WCAAAS Mission

Our Mission at the Warfield Center

The John L. Warfield Center for African and African American Studies is the research and programming division of the larger Black Studies community at the University of Texas at Austin. Since its inception at The University of Texas at Austin in June 1969, the John L. Warfield Center for African and African American Studies (WCAAAS) has been a focal point for campus and community life around the cultural, sociopolitical, artistic, economic, and historical experiences of Africans and their descendants. 

The Center facilitates research that is dedicated to the intellectual, political, artistic, and social development of people of African descent in the African Diaspora as well as the African continent. Our scholarship and cultural production draws on the expertise of our affiliates in a wide variety of fields and disciplines, including Education, History, Literary Studies, Political Science, Social Work, and Communications, among others. We support the research and programmatic initiatives of our faculty affiliates and students, and we collaborate with local organizations in the investigation and enhancement of the lives of Black people. Through its focus on research, programming, and community engagement, the Center supports scholarship and creative work that seek to foster social justice for people of African descent around the world.