Pub Date : 2018-01-01DOI: 10.1525/ESR.2018.39-40.1.165
J. Goodspeed-Chadwick
This article examines Sui Sin Far9s work within a poststructuralist framework and argues for an elimination of binary structuralist politics when assessing ethnic literature and assigning ethnic identity. Sui Sin Far defies binary structuralist politics that violently circumscribe identities in her writing, which results in an endorsement of ambiguities pertaining to subjectivity, especially in relation to gender and race. This article also produces new close readings of two important short stories in Mrs. Spring Fragrance (1912) that are informed by recent scholarship on Sui Sin Far and identity politics.
{"title":"Identity Politics in Sui Sin Far's Mrs. Spring Fragrance: Race and Gender Dynamics in “The Sing Song Woman” and “Its Wavering Image”","authors":"J. Goodspeed-Chadwick","doi":"10.1525/ESR.2018.39-40.1.165","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1525/ESR.2018.39-40.1.165","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines Sui Sin Far9s work within a poststructuralist framework and argues for an elimination of binary structuralist politics when assessing ethnic literature and assigning ethnic identity. Sui Sin Far defies binary structuralist politics that violently circumscribe identities in her writing, which results in an endorsement of ambiguities pertaining to subjectivity, especially in relation to gender and race. This article also produces new close readings of two important short stories in Mrs. Spring Fragrance (1912) that are informed by recent scholarship on Sui Sin Far and identity politics.","PeriodicalId":93702,"journal":{"name":"Explorations in ethnic studies : the journal of the National Association of Interdisciplinary Ethnic Studies","volume":"60 1","pages":"165-173"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74401902","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-01-01DOI: 10.1525/ESR.2018.39-40.1.19
Seonhee Cho
Guided by Critical Raced-Gendered epistemologies and methodologies, this study investigated life experiences of six Latina teachers who were former English Language Learners (ELL) and are currently becoming English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers in an urban community. Multiple data sources such as interviews, open-ended autobiographical surveys, anecdotal notes, reflection journals, online discussions, and field observation notes were collected over two years and analyzed through inductive analysis in conjunction with Grounded theory. The findings present counter-narratives to dominant yet deficit narratives of minority teacher education. Salient themes included teachers9 support versus institutional racism; strength of motherhood and female family support versus traditional gender roles; agency and advocacy versus marginalized socio-cultural environments. In their journeys from ELLs to ESL teachers, constant negotiation between the conflicting life experiences and critical self-positioning turned out to be crucial.
{"title":"“A Personal Touch of Advocacy to My Profession”: Counter-Narratives of Immigrant Latina Teachers in English as a Second Language Education","authors":"Seonhee Cho","doi":"10.1525/ESR.2018.39-40.1.19","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1525/ESR.2018.39-40.1.19","url":null,"abstract":"Guided by Critical Raced-Gendered epistemologies and methodologies, this study investigated life experiences of six Latina teachers who were former English Language Learners (ELL) and are currently becoming English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers in an urban community. Multiple data sources such as interviews, open-ended autobiographical surveys, anecdotal notes, reflection journals, online discussions, and field observation notes were collected over two years and analyzed through inductive analysis in conjunction with Grounded theory. The findings present counter-narratives to dominant yet deficit narratives of minority teacher education. Salient themes included teachers9 support versus institutional racism; strength of motherhood and female family support versus traditional gender roles; agency and advocacy versus marginalized socio-cultural environments. In their journeys from ELLs to ESL teachers, constant negotiation between the conflicting life experiences and critical self-positioning turned out to be crucial.","PeriodicalId":93702,"journal":{"name":"Explorations in ethnic studies : the journal of the National Association of Interdisciplinary Ethnic Studies","volume":"49 1","pages":"19-35"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89083847","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-01-01DOI: 10.1525/ESR.2018.39-40.1.77
C. E. Becerra
This paper will examine the evolution and current state of the concept of patriotism from different angles and perspectives. Questions will be raised regarding the inherent positive and negative characteristics of patriotism in its current form, with particular attention paid to the relationships between patriotism and the concepts of whiteness, white privilege, and white supremacy. I suggest that current understandings of patriotism protect and promote the structure of whiteness and white privilege in the United States of America. Lastly, this paper will discuss ways that we can begin to redefine what patriotism is so that the term can become more inclusive of all citizens of our nation as well as become intrinsic in our youth who will lead our country forward.
