scholarly journals The Twin Crises of Covid-19 and Racism: Pragmatic Mastery, Theory, Religion, and Ethics

Open Theology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-82
Author(s):  
Michael D. Barber
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Black People ◽  
The United States ◽  
Common Phenomenon ◽  
Racial Oppression ◽  
Religion And Ethics ◽  
The World ◽  
Racist Ideology ◽  
Twin Crises ◽  
Theoretical Science

Abstract In 2020, two crises emerged into prominence in the United States and other parts of the world: (1) the flourishing of the COVID-19 virus, in which the polarization and relativization of knowledge have hobbled efforts to prevent pandemic spread, and (2) the killing of George Floyd which has stirred worldwide protests against centuries of racial oppression and unbared an underlying racist ideology about the seemingly lesser value of Black people. It might seem that both these crises are unrelated, but this article argues that both crises are rooted in a common phenomenon, the surge of the pursuit of everyday pragmatic mastery beyond its legitimate boundary. This pursuit of mastery has instrumentalized structures of discourse, thereby undermining Alfred Schutz’s paradigm of the well-informed citizen seeking to understand dispassionately imposed relevances and the non-pragmatic provinces of meaning that might have restrained the pursuit of such mastery, such as the provinces of theoretical science and religious experience. As regards racism, the pursuance of such mastery results in transgressing and eliminating through violence the ethical boundaries the Levinasian other prescribes. These twin crises are not disparate happenings occurring now to remedy the tedium of the pandemic, but are bound together at the hip.

scholarly journals The colonial matrix of power: Image ontology and the question of blackness

2021 ◽  
Vol 77 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Itumeleng D. Mothoagae
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
South Africa ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
Black People ◽  
World Order ◽  
The United States ◽  
Global South ◽  
Black Theology ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World

The question of blackness has always featured the intersectionality of race, gender, sexuality and class. Blackness as an ontological speciality has been engaged from both the social and epistemic locations of the damnés (in Fanonian terms). It has thus sought to respond to the performance of power within the world order that is structured within the colonial matrix of power, which has ontologically, epistemologically, spatially and existentially rendered blackness accessible to whiteness, while whiteness remains inaccessible to blackness. The article locates the question of blackness from the perspective of the Global South in the context of South Africa. Though there are elements of progress in terms of the conditions of certain Black people, it would be short-sighted to argue that such conditions in themselves indicate that the struggles of blackness are over. The essay seeks to address a critique by Anderson (1995) against Black theology in the context of the United States of America (US). The argument is that the question of blackness cannot and should not be provincialised. To understand how the colonial matrix of power is performed, it should start with the local and be linked with the global to engage critically the colonial matrix of power that is performed within a system of coloniality. Decoloniality is employed in this article as an analytical tool.Contribution: The article contributes to the discourse on blackness within Black theology scholarship. It aims to contribute to the continual debates on the excavating and levelling of the epistemological voices that have been suppressed through colonial epistemological universalisation of knowledge from the perspective of the damnés.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcus Anthony Hunter ◽  
Zandria F. Robinson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Black People ◽  
The United States ◽  
Racial Oppression ◽  
Du Bois

The last of three chapters on the power of chocolate cities, this chapter centers the lives, activism, and pioneering efforts of Mos Def (a.k.a. Yasiin Bey) and W. E. B. Du Bois. Exploring their lives, legal setbacks, and push against global imperialism and racial oppression, the authors highlight their sophisticated and politically informed racial geography of the United States. Detailing the movement of black people throughout the domestic diaspora and into and throughout Africa, this chapter illustrates the how place, race, peace politics, and power collide in the lives of black people here, there, and everywhere around the globe.

Hip-Hop and Trivialisation of Martin Luther King Jr. in Didier Awadi’s “Dans mon rêve”

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 151-166
Author(s):  
Ives S. Loukson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Hip Hop ◽  
Black People ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
Pop Culture ◽  
The United States ◽  
The World ◽  
Martin Luther King

As far as hip-hop is concerned, it is a truism that, Didier Awadi counts as one of its influential leading figures. The famous musician from Senegal takes advantage of hip-hop as medium and participates in disseminating its values in the world. Awadi’s creativity aims at conscientising Black people whose misery, according to him, is due to an internalised negativity about themselves. The artist pursues this objective in “Dans mon rêve” by staging MLK as a historic benchmark and source of inspiration to Africans. My paper attempts to highlight why the use of hip-hop as medium of pop culture does not effectively serve that creditable objective by Awadi. I also review the provocative trope of African pop-artist as a modern griot, raised a decade ago by the United States-based scholars. Theoretically, Stuart Hall’s conception of culture and Guy Debord’s theoretical complexity in his attempt to dismantle the monopoly of the spectacle inform the study.

