scholarly journals Umfazi akangeni ebuhlanti emzini … A womanist dialogue with Black Theology of Liberation in the 21st century

Author(s):  
Fundiswa Kobo

As reflected in the title, this article is premised by pervasive attitudes arising from a complex interplay of cultural practices, which have succeeded in dislocating black women from what is perceived to be black men’s sites, ebuhlanti (kraal), esuthwini (initiation school); locating them in culturally designated womanised sites eziko/egoqweni (kitchen and household), ekuzaleni nasekukhuliseni abantwana (child birth and rearing) in a patriarchal society. The crux of the article lies in its attempt to re-locate both men and women by its adoption of ‘a hard-line pro-black position’. Womanists acknowledge the interlocution of black men and thus suggest firstly, a shift in mind-set for both to view these sites as life giving and therefore to look for convergences. The article is thus a dialogue between a womanist and Black Theology of Liberation in the 21st century for the purpose of understanding liberation of black people for the liberation of humanity.

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 1604-1612
Author(s):  
Nomna Linda Jobodwana ◽  
Rendani Tshifhumulo

The promise of a better life for all made by the South African government in 1994 remains unfulfilled, as many South Africans are still living in the margins of the economy where unemployment and poverty are rampant. People living with disabilities (PLWDs) are the worst affected, as they are poor with no access to jobs and housing. Despite the enactment of the Employment Equity Act (EEA) Number 55 of 1988, employment opportunities for black PLWDs are scarce in South Africa. This is due to, among other reasons, the fact that employers are reluctant to employ disabled people. This narrative study examined the experiences of black people living with disabilities (PLWDs) in Soshanguve Township, Tshwane, South Africa. It employed the symbolic interactionist (SI) theory as a lens to gain insights into the experiences of black women and men living with disabilities in their quest to access employment opportunities. The study was exploratory qualitative in nature and employed the case study design approach. Data were collected using a purposive sample of 15 black men and women living with disabilities in the Soshanguwe Township with whom in-depth interviews were conducted. This was complemented by focus group interviews with 13 purposively selected respondents who met the selection criteria. Findings were that people living with disabilities (PLWDs) were discriminated against and marginalised in employment and the workplace before and after post–apartheid South Africa. This situation leaves them inactive, economically disadvantaged and poor. The study expands knowledge on the experiences of black men and women who live with disabilities, thereby contributing towards the design of public policies and other social security interventions meant to alleviate the plight of marginalised communities in general and people living with disabilities.


2020 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fundiswa A. Kobo

The liberation of black humanity has been an area of scholarly reflection by black theologians and the black consciousness communities. The constructs of oppression such as race, class and sexism amongst others have been critiqued in the quest for liberation of a fragmented black humanity. In this article, this quest for liberation happens within ubuhlanti [kraal], a site for which Vuyani Vellem is ‘like a hermeneutical circle, where the mediations of the bonds of spheres and the instantiation of their life take place’. By looking at a fragmented black humanity and black women’s experiences, we posit that no western framework could ever be representative of those bodies, ubuhlanti becomes our solution as a heuristic device and symbol of a communication of the efficacy of integrated life. From a womanist perspective, ubuhlanti decentres the West. Ebuhlanti Amandla ngawethu [power belongs to us], as black women and men dialogue issues that affect black humanity. The whole proposition of this dialogue ebuhlanti is animated by our lived experiences, which already offer alternatives for us to decentre.Contribution: Premised by the lived experiences of black humanity in their quest for liberation, this paper contributes in the dewesternising discourse by presenting alternative epistemologies and spiritualities. A womanist dialogue with black theology of liberation ebuhlanti, a decolonising and decentring praxis for the liberation of black humanity is our solution as blacks.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daisy Massey ◽  
Jeremy Faust ◽  
Karen Dorsey ◽  
Yuan Lu ◽  
Harlan Krumholz

Background: Excess death for Black people compared with White people is a measure of health equity. We sought to determine the excess deaths under the age of 65 (<65) for Black people in the United States (US) over the most recent 20-year period. We also compared the excess deaths for Black people with a cause of death that is traditionally reported. Methods: We used the Multiple Cause of Death 1999-2019 dataset from the Center of Disease Control (CDC) WONDER to report age-adjusted mortality rates among non-Hispanic Black (Black) and non-Hispanic White (White) people and to calculate annual age-adjusted <65 excess deaths for Black people from 1999-2019. We measured the difference in mortality rates between Black and White people and the 20-year and 5-year trends using linear regression. We compared age-adjusted <65 excess deaths for Black people to the primary causes of death among <65 Black people in the US. Results: From 1999 to 2019, the age-adjusted mortality rate for Black men was 1,186 per 100,000 and for White men was 921 per 100,000, for a difference of 265 per 100,000. The age-adjusted mortality rate for Black women was 802 per 100,000 and for White women was 664 per 100,000, for a difference of 138 per 100,000. While the gap for men and women is less than it was in 1999, it has been increasing among men since 2014. These differences have led to many Black people dying before age 65. In 1999, there were 22,945 age-adjusted excess deaths among Black women <65 and in 2019 there were 14,444, deaths that would not have occurred had their risks been the same as those of White women. Among Black men, 38,882 age-adjusted excess <65 deaths occurred in 1999 and 25,850 in 2019. When compared to the top 5 causes of deaths among <65 Black people, death related to disparities would be the highest mortality rate among both <65 Black men and women. Comment: In the US, over the recent 20-year period, disparities in mortality rates resulted in between 61,827 excess deaths in 1999 and 40,294 excess deaths in 2019 among <65 Black people. The race-based disparity in the US was the leading cause of death among <65 Black people. Societal commitment and investment in eliminating disparities should be on par with those focused on other leading causes of death such as heart disease and cancer.


