washington State University Press, 1990); James Conyers, editor, Africana Studies: A Disciplinary Quest for Both Theory und Method (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1997); James Turner, editor. The Next Decade: Theoretical and Research Issues in Africana Studies (Ithaca: African Studies and Research Center, Cornell University, 1984).
31. Terry Kershaw, "The Emerging Paradigm in Black Studies," in Black Studies: Theory, Method, and Cultural Perspective, Talmadge Anderson, editor (Pullman: Washington State University Press, 1990); James Conyers, editor, Africana Studies: A Disciplinary Quest for Both Theory und Method (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1997); James Turner, editor. The Next Decade: Theoretical and Research Issues in Africana Studies (Ithaca: African Studies and Research Center, Cornell University, 1984).
32. Karenga, in Introduction to Black Studies, calls it an "interdisciplinary discipline," though he argues that "[i]t is obvious that Black Studies cannot and should not be subsumed under a traditional discipline," 24-25. He also writes: "Like all disciplines, Black Studies has subject areas of specialization which do not replace the discipline, but sharpen its focus in a given area," 25, suggesting a defense of Afro-American Studies as an independent discipline.
33. Nick Aron Ford, Black Studies: Threat or Challenge? (Port Washington, N.Y.: Kennikat Press, 1973). See also, Elias Blake Jr. and Henry Cogg, Black Studies: Issues in their Institutional Survival (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1976).
34. Nick Aron Ford, Black Studies: Threat or Challenge? (Port Washington, N.Y.: Kennikat Press, 1973). See also, Elias Blake Jr. and Henry Cogg, Black Studies: Issues in their Institutional Survival (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1976).
35. Nathan Huggins, Afro-American Studies: A Report to the Ford Foundation (New York: Ford Foundation, 1985). The National Council of Black Studies is currently documenting some of this information via national questionnaire surveys.
36. Kershaw, "The Emerging Paradigm in Black Studies"; Karenga, Introduction to Black Studies; Nikongo BaNikongo, editor, Leading Issues in African-American Studies (Durham: Carolina Academic Press, 1997); Dyana Ziegler, editor, Molefi Asante and Afrocentricity: In Praise and Criticism (Nashville: Winston-Derck Publishers, 1995).
37. Kershaw, "The Emerging Paradigm in Black Studies"; Karenga, Introduction to Black Studies; Nikongo BaNikongo, editor, Leading Issues in African-American Studies (Durham: Carolina Academic Press, 1997); Dyana Ziegler, editor, Molefi Asante and Afrocentricity: In Praise and Criticism (Nashville: Winston-Derck Publishers, 1995).
38. Kershaw, "The Emerging Paradigm in Black Studies"; Karenga, Introduction to Black Studies; Nikongo BaNikongo, editor, Leading Issues in African-American Studies (Durham: Carolina Academic Press, 1997); Dyana Ziegler, editor, Molefi Asante and Afrocentricity: In Praise and Criticism (Nashville: Winston-Derck Publishers, 1995).
39. Kershaw, "The Emerging Paradigm in Black Studies"; Karenga, Introduction to Black Studies; Nikongo BaNikongo, editor, Leading Issues in African-American Studies (Durham: Carolina Academic Press, 1997); Dyana Ziegler, editor, Molefi Asante and Afrocentricity: In Praise and Criticism (Nashville: Winston-Derck Publishers, 1995).
40. Molefi Asante, Kemet. Afrocentricity and Knowledge (Trenton, N.J.: Africa World Press, Inc., 1990); Conyers, editor, Africana Studies: A Disciplinary Quest for Theory and Method; Talmadge Anderson, editor, Black Studies: Theory, Method, and Cultural Perspectives (Pullman: Washington State University Press, 1990).
41. Molefi Asante, Kemet. Afrocentricity and Knowledge (Trenton, N.J.: Africa World Press, Inc., 1990); Conyers, editor, Africana Studies: A Disciplinary Quest for Theory and Method; Talmadge Anderson, editor, Black Studies: Theory, Method, and Cultural Perspectives (Pullman: Washington State University Press, 1990).
42. Molefi Asante, Kemet. Afrocentricity and Knowledge (Trenton, N.J.: Africa World Press, Inc., 1990); Conyers, editor, Africana Studies: A Disciplinary Quest for Theory and Method; Talmadge Anderson, editor, Black Studies: Theory, Method, and Cultural Perspectives (Pullman: Washington State University Press, 1990).