Mary, Dionne, and Alma

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcus Anthony Hunter ◽  
Zandria F. Robinson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Civil Rights Movement ◽  
Women Professionals ◽  
Black People ◽  
The United States ◽  
Racial Oppression ◽  
Community Activists ◽  
Before And After

The second of three chapters on the power of chocolate cities, this chapter centers the lives, activism, and pioneering efforts of three black women professionals, entertainers, and community activists: Mary Hill Sanders, Dionne Warwick, and Alma Burrell. Exploring their lives, health setbacks, and push against the glass ceiling and racial oppression, the authors highlight their sophisticated and politically informed racial geography of the United States. Detailing the movement of black people throughout the domestic diaspora, this chapter illustrates the how gender, place, race, and power collided in the lives of black people before and after the civil rights movement.

scholarly journals On Erasure and Misrepresentation

Perceptions ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Selena Baugh
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Black People ◽  
The United States ◽  
Underrepresented Groups ◽  
The World ◽  
The U.S ◽  
The Way

Representation is crucial concerning questions of justice and equity. The way a group is perceived by others dictates the way they will be positioned in society. This is a fact which has been modeled consistently throughout history. Those who are perceived as inherently criminal are more likely to be abused by the justice system, as in the case of Black people in the United States, while those who are viewed as inherently weak are less likely to access positions of power, as in the case of women around the world. This pattern illustrates the importance of perception and therefore representation. Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication on the Rights of Woman, the Revisionaries documentary, Herodotus’ Histories, and the U.S. Constitution all illustrate the ability of a few people to dictate the positioning of various groups in society based entirely on the way individuals represent or misrepresent said groups. Although representation ostensibly implies increased visibility, when the available images are limited, those with platforms can use representation as a means of erasing or subjugating hitherto underrepresented groups. 

“Black Lives Matter” in education and society

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Festus E. Obiakor
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Black Males ◽  
Black People ◽  
The United States ◽  
Black Lives Matter ◽  
The World ◽  
Education And Society

AbstractBlack people all over the world have historically endured slavery, colonialism, racism, prejudice, and discriminatory actions; and they continue to be disenfranchised, disadvantaged, disillusioned, and demeaned by institutions and systems. Of late, Black people in the United States, especially Black males have been encountering blatant police harassments, brutalities, shootings, and killings. These actions have led to the question, “Do Black lives matter?” Of course, they do! It is no surprise that an organization, “Black Lives Matter” was formed to protest the incessant shootings and killings of Blacks in the United States. Then, if “Black Lives Matter” as I know they do, they must matter in education and society. This is the focus of the article.

Sex Differences in Mass Media Preferences Across Four Asian Countries

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 186-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malini Ratnasingam ◽  
Lee Ellis
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Sex Differences ◽  
Mass Media ◽  
The United States ◽  
Female Students ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Evolutionary Explanation ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
The World ◽  
Media Preferences

Background. Nearly all of the research on sex differences in mass media utilization has been based on samples from the United States and a few other Western countries. Aim. The present study examines sex differences in mass media utilization in four Asian countries (Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, and Singapore). Methods. College students self-reported the frequency with which they accessed the following five mass media outlets: television dramas, televised news and documentaries, music, newspapers and magazines, and the Internet. Results. Two significant sex differences were found when participants from the four countries were considered as a whole: Women watched television dramas more than did men; and in Japan, female students listened to music more than did their male counterparts. Limitations. A wider array of mass media outlets could have been explored. Conclusions. Findings were largely consistent with results from studies conducted elsewhere in the world, particularly regarding sex differences in television drama viewing. A neurohormonal evolutionary explanation is offered for the basic findings.

Sandra Ramos Revisited

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 32-54
Author(s):  
Silvia Spitta
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Graphic Arts ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
The World ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Political Choices ◽  
The Rich

Sandra Ramos (b. 1969) is one of the few artists to reflect critically on both sides of the Cuban di-lemma, fully embodying the etymological origins of the word in ancient Greek: di-, meaning twice, and lemma, denoting a form of argument involving a choice between equally unfavorable alternatives. Throughout her works she shines a light on the dilemmas faced by Cubans whether in Cuba or the United States, underlining the bad personal and political choices people face in both countries. During the hard 1990s, while still in Havana, the artist focused on the traumatic one-way journey into exile by thousands, as well as the experience of profound abandonment experienced by those who were left behind on the island. Today she lives in Miami and operates a studio there as well as one in Havana. Her initial disorientation in the USA has morphed into an acerbic representation and critique of the current administration and a deep concern with the environmental collapse we face. A buffoonlike Trumpito has joined el Bobo de Abela and Liborio in her gallery of comic characters derived from the rich Cuban graphic arts tradition where she was formed. While Cuba is now represented as a rotten cake with menacing flies hovering over it ready to pounce, a bombastic Trumpito marches across the world stage, trampling everything underfoot, a dollar sign for a face.

Having Their Say, Leaving Their Mark

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-153
Author(s):  
Adolphus G. Belk ◽  
Robert C. Smith ◽  
Sherri L. Wallace
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Black People ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Historical Documents ◽  
Adverse Conditions ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Independent Organization

In general, the founders of the National Conference of Black Political Scientists were “movement people.” Powerful agents of socialization such as the uprisings of the 1960s molded them into scholars with tremendous resolve to tackle systemic inequalities in the political science discipline. In forming NCOBPS as an independent organization, many sought to develop a Black perspective in political science to push the boundaries of knowledge and to use that scholarship to ameliorate the adverse conditions confronting Black people in the United States and around the globe. This paper utilizes historical documents, speeches, interviews, and other scholarly works to detail the lasting contributions of the founders and Black political scientists to the discipline, paying particular attention to their scholarship, teaching, mentoring, and civic engagement. It finds that while political science is much improved as a result of their efforts, there is still work to do if their goals are to be achieved.

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