{"title":"Patriotism Decoded and Transformed","authors":"C. E. Becerra","doi":"10.1525/ESR.2018.39-40.1.77","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1525/ESR.2018.39-40.1.77","url":null,"abstract":"This paper will examine the evolution and current state of the concept of patriotism from different angles and perspectives. Questions will be raised regarding the inherent positive and negative characteristics of patriotism in its current form, with particular attention paid to the relationships between patriotism and the concepts of whiteness, white privilege, and white supremacy. I suggest that current understandings of patriotism protect and promote the structure of whiteness and white privilege in the United States of America. Lastly, this paper will discuss ways that we can begin to redefine what patriotism is so that the term can become more inclusive of all citizens of our nation as well as become intrinsic in our youth who will lead our country forward.","PeriodicalId":93702,"journal":{"name":"Explorations in ethnic studies : the journal of the National Association of Interdisciplinary Ethnic Studies","volume":"41 1","pages":"77-95"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88936999","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-01-01DOI: 10.1525/ESR.2018.39-40.1.1
S. Cannon
In his 2008 novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz uncovers the ways in which blackness has been repressed and denigrated in the Dominican Republic. He critiques this pervasive Negrophobia through two central characters, Oscar and his mother, Beli, both of whom are marginalized because of their African phenotypes. Diaz underscores Oscar and Beli9s link to Africa through the recurring figure of the mongoose, which appears at crucial moments in the novel and whose journey parallels the trek of Africans to the Americas as early as the 15th century. The mongoose higlights the ways in which Oscar and Beli (and all Dominicans) are children of the African Diaspora. Intertwined with this recovery of blackness in the novel is its redefinition. Diaz writes against a collective tendency in the United States to see “Black” and “Latino” as two mutually exclusive identities, borrowing from Latin American constructions of race as a fluid identity. In particular, Diaz9 use of specifically Dominican racialized terms to describe characters and his narrator9s frequent use of the word “nigger” juxtapose two different understandings of race in general and blackness in particular. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao not only lays bare how, as Silvio Torres-Saillant asserts, “Dominican society is the cradle of blackness in the Americas,” but it also demonstrates the heterogeneous, dynamic, and contingent nature of blackness itself.
{"title":"Recovering and Redefining Blackness in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao","authors":"S. Cannon","doi":"10.1525/ESR.2018.39-40.1.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1525/ESR.2018.39-40.1.1","url":null,"abstract":"In his 2008 novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz uncovers the ways in which blackness has been repressed and denigrated in the Dominican Republic. He critiques this pervasive Negrophobia through two central characters, Oscar and his mother, Beli, both of whom are marginalized because of their African phenotypes. Diaz underscores Oscar and Beli9s link to Africa through the recurring figure of the mongoose, which appears at crucial moments in the novel and whose journey parallels the trek of Africans to the Americas as early as the 15th century. The mongoose higlights the ways in which Oscar and Beli (and all Dominicans) are children of the African Diaspora. Intertwined with this recovery of blackness in the novel is its redefinition. Diaz writes against a collective tendency in the United States to see “Black” and “Latino” as two mutually exclusive identities, borrowing from Latin American constructions of race as a fluid identity. In particular, Diaz9 use of specifically Dominican racialized terms to describe characters and his narrator9s frequent use of the word “nigger” juxtapose two different understandings of race in general and blackness in particular. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao not only lays bare how, as Silvio Torres-Saillant asserts, “Dominican society is the cradle of blackness in the Americas,” but it also demonstrates the heterogeneous, dynamic, and contingent nature of blackness itself.","PeriodicalId":93702,"journal":{"name":"Explorations in ethnic studies : the journal of the National Association of Interdisciplinary Ethnic Studies","volume":"29 1","pages":"1-18"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87129075","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-01-01DOI: 10.1525/esr.2018.39-40.1.63
Ananda Bhattacharyya
The present article intends to throw light on the oral resources in the form of testimony for reconstructing the colonial archives, memoirs and also the argumentative discourses in writing the Sannyasi and Fakir Rebellion of late eighteenth century Bengal. The origin of the Sannyasis and Fakirs need a careful analysis in order to know the roots of the rebellion. The oral sources, either in the form of testimony, interviews taken with the present day Sannyasis and Fakirs in different parts of India including Bengal would either compliment or supplement the version of colonial records and the vernacular literature which have been used here for understanding the Sannyasi and Fakir Rebellion in proper perspective. In order to understand the genesis of the rebellion, their relations with the East India Company, local zamindars and peasantry the importance of the oral testimonies and interviews cannot be ignored. The texts and contexts of the oral sources, which have been used on different occasions, would support the connectivity of various aspects of the rebellion.
