A faculty member in African American and African Studies, I have examined the formation of national identities of Gabonese citizens, experiences and understandings of food and eating in France, and most recently, I have begun to think more deeply about how students and faculty can work together with community partners to support the uplift of local Black histories. Academic disciplines have particular histories, which have led to the creation and prioritizing of certain methods for gathering and interpreting data. Trained as a cultural anthropologist, I have often espoused the research methodology described by Clifford Geertz as “deep hanging out,” a research method characterized by immersing oneself within a particular cultural world, space, or community and engaging in participatory observation. I was drawn to Black Studies not simply because my work was located on the African continent, but because of the field’s interdisciplinary character, bringing a wide array of methodologies to bear on research questions, its active critique of the design, process and uses of scholarship, and its focus on combating oppression and impacting positive social change across the world.