43. The unusualness of the term "Africology," is reminiscent of how unusual "sociology" was in the department at the University of Chicago at the turn of the century, where several of the scholars whom Albion Small attempted to attract to it had never even heard of it (Diner, "Department and Discipline: The Department of Sociology at the University of Chicago, 1892-1920," 541). I use the opportunity to note that this is not intended to suggest that Africology has the same claim to discipline status that sociology has, or that I believe it should. The issue is why the practitioners of the field would choose to claim the status of independent disciplines as opposed to interdisciplinary fields.
44. Karenga, Introduction to Black Studies, in Butler and Walter, editors, Transforming the Curriculum: Ethnic Studies and Women's Studies.
45. This refers to the institutionalization of African-American Studies, not to its birth. Studies of the historical and social condition of Afro-Americans had been conducted by black thinkers (e.g., W. E. B. DuBois, Carter Woodson) for decades.
46. See Robert Allen, "Politics of the Attack on Black Studies," Black Scholar 6 (1974): 2-7; John Blassingame. "Black Studies: An Intellectual Crisis," New Perspectives in Black Studies, John Blassingame, editor (Urbana: University of Illinois, 1971); Maulana Karenga, "The Black Community and the University: A Community Organizer's Perspective," in Black Studies in the University: A Symposium, Armstead Robinson, Craig Foster, and Donald Ogilvie, editors (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1969); Alain Touraine, The Academic Stystem in American Society (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1974). Also, Robinson, Foster, and Ogilvie, editors, Black Studies in the University: A Symposium.
47. See Robert Allen, "Politics of the Attack on Black Studies," Black Scholar 6 (1974): 2-7; John Blassingame. "Black Studies: An Intellectual Crisis," New Perspectives in Black Studies, John Blassingame, editor (Urbana: University of Illinois, 1971); Maulana Karenga, "The Black Community and the University: A Community Organizer's Perspective," in Black Studies in the University: A Symposium, Armstead Robinson, Craig Foster, and Donald Ogilvie, editors (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1969); Alain Touraine, The Academic Stystem in American Society (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1974). Also, Robinson, Foster, and Ogilvie, editors, Black Studies in the University: A Symposium.
48. See Robert Allen, "Politics of the Attack on Black Studies," Black Scholar 6 (1974): 2-7; John Blassingame. "Black Studies: An Intellectual Crisis," New Perspectives in Black Studies, John Blassingame, editor (Urbana: University of Illinois, 1971); Maulana Karenga, "The Black Community and the University: A Community Organizer's Perspective," in Black Studies in the University: A Symposium, Armstead Robinson, Craig Foster, and Donald Ogilvie, editors (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1969); Alain Touraine, The Academic Stystem in American Society (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1974). Also, Robinson, Foster, and Ogilvie, editors, Black Studies in the University: A Symposium.
49. See Robert Allen, "Politics of the Attack on Black Studies," Black Scholar 6 (1974): 2-7; John Blassingame. "Black Studies: An Intellectual Crisis," New Perspectives in Black Studies, John Blassingame, editor (Urbana: University of Illinois, 1971); Maulana Karenga, "The Black Community and the University: A Community Organizer's Perspective," in Black Studies in the University: A Symposium, Armstead Robinson, Craig Foster, and Donald Ogilvie, editors (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1969); Alain Touraine, The Academic Stystem in American Society (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1974). Also, Robinson, Foster, and Ogilvie, editors, Black Studies in the University: A Symposium.
50. See Robert Allen, "Politics of the Attack on Black Studies," Black Scholar 6 (1974): 2-7; John Blassingame. "Black Studies: An Intellectual Crisis," New Perspectives in Black Studies, John Blassingame, editor (Urbana: University of Illinois, 1971); Maulana Karenga, "The Black Community and the University: A Community Organizer's Perspective," in Black Studies in the University: A Symposium, Armstead Robinson, Craig Foster, and Donald Ogilvie, editors (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1969); Alain Touraine, The Academic Stystem in American Society (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1974). Also, Robinson, Foster, and Ogilvie, editors, Black Studies in the University: A Symposium.
51. See, for example, Julie Reuben, "Transforming the University: Student Protests and the Demand for a 'Relevant' Curriculum," in Student Protest Since 1960, Gerald De Groot, editor (Essex: Addison Wesley Longman, 1998).
52. Temple Africology Department, http://www.temple.edu/AAS, 1997.
53. Harvard College, Handbook for Students: 1997-1998 (Cambridge: Harvard University, 1997).
54. Asante, Kemet, Afrocentricity and Knowledge, 192.
55. See, e.g., Nichols, "The Establishment of Sociology at Harvard."
56. To suggest that Africology, being a marginal discipline, would never have emerged at Harvard is, at best, an unsatisfactory explanation. African-American Studies is now no more marginal at Harvard than sociology was during the early thirties; despite the existence of sociology departments for over three decades, many economists and political scientists at Harvard still doubted the possibility that sociology could claim itself an independent discipline (Camic, "Three Departments in Search of a Discipline: Localism and Interdisciplinary Interaction in American Sociology, 1890-1940," 1025-1027). Most existing disciplines have struggled early on with their theoretical definition, and most have been considered marginal or illegitimate by prominent factions of established scholars. This does not, of course, suggest that "Africology" will be considered a discipline by the academic community in fifty or one-hundred years; it may very well not obtain the institutional stability to attain such success. The issue is to assess why practitioners in early departments would favor one path rather than another.