{"title":"Oral Resources for Reconstructing the Sannyasi And Fakir Rebellion (1763-1800)","authors":"Ananda Bhattacharyya","doi":"10.1525/esr.2018.39-40.1.63","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1525/esr.2018.39-40.1.63","url":null,"abstract":"The present article intends to throw light on the oral resources in the form of testimony for reconstructing the colonial archives, memoirs and also the argumentative discourses in writing the Sannyasi and Fakir Rebellion of late eighteenth century Bengal. The origin of the Sannyasis and Fakirs need a careful analysis in order to know the roots of the rebellion. The oral sources, either in the form of testimony, interviews taken with the present day Sannyasis and Fakirs in different parts of India including Bengal would either compliment or supplement the version of colonial records and the vernacular literature which have been used here for understanding the Sannyasi and Fakir Rebellion in proper perspective. In order to understand the genesis of the rebellion, their relations with the East India Company, local zamindars and peasantry the importance of the oral testimonies and interviews cannot be ignored. The texts and contexts of the oral sources, which have been used on different occasions, would support the connectivity of various aspects of the rebellion.","PeriodicalId":93702,"journal":{"name":"Explorations in ethnic studies : the journal of the National Association of Interdisciplinary Ethnic Studies","volume":"16 8","pages":"63-75"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72618817","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-01-01DOI: 10.1525/ESR.2018.39-40.1.37
Adele Cutler
This article broadens existing relational theories and their relevance to our Western understanding of the formation of self-concept by examining Anglo Saxon Americans9 understanding of connection with Ancestors. It uses the African worldview as a sample Indigenous paradigm, shows its influence on contemporary African American culture, and reviews literature of Africentric psychology wherein conceptualization of, and engagement with, Ancestral connectedness has been employed. Based on findings from an earlier phenomenological inquiry into the lived experience of the formation of self-concept in relation to Ancestral connectedness in three Anglo Saxon Americans reveals that there is very little sense of Ancestral connectedness for these individuals. It follows that the long-standing premise in Western psychology that a healthy development of the self is forged out of a process of differentiation and increased autonomy must be brought into question. A self-identity based in the form of an extended self and having access to a lived connection with our Ancestors as Anglo Saxon Americans, can inform psychotherapeutic modalities designed to support our ever-growing social and psychological maladies.
{"title":"Implications of Ancestral Connectedness and the Afrocentric Paradigm for Anglo Saxon American Identity Construction","authors":"Adele Cutler","doi":"10.1525/ESR.2018.39-40.1.37","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1525/ESR.2018.39-40.1.37","url":null,"abstract":"This article broadens existing relational theories and their relevance to our Western understanding of the formation of self-concept by examining Anglo Saxon Americans9 understanding of connection with Ancestors. It uses the African worldview as a sample Indigenous paradigm, shows its influence on contemporary African American culture, and reviews literature of Africentric psychology wherein conceptualization of, and engagement with, Ancestral connectedness has been employed. Based on findings from an earlier phenomenological inquiry into the lived experience of the formation of self-concept in relation to Ancestral connectedness in three Anglo Saxon Americans reveals that there is very little sense of Ancestral connectedness for these individuals. It follows that the long-standing premise in Western psychology that a healthy development of the self is forged out of a process of differentiation and increased autonomy must be brought into question. A self-identity based in the form of an extended self and having access to a lived connection with our Ancestors as Anglo Saxon Americans, can inform psychotherapeutic modalities designed to support our ever-growing social and psychological maladies.","PeriodicalId":93702,"journal":{"name":"Explorations in ethnic studies : the journal of the National Association of Interdisciplinary Ethnic Studies","volume":"9 4 1","pages":"37-61"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78597333","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-01-01DOI: 10.1525/ESR.2018.39-40.1.155
J. Duran
It is argued that Lisa Jones9 work, comprised mainly of humorous essays and sketches originally published in New York papers, is in its own way worth more than the writings of some better known Black American authors. Her style is compared to that of other writers, and her influence on topics such as interracial marriage is noted.
