Kesho Scott said she has never been interested in attaining power. Instead, she would rather make an impact. When she heard that the new endowed chair for the African diaspora studies department would be named after her, Scott knew that the College and alumni network had indeed recognized and honored her lasting impact at Grinnell.
“I was honored and shocked. I wept,” Scott said. “It means I was seen and heard … To be acknowledged by your home institution, as faculty, as an activist, as the first black woman tenured in the history of Grinnell College, was deeply appreciated.”
The College has already begun its search process for the person who will assume the Dr. Kesho Scott Chair. They will lead the new African diaspora studies department with two other tenure-track faculty members, providing administrative guidance and steering curriculum design. Caleb Elfenbein, professor and associate dean for faculty development and diversity, equity and inclusion, chairs the search committee and said they have started interviewing candidates.
“When you institutionalize a department such as this, you are taking a big chunk out of structural racism, social exclusion or erasure,” said Scott.
Scott has taught at Grinnell since 1986, and she moved to senior faculty status in 2020. When she first arrived, Scott said the College only offered a small cluster of courses dedicated to Black studies. During that time, Scott taught classes on Black sociology and Black women in America within the American studies department.
1n 1997, Katya Gibel Mevorach, professor of anthropology, helped to create and then chaired an Africana studies concentration, which lasted until 2005. Scott said that the College’s disinterest in the department reflected a broader confusion about how to conduct interdisciplinary studies.
“The dismantling of such a concentration of courses broke my heart,” said Scott. “The College is self-correcting by establishing this [new] department.”
Scott continued, “We move forward and understand that interdisciplinary studies is the gateway to studying global issues. And what is local is global, and what is global is local.”
With issues of anti-Blackness now towards the forefront of American consciousness, Scott said she wants every Grinnell student “to be able to think that this body of knowledge is important to them being a 21st-century citizen, no matter where they find themselves in the world.”
Scott also has a long history of activism within and outside of the institution. She has led internationally renowned diversity training and “unlearning -isms” human rights workshops, and among other awards, in 2008 the Iowa Commission on the Status of Women awarded Scott the Christine Wilson Medal for Equality and Justice.
Scott said she hopes that activism remains at the forefront of the African diaspora studies department. “By the way,” said Scott, “this isn’t just for students of color or people of African descent. It is for anyone who sees themselves as someone where social justice is close to their heart.”
Additionally, Scott said the department will provide opportunities for her colleagues to learn and even teach classes with a diasporic focus. While Scott is 71, she said, “I’ll be doing this stuff until my last breath,” and hopes to teach a class in the department.
Scott also said she hopes that at least one of her six grandchildren will attend Grinnell College. “I do tell them about an institution whose history is based on justice … and education for the betterment of society,” she said. She added that at least a couple of her grandkids have already expressed interest.
“They’re very proud of me.”
Beyond the department and endowed chair, Scott said she has one more big wish for the rest of her time at Grinnell — “I want to have one of those rooms named after me. You know, the Kesho Scott Hall where you can go and take your class, but that’s kind of a big one.”
