mcnair2021 - 12:10 PM PDT Breakout 9: Anthropology, Gender, and Ethnic Studies Panel A

Alyssa Frick-Jenkins

University of California, Santa Barbara

Presentation 3

Sacred Geographies through Soundscape: Black fem(me)inine spiritual practice as discourse and materiality

Black fem(me)inine people in the United States have a complex, alienating and disenfranchising gendering and racializing process thanks to a white cis-heteropatriarchy that actively un-imagines our spatial reality and attempts to detach us from the sacred (Spillers, 1987; Davis, 1998; McKittrick, 2016; Tinsley, 2018; Hoskin & Taylor, 2019). In spite of this, the tradition of the Black Sacred fem(me)inine prevails as a recognized and honored representation embodied by Black fem(me)inine people (Razak, 2016). Moving from this sacredness of the body outwards, Black fem(me)inine people navigate an external spatial reality with the same bend towards the sacred– what I theorize as Sacred Geography-making. Black fem(me)inine Sacred Geographies are the material, spoken and semiotic spaces created from, for and by Black fem(me)inine people through spiritual, theoretical and discursive practices. This research in particular engages the “soundscapes”, or spoken aspect of Black fem(me)inine Sacred Geographies, which is accomplished through Black feminist discourse analysis, autoethnographic reflections, and finally case studies that compare the other two engagements with the written and spoken Sacred Geographies constructed my Black Feminist scholars whose lanscapes of spoken and written word serve as theoretical praxis and spiritual guidance to and through Sacred Geographies. This interdisciplinary approach pushes the theory of Black fem(me)inine Sacred Geographies by effectively demonstrating, through the three-way conversation between my interviewees, Black Feminist Scholars and myself, the bridging of localities that form a Sacred Geography between us all respectively.

Zainab Babalola

University of Texas at Austin

Presentation 4

Understanding Academic Adversity: How Adverse Familial Issues Affect Racial Minority Student Achievement

This study aims to find a link between the academic achievement of racial-ethnic minority, first-gen, and low-income students and adverse familial experiences. More specifically, it seeks to discover if adverse familial issues compound with racial minority status to significantly impact academic achievement. It measures academic achievement through the University of Texas at Austin’s GPA (grade point average) scale. The learning environment at UT Austin, a 4-year institution, will be incorporated to determine any relation to academic achievement. The study uses the students' race, along with their levels of economic, social, and cultural capital, and reports of issues at home to determine the extent of adversity they face. Samples are taken from about 10 students who are currently enrolled at the University. Data is collected through surveys and interviews followed by an analysis with the best method for this purpose, topic, and interview material collected. Ideally, categories of interviewees will be compared against each other to conclude on a result that is verifiable.

Devin Williams

Rutgers University, New Brunswick

Presentation 1

Black Power and Repression: The Struggle Between The U.S. Government, The Black Panther Party and The Republic of New Afrika

Since the end of the Black Power Movement, Black political organizations have dissolved, leaving a gaping political hole in Black communities across the nation. However, Black political organizations have been forced to dissolve and/or transform due to the prevalence of political repression. Using Alan Wolfe’s (1973) framework of state repression, this research project examines the role of political repression in disrupting the mobilization of the Detroit chapter of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense (BPP) and the Republic of New Afrika (RNA), as well as its role in undermining the development of the Black community in Detroit. In this study, I identify incidents of covert repressive action, overt repressive action, and legal action that helped government agencies infiltrate and neutralize the Detroit chapter of the BPP and the RNA. Though there are other factors at play (e.g., changing political climate and/or lack of external support) when examining the outcomes of these two organizations, it is apparent that the politically repressive strategies exercised by the local and federal government were pivotal in the Detroit chapter of the BPP ultimately dissolving twice, and the RNA migrating to Mississippi. Lastly, I argue that the Black community became vulnerable to government infiltration as a result of the two Black political organizations being neutralized by the U.S. government.

Mercedes Holmes

The University of Texas at Austin

Presentation 2

Post Blackness and White Co-optimization

What are the potential avenues that post-Blackness can be co-opted by toxic dominance structures, and has it already? Compelled by anti-racist positionality, motivated by the interest of preserving the Black identity amidst evolving racialization - this philosophical review and critique of post-Blackness examines the movement as it relates to topics like covert racism, racial identity politics, and Black philosophical welfare. This research is originally inspired by an observed lack of focus in post-Blackness on the most marginalized Black experiences, and an observation of initial failure of post-Blackness to address White infiltrations of the Black experience (such as Black-fishing and "transracialism"). The research question, thus, seeks to examine these and similar suspicions. Guided by Touré's Who's Afraid of Post Blackness and Charles Mills' Racial Contract, this research will detect and define weaknesses in post-Blackness that are vulnerable to racist corruption and consequences. I will survey extensively post-Blackness and philosophical postures of racism and its persistence, establishing understanding of the subjects. To detect, crystalize, and investigate concerns for post-Blackness, I will jointly analyze these bodies of knowledge under a critical race theory and applied ethics perspective; critical race theory will inform my investigation into topics to fully form any concern, while applied ethics will guide the weighing of the investigation's findings to determine an answer to the research question. This research hopes to set the foundation for further inquiry into the prevention and combating of racism that post-Blackness is vulnerable to, and methods for determining and preserving Black philosophical autonomy.