Mission

The African American Irish Diaspora Institute is an interdisciplinary, deterritorialized, teaching, research and publishing institute whose mission is to facilitate dialogue focused on the connected histories, contemporary realities, and evolving relationships of the Irish and African diasporas.

 Background

Since the inception of the African American Irish Diaspora Network in 2019 it has become clear that there is increasing interest in and need for deeper scholarly investigation of the confluence of African and Irish cultures. The African American Irish Diaspora Institute, under the leadership of three internationally-renowned scholars, amplifies the shared histories and cultures ofthe African and Irish diasporas and their relationship to the Americas and the Caribbean.

 Ireland and the Americas are at a critical juncture in how they each engage with diasporic migrationsand the related identities, while the strategic evolution of African nations has never been more pivotalto geopolitical dynamics.

 The African American Irish Diaspora Institute provides a critical framework to research the interconnected histories of Ireland, Africa, the Americas, and the Caribbean for greater clarity on thepast, and establish a foundation to explore questions of how to navigate diasporic movements takingplace throughout the world today and into the future.

 The core programing of the Institute includes:

Research, Teaching and Publication: AAIDI serves as a hub for interdisciplinary research,teaching, and publication to produce and support critical scholarship on the interactions between the Black and Irish diasporas, past and present.

Priority: Establish a Black Irish Studies Series at a high-profile University Press.

Public Programs: Our public programs inform and foster educational, social engagement, and community-building to advance core values of scholarship and service by facilitating meaningful relationships between students, academics, leaders, and communities. The Black, Brown andGreen Voices is already an established strand of what will emerge as a suite of AAIDI Programs.

  Priority: Program high profile launch events in Ireland and the United States.

.Summer Institute: Convene an AAIDI Institute Summer Program with cultural and university partners to share scholarship and build community in an educational and extracurricular setting.

Priority: Plan the inaugural biannual AAIDI Institute.