57. The System of Professions.
58. See also, Gieryn, "Boundaries of Science," 409.
59. Thomas Gieryn, George Bevins, and Stephen Zehr, "Professionalization of American Scientists: Public Science in Creation/Evolution Trials," American Sociological Review 50 (1985): 392-409.
60. Thomas Gieryn, "Boundary-Work and the Demarcation of Science from Non-Science: Strains and Interests in Professional Ideologies of Scientists," American Sociological Review 48 (1983): 781-795. Gieryn's use, however, refers to the activities of scientists. He defines the boundary-work cf scientists as "their attribution of selected characteristics to the institution of science (i.e., to its practitioners, methods, stock of knowledge, values and work organization), for purposes of constructing a social boundary that distinguishes some intellectual activities as 'non-science,'" 782.
61. See Gieryn, "Bouindaries of Science," and Andrew Abbott, "Things of Boundaries," Social Research 62 (1995): 857-882. Social anthropologist Fredrik Earth (in Barth, editor, Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: The Social Organization of Culture Difference [Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1969]) emphasizes the analysis of "boundaries," before Gieryn does, in the analysis of differences between ethnic groups. His use is similar to the one at hand: ethnic groups (rather than professions) are not entities with a set of unchanging characteristics; instead, the boundaries between one ethnic group and another are points of contention and subject to change. As such, it is the boundaries themselves, argues Barth, that should be the object of study.
62. See Gieryn, "Bouindaries of Science," and Andrew Abbott, "Things of Boundaries," Social Research 62 (1995): 857-882. Social anthropologist Fredrik Earth (in Barth, editor, Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: The Social Organization of Culture Difference [Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1969]) emphasizes the analysis of "boundaries," before Gieryn does, in the analysis of differences between ethnic groups. His use is similar to the one at hand: ethnic groups (rather than professions) are not entities with a set of unchanging characteristics; instead, the boundaries between one ethnic group and another are points of contention and subject to change. As such, it is the boundaries themselves, argues Barth, that should be the object of study.
63. See Gieryn, "Bouindaries of Science," and Andrew Abbott, "Things of Boundaries," Social Research 62 (1995): 857-882. Social anthropologist Fredrik Earth (in Barth, editor, Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: The Social Organization of Culture Difference [Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1969]) emphasizes the analysis of "boundaries," before Gieryn does, in the analysis of differences between ethnic groups. His use is similar to the one at hand: ethnic groups (rather than professions) are not entities with a set of unchanging characteristics; instead, the boundaries between one ethnic group and another are points of contention and subject to change. As such, it is the boundaries themselves, argues Barth, that should be the object of study.
64. Gieryn, "Boundary-Work and the Demarcation of Science from Non-Science: Strains and Interests in Professional Ideologies of Scientists"; Gieryn, "Boundaries of Science"; Emmanuel Gaziano, "Ecological Metaphors as Scientific Boundary Work: Innovation and Authority in Interwar Sociology and Biology," American Journal of Sociology 101 (1996): 874-907; Gieryn, Bevins, and Zeher, "Professionalization of American Scientists: Public Science in the Creation/Evolution Trials"; Triplet, "Harvard Psychology, the Psychological Clinic, and Henry A. Murray: A Case Study in the Establishment of Disciplinary Boundaries"; Henrika Kuklick, "Boundary Maintenance in American Sociology: Limitations to Academic "Professionalization,'" Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences 16 (1980): 584-622: Steve Fuller, "Disciplinary Boundaries and the Rhetoric of the Social Sciences," Poetics Today 12 (1991): 301-325.
65. Gieryn, "Boundary-Work and the Demarcation of Science from Non-Science: Strains and Interests in Professional Ideologies of Scientists"; Gieryn, "Boundaries of Science"; Emmanuel Gaziano, "Ecological Metaphors as Scientific Boundary Work: Innovation and Authority in Interwar Sociology and Biology," American Journal of Sociology 101 (1996): 874-907; Gieryn, Bevins, and Zeher, "Professionalization of American Scientists: Public Science in the Creation/Evolution Trials"; Triplet, "Harvard Psychology, the Psychological Clinic, and Henry A. Murray: A Case Study in the Establishment of Disciplinary Boundaries"; Henrika Kuklick, "Boundary Maintenance in American Sociology: Limitations to Academic "Professionalization,'" Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences 16 (1980): 584-622: Steve Fuller, "Disciplinary Boundaries and the Rhetoric of the Social Sciences," Poetics Today 12 (1991): 301-325.