{"title":"Bulletproof Diva and the Oral Tradition: The Work of Lisa Jones","authors":"J. Duran","doi":"10.1525/ESR.2018.39-40.1.155","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1525/ESR.2018.39-40.1.155","url":null,"abstract":"It is argued that Lisa Jones9 work, comprised mainly of humorous essays and sketches originally published in New York papers, is in its own way worth more than the writings of some better known Black American authors. Her style is compared to that of other writers, and her influence on topics such as interracial marriage is noted.","PeriodicalId":93702,"journal":{"name":"Explorations in ethnic studies : the journal of the National Association of Interdisciplinary Ethnic Studies","volume":"41 1","pages":"155-164"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87349457","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-01-01DOI: 10.1525/ESR.2018.39-40.1.97
C. Ojukwu, E. O. Oni
The paper examines the dynamics of politics in modern Nigerian state particularly in relation to the clamour for the creation of the sovereign state of Biafra by two ‘radical’ groups of same ideological position–Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB). It attempts to investigate what informed the resurgence of Biafra ideology in contemporary Nigeria after its initial foray in pursuing self-determination agenda of the Igbo in 1967. The paper interrogates the methodology of the groups in pursuing their demand and proposes some alternative measures that could be adopted to enable them realize their dream. The study employs primary and secondary methods for data collection which encompass critical review of journal articles, books on related study area, newspapers, magazines, and electronically downloaded materials. It also relied on review of official documents and reports on Biafra, the Nigerian civil war and the activities of IPOB and MASSOB. Data analysis was descriptive and analytical. The study adopts the Relative Deprivation theory and Frustration-Aggression theory as its theoretical framework.
{"title":"Re-Thinking Biafra Ideology of Self-Determination in Nigeria","authors":"C. Ojukwu, E. O. Oni","doi":"10.1525/ESR.2018.39-40.1.97","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1525/ESR.2018.39-40.1.97","url":null,"abstract":"The paper examines the dynamics of politics in modern Nigerian state particularly in relation to the clamour for the creation of the sovereign state of Biafra by two ‘radical’ groups of same ideological position–Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB). It attempts to investigate what informed the resurgence of Biafra ideology in contemporary Nigeria after its initial foray in pursuing self-determination agenda of the Igbo in 1967. The paper interrogates the methodology of the groups in pursuing their demand and proposes some alternative measures that could be adopted to enable them realize their dream. The study employs primary and secondary methods for data collection which encompass critical review of journal articles, books on related study area, newspapers, magazines, and electronically downloaded materials. It also relied on review of official documents and reports on Biafra, the Nigerian civil war and the activities of IPOB and MASSOB. Data analysis was descriptive and analytical. The study adopts the Relative Deprivation theory and Frustration-Aggression theory as its theoretical framework.","PeriodicalId":93702,"journal":{"name":"Explorations in ethnic studies : the journal of the National Association of Interdisciplinary Ethnic Studies","volume":"15 1","pages":"97-115"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89838126","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2017-01-01DOI: 10.1525/ESR.2017.37_38.1.15
D. Hart
As a social movement continues to grow challenging the justice system that fails to prosecute and convict police officers use of deadly force, it is crucial to note what hegemonic constructs maintain the institutional power structures that continue to harm people of color. When police officers are acquitted when they inflict deadly harm on unarmed citizens the justice system is working to maintain the power structures that devalues Black lives. When hegemonic power structures perpetuate injustice it appears necessary to challenge and deconstruct the system as a whole. Do the protest movements choose to challenge hegemony or rather seek to conform to the ideals of the justice system? I ask this question utilizing a Cultural Studies framework putting Stuart Hall, Antonio Gramsci, and Slavoj Zizek in conversation with each other in order to illuminate how activism must contend with hegemony. Activist movements do not seek to radically dismantle hegemony, but work within it in ways that reform and redefine how the concept of justice can be present in the lived realities of communities of color.
