PhD, University of Texas, Austin, 1989

Email - cabrooks@vcu.edu
Phone - 804.827.1232
Fax - 804.828.0127

Office - Lafayette Hall. 213
            312 North Shafer Street
            Richmond, VA 23220

Christopher Brooks is a Professor of Anthropology in the School of World Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. He has numerous publications focusing on the African continental and diasporan experience. He was recently invited to be the general editor of the forthcoming 1,500-page reference work, The African American Almanac 11th Edition (Cengage/Gale 2010). He wrote several major sections for the 10th edition of the volume (2007) including “Africa and the African Diaspora.” He is a contributing writer to the forthcoming Encyclopedia of African American Culture (Greenwood Press, 2010), African and African-American Religions and Religion and War volumes in the Religion and Society Series published by Routledge (2001 and 2003 respectively). He has a chapter celebrating the centennial of W.E.B Dubois’ landmark publication, The Souls of Black Folk 100 Years Later, entitled “The Souls of Black Folk: Can a Double-Consciousness Be Heard?” (University of Missouri Press 2003), where he examined the prophetic statement DuBois made about the crucial issue of the 20th century being the race question.

As a nationally-recognized biographer, he has produced several book length manuscripts including the best-selling I Never Walked Alone: The Autobiography of an American Singer (John Wiley 2003); Follow Your Heart: Moving with the Giants of Jazz, Swing and Rhythm and Blues (University of Illinois Press 2008), and a recently released book, Dangerous Intimacy: Ten African American Men with HIV (Linus Publications, June 2009. See http://www.linusbooks.com/more_details.php?id=118 for more information).

He is currently writing a book on the great African American tenor, Roland Hayes, tentatively entitled, Roland Hayes: Aframerica’s Tenor. Brooks has scholarly articles in several journals including American Anthropologist, The International Review of African American Art, The Literary Griot, Black Sacred Music, The International Journal of Black Oral and Literary Studies, African American Review, and The Encyclopedia of African American Folklore, among others.

As a 1999-2000 Senior Fulbright Researcher, he examined women’s rights organizations and their response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Zimbabwe and South Africa. He was also a Senior Research Fellow at the Southern African Research Institute for Policy Studies (SARIPS) in Harare, Zimbabwe (now called SAPES Trust). While there he also lectured part-time at Arrupe Jesuit College and the University of Zimbabwe. In July 2007, Brooks was in Kenya to evaluate a Child Fund International program (formerly known as the Christian Children’s Fund) which delivers services to HIV/AIDS-infected and other vulnerable orphans (OVC).

Between 2003 and 2008, Dr. Brooks was a volunteer at Deep Meadow Correctional Facility in Powhatan, Virginia. He assisted the incarcerated population with literacy and writing issues and lectured to the inmates on anthropological topics.

Christopher Brooks is represented by Claudia Menza of the Menza/Barron Literary Agency in New York City.

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