66. Gieryn, "Boundary-Work and the Demarcation of Science from Non-Science: Strains and Interests in Professional Ideologies of Scientists"; Gieryn, "Boundaries of Science"; Emmanuel Gaziano, "Ecological Metaphors as Scientific Boundary Work: Innovation and Authority in Interwar Sociology and Biology," American Journal of Sociology 101 (1996): 874-907; Gieryn, Bevins, and Zeher, "Professionalization of American Scientists: Public Science in the Creation/Evolution Trials"; Triplet, "Harvard Psychology, the Psychological Clinic, and Henry A. Murray: A Case Study in the Establishment of Disciplinary Boundaries"; Henrika Kuklick, "Boundary Maintenance in American Sociology: Limitations to Academic "Professionalization,'" Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences 16 (1980): 584-622: Steve Fuller, "Disciplinary Boundaries and the Rhetoric of the Social Sciences," Poetics Today 12 (1991): 301-325.
67. Gieryn, "Boundary-Work and the Demarcation of Science from Non-Science: Strains and Interests in Professional Ideologies of Scientists"; Gieryn, "Boundaries of Science"; Emmanuel Gaziano, "Ecological Metaphors as Scientific Boundary Work: Innovation and Authority in Interwar Sociology and Biology," American Journal of Sociology 101 (1996): 874-907; Gieryn, Bevins, and Zeher, "Professionalization of American Scientists: Public Science in the Creation/Evolution Trials"; Triplet, "Harvard Psychology, the Psychological Clinic, and Henry A. Murray: A Case Study in the Establishment of Disciplinary Boundaries"; Henrika Kuklick, "Boundary Maintenance in American Sociology: Limitations to Academic "Professionalization,'" Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences 16 (1980): 584-622: Steve Fuller, "Disciplinary Boundaries and the Rhetoric of the Social Sciences," Poetics Today 12 (1991): 301-325.
68. Gieryn, "Boundary-Work and the Demarcation of Science from Non-Science: Strains and Interests in Professional Ideologies of Scientists"; Gieryn, "Boundaries of Science"; Emmanuel Gaziano, "Ecological Metaphors as Scientific Boundary Work: Innovation and Authority in Interwar Sociology and Biology," American Journal of Sociology 101 (1996): 874-907; Gieryn, Bevins, and Zeher, "Professionalization of American Scientists: Public Science in the Creation/Evolution Trials"; Triplet, "Harvard Psychology, the Psychological Clinic, and Henry A. Murray: A Case Study in the Establishment of Disciplinary Boundaries"; Henrika Kuklick, "Boundary Maintenance in American Sociology: Limitations to Academic "Professionalization,'" Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences 16 (1980): 584-622: Steve Fuller, "Disciplinary Boundaries and the Rhetoric of the Social Sciences," Poetics Today 12 (1991): 301-325.
69. Gieryn, "Boundary-Work and the Demarcation of Science from Non-Science: Strains and Interests in Professional Ideologies of Scientists"; Gieryn, "Boundaries of Science"; Emmanuel Gaziano, "Ecological Metaphors as Scientific Boundary Work: Innovation and Authority in Interwar Sociology and Biology," American Journal of Sociology 101 (1996): 874-907; Gieryn, Bevins, and Zeher, "Professionalization of American Scientists: Public Science in the Creation/Evolution Trials"; Triplet, "Harvard Psychology, the Psychological Clinic, and Henry A. Murray: A Case Study in the Establishment of Disciplinary Boundaries"; Henrika Kuklick, "Boundary Maintenance in American Sociology: Limitations to Academic "Professionalization,'" Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences 16 (1980): 584-622: Steve Fuller, "Disciplinary Boundaries and the Rhetoric of the Social Sciences," Poetics Today 12 (1991): 301-325.
70. Gieryn, "Boundary-Work and the Demarcation of Science from Non-Science: Strains and Interests in Professional Ideologies of Scientists"; Gieryn, "Boundaries of Science"; Emmanuel Gaziano, "Ecological Metaphors as Scientific Boundary Work: Innovation and Authority in Interwar Sociology and Biology," American Journal of Sociology 101 (1996): 874-907; Gieryn, Bevins, and Zeher, "Professionalization of American Scientists: Public Science in the Creation/Evolution Trials"; Triplet, "Harvard Psychology, the Psychological Clinic, and Henry A. Murray: A Case Study in the Establishment of Disciplinary Boundaries"; Henrika Kuklick, "Boundary Maintenance in American Sociology: Limitations to Academic "Professionalization,'" Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences 16 (1980): 584-622: Steve Fuller, "Disciplinary Boundaries and the Rhetoric of the Social Sciences," Poetics Today 12 (1991): 301-325.
