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Room 5419 The Graduate Center 365 Fifth Avenue New York, New York 10016 (212) 817-8438 clacls@gc.cuny.edu |
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Arthur K. Spears
Professor and Chair, Anthropology Department, City College
Director, Black Studies Program, City College
Professor, Linguistics Program, Graduate Center
Professor, Anthropology Program, Graduate Center
arspears@earthlink.net
212 650-7350
Anthropology Department City College
160 Convent Ave.
New York, New York 10031
Dr. Arthur K. Spears is Professor and Chair in the Anthropology Department and Director of the Black Studies Program at City College. At The Graduate Center, he is professor in both the Linguistics and the Anthropology Programs. Dr. Spears is currently President (2007-2009) of the Society for Pidgin and Creole Linguistics, the largest international body devoted to promoting the study of contact languages. He is the founder and first editor of Transforming Anthropology, the journal of the Association of Black Anthropologists, a unit of the American Anthropological Association.
Prof. Spears conducts research in the areas of (1) African-American English; (2) pidgin and creole languages, focusing on Haitian and other French-related creoles (3) language and education; and (4) race and ideology.
Prof. Spears’s recent books include Black Linguistics: Language, Society, and Politics in Africa and the Americas (co-editor; Routledge, 2003), Black Language in the English-Speaking Caribbean and U.S.: History, Structure, Use, and Education (editor; Lexington/ Rowman & Littlefield, 2008), and The Haitian Creole Language: History, Structure, Use, and Education (co-editor; Lexington, Rowman & Littlefield, 2008).
Recent articles and book chapters related to the Caribbean and Latin America include “Pidgins/Creoles and African-American English,” The Handbook of Pidgins and Creoles, 512-542 (2008); “Los Sustantivos sin determinantes en el palenquero y en el inglés afroestadounidense,” Los Criollos de Base Ibérica, 227-235 (2004); “Languages: Africanisms in the Americas". African Folklore: An Encyclopedia., 207-210 (2004); and “Vers un modèle des systèmes temps-mode-aspect dans trois langues créoles: L'haïtien, le guadeloupéen, et le martiniquais,” Etudes Créoles 20.2:85-91, 1997).
Believing in the importance of disseminating scholarship, he has presented information connected with his areas of specialization through frequent media appearances on the British Broadcasting Corporation (“The Story of English”), Réseau France Outre-Mer—Groupe France Télévisions, Black Entertainment Television, Gil Noble’s current events talk show on ABC, National Public Radio, WBAI, and Inner City Broadcasting’s WLIB, among other media organizations.