Clarence Lusane
Encyclopedia
Clarence Lusane is an African-American author, activist, lecturer and free-lance journalist. His most recent major work has been the publication of his book The Black History of the White House.
in 1997. For more than 30 years, Lusane has written about and been active in national and international anti-racism politics, globalization, U.S. foreign policy, human rights and social issues such as education and drug policy.
Dr. Lusane is the former editor of the journal Black Political Agenda, and has edited newsletters for a number of national non-profit organizations. He is a national columnist for the Black Voices syndicated news network, and his writings have appeared in The Black Scholar, Race and Class, Washington Post, Oakland Tribune, Covert Action Information Bulletin, Z Magazine, Radical History Journal and many other publications.
Lusane is the former Chairman of the Board of the National Alliance of Third World Journalists. As a journalist, he has traveled to numerous countries to investigate the political and social circumstances or crises faced by those nations. Various nations that he has reported on include Cuba
, Egypt
, Mexico
, Jamaica
, the Netherlands
, North Korea
, Italy
, and South Africa
.
Dr. Lusane is an Associate Professor of Political Science
at American University
School of International Service, where he teaches courses in comparative race relations, modern social movements, comparative politics of Africa
, the Caribbean
and Europe
, black political theory and political behavior, international drug politics, and jazz
and international relations. Dr. Lusane has lectured at numerous universities nation-wide, including Harvard, Georgetown
, George Washington University
, University of California-Berkeley, University of Chicago
and Yale
, among others. He has also lectured on U.S. race relations in numerous foreign nations, including Colombia
, Cuba
, England
, France
, Germany
, Guadeloupe
, Haiti
, Japan
, the Netherlands
, Panama
, Switzerland
, and Zimbabwe
.
Professor Lusane's current research interests are in international race politics, human rights
, and electoral politics. He is currently conducting research on the intersection of jazz and international relations. This work examines how jazz has been politically and ideologically appropriate by a wide range of social groups in the international community.
Writers’ Competition Grand Prize for Art Criticism. In 1983, his article, “Israeli Arms to Central America,” won the prestigious Project Censored Investigative Reporting Award as the most censored story of the year.
In 2001-2002, he received the prestigious British Council Atlantic Fellowship in Public Policy where he investigated the impact of regional anti-racism legislation on the anti-racist movement in the UK.
Background
Clarence Lusane received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Howard UniversityHoward University
Howard University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...
in 1997. For more than 30 years, Lusane has written about and been active in national and international anti-racism politics, globalization, U.S. foreign policy, human rights and social issues such as education and drug policy.
Dr. Lusane is the former editor of the journal Black Political Agenda, and has edited newsletters for a number of national non-profit organizations. He is a national columnist for the Black Voices syndicated news network, and his writings have appeared in The Black Scholar, Race and Class, Washington Post, Oakland Tribune, Covert Action Information Bulletin, Z Magazine, Radical History Journal and many other publications.
Lusane is the former Chairman of the Board of the National Alliance of Third World Journalists. As a journalist, he has traveled to numerous countries to investigate the political and social circumstances or crises faced by those nations. Various nations that he has reported on include Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, North Korea
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, and South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
.
Dr. Lusane is an Associate Professor of Political Science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
at American University
American University
American University is a private, Methodist, liberal arts, and research university in Washington, D.C. The university was chartered by an Act of Congress on December 5, 1892 as "The American University", which was approved by President Benjamin Harrison on February 24, 1893...
School of International Service, where he teaches courses in comparative race relations, modern social movements, comparative politics of Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, black political theory and political behavior, international drug politics, and jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and international relations. Dr. Lusane has lectured at numerous universities nation-wide, including Harvard, Georgetown
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
, George Washington University
George Washington University
The George Washington University is a private, coeducational comprehensive university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States...
, University of California-Berkeley, University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
and Yale
YALE
RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...
, among others. He has also lectured on U.S. race relations in numerous foreign nations, including Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe is an archipelago located in the Leeward Islands, in the Lesser Antilles, with a land area of 1,628 square kilometres and a population of 400,000. It is the first overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. As with the other overseas departments, Guadeloupe...
, Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, and Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
.
Professor Lusane's current research interests are in international race politics, human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
, and electoral politics. He is currently conducting research on the intersection of jazz and international relations. This work examines how jazz has been politically and ideologically appropriate by a wide range of social groups in the international community.
Awards and Fellowships
For nearly 20 years, Lusane has won research and writing awards. His essay, “Rhapsodic Aspirations: Rap, Race, and Power Politics,” won the 1993 Larry NealLarry Neal
Larry Neal or Lawerence Neal was a scholar of African-American theatre. He is well known for his contributions to the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s.-Biography:...
Writers’ Competition Grand Prize for Art Criticism. In 1983, his article, “Israeli Arms to Central America,” won the prestigious Project Censored Investigative Reporting Award as the most censored story of the year.
In 2001-2002, he received the prestigious British Council Atlantic Fellowship in Public Policy where he investigated the impact of regional anti-racism legislation on the anti-racist movement in the UK.
Media Appearances
- The Black Scholar
- Race and Class
- Washington Post
- Miami Herald
- Baltimore Sun
- Oakland Tribune
- C-SPAN
- PBS
- BET
- BBC TV (USA)
Publications
- Pipe Dream Blues: Racism and the War on Drugs (1991)
- The Struggle for Equal Education: the African-American Experience (1992)
- African Americans at the Crossroads: The Restructuring of Black Leadership and the 1992 Elections (1994)
- No Easy Victories: A History of Black Elected Officials (1997)
- Race in the Global Era: African Americans at the Millennium (1997)
- Hitler’s Black Victims: The Experiences of Afro-Germans, Africans, Afro-Europeans and African Americans During the Nazi Era (Routledge, 2002)
- Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice: Foreign Policy, Race, and the New American Century (Praeger, 2006)
- The Black History of the White HouseThe Black History of the White HouseThe Black History of the White House is a book by Clarence Lusane concerning the history of the African-American community's relationship to government and the White House as a symbol as well as a place of employment...
(City Lights Publishers, 2010) ISBN 978-0872865327.