71. The System of Professions, 59ff.
72. "Ecological Metaphors as Scientific Boundary Work: Innovation and Authority in Interwar Sociology and Biology."
73. Diner, "Department and Discipline: The Department of Sociology at the University of Chicago, 1892-1920," 532-534.
74. Johnetta Cole ("Black Studies in the Liberal Arts Education," in Transforming the Curriculum: Ethnic Studies and Women's Studies, Johnella Butler and John Walter, editors) reports that "according to the National Council for Black Studies, there are approximately 375 programs and departments of Black Studies, compared with about 800 in the early 1970s," 139.
75. See Appendix for a discussion of methods and sources.
76. Chronicle of Higher Education, The Almanac of Higher Education (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995).
77. Nicholas Lemann, "Black Nationalism on Campus," Atlantic, January (1993): 31-47.
78. Temple News, April 28, 1969.
79. Molefi Asante, interview, 1998.
80. Temple News, April 17, 1974.
81. Temple News, November 29, 1983.
82. Molefi Asante was born Arthur Smith, in Georgia. He changed his name, as many Afro-Americans did, after the period of black mobilization during the sixties, to highlight and embrace his African ancestry. See http://www.asante.net.
83. "Molefi Asante: New Head," Quid Nunc, September (1985): 2-6. Emphasis added.
84. "Molefi Asante: New Head," 2.
85. Asante commented: "we already [had] about 50 applicants just based on the rumors of a new program" (Temple Times, May 12, 1988). Many professionals, teachers, school administrators, and librarians had demonstrated interest in the program as a means of moving up the professional ladder, of improving their teaching of black students, or of increasing their knowledge of black culture (see Department of African American Studies, Temple University, "A Proposal for M.A./Ph.D. Degrees Programs in African-American Studies" [Philadelphia: Unpublished document, 1987]).
86. Asante commented: "we already [had] about 50 applicants just based on the rumors of a new program" (Temple Times, May 12, 1988). Many professionals, teachers, school administrators, and librarians had demonstrated interest in the program as a means of moving up the professional ladder, of improving their teaching of black students, or of increasing their knowledge of black culture (see Department of African American Studies, Temple University, "A Proposal for M.A./Ph.D. Degrees Programs in African-American Studies" [Philadelphia: Unpublished document, 1987]).
87. At the time, the only departments that offered M.A.s were at Yale, Cornell, UCLA, Wisconsin-Madison, and Ohio-State.
88. Asante, interview, 1998.
89. Asante, interview, 1998.
90. "A Proposal for M.A./Ph.D. Degrees Programs in African-American Studies."
91. See Temple Times, May 12, 1988, and "A Proposal for M.A./Ph.D Degrees Programs in African-American Studies."
92. See Temple Times, May 12, 1988, and "A Proposal for M.A./Ph.D Degrees Programs in African-American Studies."
93. Asante, interview, 1998.
94. The Village Voice, January 17, 1995.
95. Molefi Asante, The Afrocentric Idea (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1987), 174, emphasis added.
96. Molefi Asante, The Afrocentric Idea, revised anc expanded edition (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1998), 190, emphasis added.
97. Michele Lamont, "How to Become a Dominant French Philosopher: The Case of Jacques Derrida," American Journal of Sociology 93 (1987): 584-622.
98. Gaziano, "Ecological Metaphors as Scientific Boundary Work: Innovation and Authority in Interwar Sociology and Biology."
99. See Patricia Hill Collins, Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment (New York: Routledge, 1992); Conyers, editor, Africana Studies: A Disciplinary Quest for Both Theory and Method.
100. See Patricia Hill Collins, Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment (New York: Routledge, 1992); Conyers, editor, Africana Studies: A Disciplinary Quest for Both Theory and Method.
101. Ben-David and Collins, "Social Factors in the Origin of a New Science: The Case of Psychology."
102. Kemet, Afrocentricity and Knowledge, 24.
103. Kemet, Afrocentricity and Knowledge, 26.
104. The Afrocentric Idea, 3.
105. The Afrocentric Idea, 4.
106. The Afrocentric Idea, 4.
107. The Afrocentric Idea, 4.
108. For an extended (and highly critical) review of such work, see Stephen Howe, Afrocentrism: Mythical Pasts and Imagined Homes (London: Verso, 1998).