{"title":"Challenging the System? The Potential for Radical Politics in the Age of Ferguson","authors":"D. Hart","doi":"10.1525/ESR.2017.37_38.1.15","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1525/ESR.2017.37_38.1.15","url":null,"abstract":"As a social movement continues to grow challenging the justice system that fails to prosecute and convict police officers use of deadly force, it is crucial to note what hegemonic constructs maintain the institutional power structures that continue to harm people of color. When police officers are acquitted when they inflict deadly harm on unarmed citizens the justice system is working to maintain the power structures that devalues Black lives. When hegemonic power structures perpetuate injustice it appears necessary to challenge and deconstruct the system as a whole. Do the protest movements choose to challenge hegemony or rather seek to conform to the ideals of the justice system? I ask this question utilizing a Cultural Studies framework putting Stuart Hall, Antonio Gramsci, and Slavoj Zizek in conversation with each other in order to illuminate how activism must contend with hegemony. Activist movements do not seek to radically dismantle hegemony, but work within it in ways that reform and redefine how the concept of justice can be present in the lived realities of communities of color.","PeriodicalId":93702,"journal":{"name":"Explorations in ethnic studies : the journal of the National Association of Interdisciplinary Ethnic Studies","volume":"177 1","pages":"15-26"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72673679","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2017-01-01DOI: 10.1525/ESR.2017.37_38.1.5
Melina Abdullah
“Come in. Sit down. Close your eyes. Be silent and listen.” Melody engulfed the room. Our bodies unwittingly swayed softly to rhythms that conjured Ancestral memories. The bald, brown-skinned, goateed, dashiki-wearing man in front of the room exuded both warmth and strength. As a fourteen year-old ninth grader, the constancy of my giggle was interrupted by the sanctity of the space. Squeaks of the crotchety wooden desks that formed a large circle joined the music that hummed from the old record player at the front of the room. Minutes felt like days. Sound transported us through time and space and as the song came to an end, Mr. Navies instructed us, in a voice that prolonged the Spirit of what we had just experienced, “Now, write down your thoughts.” Silently, we scribbled down the ideas, poems, and stories that danced out of our Souls. We were greeted this way every single morning in African American History, Black Gold English, Black Male-Female Relationships, and the dozens of classes that comprised the Black Studies Department curriculum at Berkeley High School. At the close of each week, we would share our writings with the class, inspired by “classical Black musicians” from Charlie Parker, to Thelonius Monk, to Billie Holliday. Dassine, LaRae, Trinice, and Tomorrow would share poems. Ameer, always sat directly to my left and would break up the passionate tear-eliciting prose shared by others, with stories and jokes so hilarious that Mr. Navies would sometimes have to turn his back and hurriedly race across the room to shield his laughter from the class.
{"title":"What the Black Lives Matter Movement Demands of Ethnic Studies Scholars","authors":"Melina Abdullah","doi":"10.1525/ESR.2017.37_38.1.5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1525/ESR.2017.37_38.1.5","url":null,"abstract":"“Come in. Sit down. Close your eyes. Be silent and listen.” Melody engulfed the room. Our bodies unwittingly swayed softly to rhythms that conjured Ancestral memories. The bald, brown-skinned, goateed, dashiki-wearing man in front of the room exuded both warmth and strength. As a fourteen year-old ninth grader, the constancy of my giggle was interrupted by the sanctity of the space. Squeaks of the crotchety wooden desks that formed a large circle joined the music that hummed from the old record player at the front of the room. Minutes felt like days. Sound transported us through time and space and as the song came to an end, Mr. Navies instructed us, in a voice that prolonged the Spirit of what we had just experienced, “Now, write down your thoughts.” Silently, we scribbled down the ideas, poems, and stories that danced out of our Souls. We were greeted this way every single morning in African American History, Black Gold English, Black Male-Female Relationships, and the dozens of classes that comprised the Black Studies Department curriculum at Berkeley High School. At the close of each week, we would share our writings with the class, inspired by “classical Black musicians” from Charlie Parker, to Thelonius Monk, to Billie Holliday. Dassine, LaRae, Trinice, and Tomorrow would share poems. Ameer, always sat directly to my left and would break up the passionate tear-eliciting prose shared by others, with stories and jokes so hilarious that Mr. Navies would sometimes have to turn his back and hurriedly race across the room to shield his laughter from the class.","PeriodicalId":93702,"journal":{"name":"Explorations in ethnic studies : the journal of the National Association of Interdisciplinary Ethnic Studies","volume":"273 1","pages":"5-9"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73055419","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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