109. Kemet, Afrocentricity and Knowledge, 7.
110. Kemet, Afrocentricity and Knowledge, 14.
111. Kemet, Afrocentricity and Knowledge, 14.
112. Asante claims as his own greatest intellectual rientor the Afrocentric historian Cheikh Anta Diop (Kemet, Afrocentricity and Knowledge. v).
113. Kemet, Afrocentricity and Knowledge, 14.
114. Introduction to Black Studies, 34.
115. Molefi Asante, "Afrocentricity and the Quest for Method," in Africana Studies: A Disciplinary Quest for Both Theory and Method, James Conyers, editor.
116. Lucius Outlaw, On Race and Philosophy (New York: Harper and Row, 1996).
117. Ziegler, Molefi Kete Asante: In Praise and Criticism. After the first version of this manuscript was submitted to Theory and Society Howe's Afrocentrism: Mythical Pasts and Imagined Homes was published. In it, Howe arrives at the same conclusion regarding Asante's immense influence, naming him "the most influential, widely quoted Afrocentric writer today," 231, but labeling this influence, critically, "hero-worship," 242 (see Chapter 18).
118. Ziegler, Molefi Kete Asante: In Praise and Criticism. After the first version of this manuscript was submitted to Theory and Society Howe's Afrocentrism: Mythical Pasts and Imagined Homes was published. In it, Howe arrives at the same conclusion regarding Asante's immense influence, naming him "the most influential, widely quoted Afrocentric writer today," 231, but labeling this influence, critically, "hero-worship," 242 (see Chapter 18).
119. No longer in publication.
120. Temple Africology Department, http://www.temple.edu/AAS, 1997.
121. William Julius Wilson, The Declining Significance of Race (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978); Michael Hout, "Occupational Mobility of Black Men, 1962-1973," American Sociological Review 49 (1984): 308-322.
122. William Julius Wilson, The Declining Significance of Race (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978); Michael Hout, "Occupational Mobility of Black Men, 1962-1973," American Sociological Review 49 (1984): 308-322.
123. Henry L. Gates and Cornel West, The Future of the Race (New York: Knopf, 1996).
124. Allen, "Politics of the Attack on Black Studies"; Blassingame, "Black Studies: An Intellectual Crisis"; Parsons and Platt, The American University, Karenga, "The Black Community and the University: A Community Organizer's Perspective."
125. Allen, "Politics of the Attack on Black Studies"; Blassingame, "Black Studies: An Intellectual Crisis"; Parsons and Platt, The American University, Karenga, "The Black Community and the University: A Community Organizer's Perspective."
126. Allen, "Politics of the Attack on Black Studies"; Blassingame, "Black Studies: An Intellectual Crisis"; Parsons and Platt, The American University, Karenga, "The Black Community and the University: A Community Organizer's Perspective."
127. Allen, "Politics of the Attack on Black Studies"; Blassingame, "Black Studies: An Intellectual Crisis"; Parsons and Platt, The American University, Karenga, "The Black Community and the University: A Community Organizer's Perspective."
128. Asante, interview, 1998.
129. Molefi Asante, "Letter to President Liacouras, June 30, 1997" (http://www.asante.net/articles/termreport.htm, 997).
130. Asante, interview, 1997.
131. Kemet, Afrocentricity and Knowledge, 192.
132. PASCEP, Pan African Studies Community Education Program: 1998 Course and Program Guide (Philadelphia: Temple University, 1998).
133. Nathaniel Norment, conversations, 1998; Greg Carr, conversations, 1998.
134. Nathaniel Norment, conversations, 1998; Greg Carr, conversations, 1998.
135. Greg Carr, conversations, 1998.
136. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University, Report to the Faculty Committee on African and Afro-American Studies (Cambridge: Harvard University, 1969); Lawrence Eichel, "The Founding of the Afro-American Studies Department," in Blacks at Harvard: A Documentary History of African-American Experience at Harvard and Radcliffe, Werner Sollors, Caldwell Titcomb, and Thomas Underwood, editors (New York: New York University Press, 1993); Lawrence Eichel, Kenneth Jost, Robert Luskin, and Richard Neustadt, The Harvard Strike (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1970); Sollors, Titcomb, and Underwood, editors, Blacks at Harvard: A Documentary History of African-American Experience at Harvard and Radcliffe.
137. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University, Report to the Faculty Committee on African and Afro-American Studies (Cambridge: Harvard University, 1969); Lawrence Eichel, "The Founding of the Afro-American Studies Department," in Blacks at Harvard: A Documentary History of African-American Experience at Harvard and Radcliffe, Werner Sollors, Caldwell Titcomb, and Thomas Underwood, editors (New York: New York University Press, 1993); Lawrence Eichel, Kenneth Jost, Robert Luskin, and Richard Neustadt, The Harvard Strike (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1970); Sollors, Titcomb, and Underwood, editors, Blacks at Harvard: A Documentary History of African-American Experience at Harvard and Radcliffe.
138. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University, Report to the Faculty Committee on African and Afro-American Studies (Cambridge: Harvard University, 1969); Lawrence Eichel, "The Founding of the Afro-American Studies Department," in Blacks at Harvard: A Documentary History of African-American Experience at Harvard and Radcliffe, Werner Sollors, Caldwell Titcomb, and Thomas Underwood, editors (New York: New York University Press, 1993); Lawrence Eichel, Kenneth Jost, Robert Luskin, and Richard Neustadt, The Harvard Strike (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1970); Sollors, Titcomb, and Underwood, editors, Blacks at Harvard: A Documentary History of African-American Experience at Harvard and Radcliffe.
139. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University, Report to the Faculty Committee on African and Afro-American Studies (Cambridge: Harvard University, 1969); Lawrence Eichel, "The Founding of the Afro-American Studies Department," in Blacks at Harvard: A Documentary History of African-American Experience at Harvard and Radcliffe, Werner Sollors, Caldwell Titcomb, and Thomas Underwood, editors (New York: New York University Press, 1993); Lawrence Eichel, Kenneth Jost, Robert Luskin, and Richard Neustadt, The Harvard Strike (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1970); Sollors, Titcomb, and Underwood, editors, Blacks at Harvard: A Documentary History of African-American Experience at Harvard and Radcliffe.
140. Harvard Crimson, May 10, 1993.
141. See Harvard Crimson, April 20, 1979 and May 10, 1993.
142. Eileen Southern, "A Pioneer: Black and Female," in Blacks at Harvard: A Documentary History of African-American Experience at Harvard and Radcliffe, Sollors, Titcomb, and Underwood, editors, 1993.
143. Harvard Crimson, August 17, 1979 and September 14, 1979.
144. Times-Picayune, May 18, 1997, and Harvard Crimson, April 4, 1990.
145. Times-Picayune, May 18, 1997, and Harvard Crimson, April 4, 1990.
146. See Harvard Crimson, February 12, 1979 and November 30, 1979.
147. See Boston Globe, November 18, 1990.
148. Harvard Crimson, November 16, 1990 and November 17, 1990.
149. Harvard Crimson, April 7, 1993.
150. Harvard Crimson, September 24, 1990.
151. Boston Globe, May 12, 1991.
152. Gates, interview, 1998.
153. Harvard Crimson, November 10, 1993.
154. Few institutions have the combination of prestige and resources to replicate this stragegy. Nonetheless, a large number engage in the basic joint-hire, inter-departmental cooperation approach, developing similar programs with, perhaps, fewer top-rate scholars (see Huggins, Afro-American Studies: A Report to the Ford Foundation).
155. Harvard Crimson, March 22, 1994. Also Gates, interview, 1998.
156. Harvard Crimson, March 22, 1994. Also Gates, interview, 1998.
157. Ben-David and Collins, "Social Factors in the Origins of a New Science: The Case of Psychology."
158. Harvard College, Handbook for Students: 1997-1998, 76. The quotation actually has been in place since the era of Huggins's tenure. As Figure 2 suggests, Huggins (c. 1980-1990) had attempted to pursue a similar stragety, but with less success.
159. As the boundaries between Afro-American Studies and other disciplines were eliminated, however, the department has struggled in attaining a Ph.D. or even a Master's program. Although one had been promised since the fall of 1993 (Harvard Crimson, March 18, 1992), the department has yet to offer an M.A. It very well may be the case that Gates will face Asante's dilemma at Temple: how is African-American Studies different from established disciplines?
160. Times-Picayune, May 18, 1997.
161. New York Times, November 2, 1996; Village Voice, January 17, 1995.
162. New York Times, November 2, 1996; Village Voice, January 17, 1995.
163. Gates, interview, 1998.
164. See also Times-Picayune, May 18, 1997.
165. For example, Camic and Xie, "The Statistical Turn in American Social Science. 1890 to 1915," have demonstrated how Franz Boas in antropology, Franklin Giddings in sociology, and other turn-of-the century social scientists turned to the statistical analysis of social life - at the time, a rare practice - as a means to legitimize their early disciplines.
166. Henry L. Gates. The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of Afro-American Literary Criticism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1938).
167. In the Village Voice, January 17, 1995.
168. New York Times, June 3, 1992.
169. New York Times, April 11, 1998.
170. Boston Globe, September 27, 1994.
171. Gieryn, "Boundaries of Science," 406.
172. Robert Boynton, "The New Intellectuals," The Atlantic Monthly 275 (1995): 53/13; Michael Berube, "Public Academy," The New Yorker 70 (1995): 73/8; Leon Wieseltier, "All and Nothing at All: The Unreal World of Cornel West," The New Republic 21 (1995): 31/6; John Nichols, "Cornel West," The Progressive 6 (1997): 26/4.
173. Robert Boynton, "The New Intellectuals," The Atlantic Monthly 275 (1995): 53/13; Michael Berube, "Public Academy," The New Yorker 70 (1995): 73/8; Leon Wieseltier, "All and Nothing at All: The Unreal World of Cornel West," The New Republic 21 (1995): 31/6; John Nichols, "Cornel West," The Progressive 6 (1997): 26/4.
174. Robert Boynton, "The New Intellectuals," The Atlantic Monthly 275 (1995): 53/13; Michael Berube, "Public Academy," The New Yorker 70 (1995): 73/8; Leon Wieseltier, "All and Nothing at All: The Unreal World of Cornel West," The New Republic 21 (1995): 31/6; John Nichols, "Cornel West," The Progressive 6 (1997): 26/4.
175. Robert Boynton, "The New Intellectuals," The Atlantic Monthly 275 (1995): 53/13; Michael Berube, "Public Academy," The New Yorker 70 (1995): 73/8; Leon Wieseltier, "All and Nothing at All: The Unreal World of Cornel West," The New Republic 21 (1995): 31/6; John Nichols, "Cornel West," The Progressive 6 (1997): 26/4.
176. Henry L. Gates, "African American Studies in the 21st Century," The Black Scholar 22 (1991): 3-9.
177. Gates, "African American Studies in the 21st Century," 7.
178. This study makes much reference to the activities of the chairs of the departments, because in these two cases, the chairs were the key influential practitioners. One need only mention Albion Small at Chicago, Franklin Giddings
179. This study makes much reference to the activities of the chairs of the departments, because in these two cases, the chairs were the key influential practitioners. One need only mention Albion Small at Chicago, Franklin Giddings at Columbia, Franz Boas at Columbia, Talcott Parsons at Harvard, and a number of other early chairs to demonstrate that the work of chairs is often significant in the emergence of early disciplines (see Camic and Xie, "The Statistical turn in American Social Science, 1890 to 1915"; Camic "Three Departments in Search of a Discipline: Localism and Interdisciplinary Interaction in American Sociology, 1890-1940"; Cravens, The Triumph of Evolution: American Scientists and the Heredity-Environment Controversy, 1900-1941, 127). Nonetheless, there is no inherent theoretical reason why this should always be the case. The key is to focus on the practitioner or set of practitioners with a stake and influence in the development of the emerging intellectual enterprise in a particular department. Indeed, after the department has developed some stability for a period of time, the institutionalized form that took shape early on is not likely to change dramatically, as history has shown, regardless of future chairs.
180. This study makes much reference to the activities of the chairs of the departments, because in these two cases, the chairs were the key influential practitioners. One need only mention Albion Small at Chicago, Franklin Giddings at Columbia, Franz Boas at Columbia, Talcott Parsons at Harvard, and a number of other early chairs to demonstrate that the work of chairs is often significant in the emergence of early disciplines (see Camic and Xie, "The Statistical turn in American Social Science, 1890 to 1915"; Camic "Three Departments in Search of a Discipline: Localism and Interdisciplinary Interaction in American Sociology, 1890-1940"; Cravens, The Triumph of Evolution: American Scientists and the Heredity-Environment Controversy, 1900-1941, 127). Nonetheless, there is no inherent theoretical reason why this should always be the case. The key is to focus on the practitioner or set of practitioners with a stake and influence in the development of the emerging intellectual enterprise in a particular department. Indeed, after the department has developed some stability for a period of time, the institutionalized form that took shape early on is not likely to change dramatically, as history has shown, regardless of future chairs.
181. An issue I have addressed only implicitly is the professional incentive the practitioners may have to abandon their discipline and join what may be termed a larger disciplinary movement (Ben-David and Collins, "Social Factors in the Origins of a New Science: The Case of Psychology"). Gates, as an exceptionally successful critic, had little incentive to do so; Asante, also a highly successful and widely published communications scholar, had little incentive as well. This would suggest, as I contend in this article, that such factors must be placed within an institutional context. Regardless of whether they wished to enter an independent "discipline" or to form instead an "'interdisciplinary field," they still sought to create a new intellectual enterprise, and, as such, were bound to constraints of an institutional nature.