Circulation ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 143 (Suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Albert Liu ◽  
Mehul D Patel ◽  
Alden L Gross ◽  
Thomas Mosley ◽  
Andreea Rawlings ◽  
...  

Background: The effect of retirement on cognitive functioning is not clear. We examined the association between age at retirement, midlife occupation, and cognitive decline in the large Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) biracial community-based cohort. Methods: Retirement status after ARIC visit 4 (1996-98) was reported in annual follow-up questionnaires administered in 1999-2007 (n= 8,426), and classified as occurring before or after age 70. Current or most recent occupation at visit 1 (1987-89) was categorized based on 1980 US census major occupation groups and tertiles of Nam-Powers-Boyd occupational status score (a measure of socioeconomic status of occupations, hereby used as a proxy for occupational complexity). Generalized estimating equation models were used to examine the associations of retirement with trajectories of a global cognitive factor score, assessed in 1990-92 (visit 2), 1996-98 (visit 4) and 2011-2013 (visit 5). Models were a priori stratified by race and sex and adjusted for demographics and comorbidities. To account for attrition, we also performed multiple imputation by chained equations. Results: Retirement before age 70 is associated with higher educational level and higher occupational status score in white men and women, and in black men. We observed associations between retirement before age 70 and lower baseline cognitive scores, as well as slower cognitive decline in white men and women, and in black men (Figure). The results did not change substantially after adjusting for the occupational status score or accounting for attrition. Conclusion: Retirement before age 70 was significantly associated with lower baseline cognitive scores and slower cognitive decline in whites and in black men. The lack of similar associations in black women and the investigation of reasons for the observed associations warrant further research.


Author(s):  
Amy Murrell Taylor

This chapter focuses on the relationship between race and space—between competing ideas for how people of different races should reside spatially—by looking at the Union army’s various attempts to remove refugees en masse. These removals attempted to resettle the people in places far removed from active combat, including northern states, islands in the Mississippi River, and even Haiti. Some of these efforts bore a great deal of resemblance to antebellum colonization plans, and, as in those cases, black men and women in the Civil War largely resisted being sent away. Most of the removals were justified by white officials in environmental terms, driven by racial ideologies that linked particular climates and landscapes to people of color. The chapter also argues that removals were sometimes triggered by concerns about gender and sex too—by beliefs that the physical proximity of black women and white men in military encampments had made rape inevitable.


Author(s):  
Kristopher A. Teters

While many western Union officers came to support emancipation and even the enlistment of black troops, their racial attitudes changed very little. On the whole, officers continued to view black people as inferior, exotic, incapable, and even subhuman. Interactions with former slaves reinforced racial stereotypes. This intense prejudice was especially prominent in the Midwest where there were many discriminatory laws. Freeing the slaves, which many officers only supported as a practical necessity to win the war, was very different from seeing black people as anything close to equal with white people. But experiences with black men and women, particularly servants with whom Federals formed long-lasting personal bonds, often tempered racial prejudices on an individual level. Black men and women who assisted the Union army by providing information, resources, and aid in dangerous circumstances also won positive comments from officers. This softening of racial attitudes, however, almost never extended to the black population as a whole, and even ardent supporters of emancipation showed little sympathy for expanding black rights. The Civil War had eliminated slavery but had hardly solved the problem of racial prejudice.


Author(s):  
Joshua D. Bundy ◽  
Hongyan Ning ◽  
Victor W. Zhong ◽  
Amanda E. Paluch ◽  
Donald M. Lloyd-Jones ◽  
...  

Background: Long-term risks of cardiovascular disease (CVD) according to levels of cardiovascular health (CVH) have not been characterized in a diverse, representative population. Methods and Results: We pooled individual-level data from 30 447 participants (mean [SD] age, 55.0 [13.9] years; 60.6% women; 31.8% black) from 7 US cohort studies. We defined CVH based on levels of 7 American Heart Association health metrics, scored as ideal (2 points), intermediate (1 point), or poor (0 points). The total CVH score was used to quantify overall CVH as high (12–14 points), moderate (9–11 points), or low (0–8 points). We used a modified Kaplan-Meier analysis, accounting for the competing risk of death, to estimate the lifetime risk of CVD (composite of incident myocardial infarction, stroke, heart failure, or CVD death) separately in white and black men and women free of CVD at index ages of <40, 40 to 59, and ≥60 years. High CVH was more prevalent among women compared with men, white compared with black participants, and in younger compared with older participants. During 538 477 person-years of follow-up, we observed 6546 CVD events. In women aged 40 to 59 years, those with high CVH had lower lifetime risk (95% CI) of CVD (white women, 12.6% [2.6%–22.6%]; black women, 0.0%) compared with moderate (white women, 16.6% [13.0%–20.2%]; black women, 12.7% [6.8%–18.5%]) and low (white women, 33.8% [30.6%–37.1%]; black women, 34.7% [30.4%–39.0%]) CVH strata. Patterns were similar for men and individuals <40 and ≥60 years of age. Conclusions: Higher baseline CVH at all ages in adulthood is associated with substantially lower lifetime risk for CVD compared with moderate and low CVH, in white and black men and women in the United States. Public health and healthcare efforts aimed at maintaining and restoring higher CVH throughout the life course could provide substantial benefits for the population burden of CVD.


2007 ◽  
Vol 34 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 231-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto M. De Anda ◽  
Pedro M. Hernandez

This study examines differences in returns to literacy skills on earnings of black and white men and women. Literacy skill is a composite measure of three scales: reading comprehension, document literacy (the ability to locate and use information in, say, tables and graphs), and mathematics proficiency. Using data from the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS), we estimate earnings determination models separately for each racial/gender group. Our findings show that the effect of literacy on earnings varies by race and gender. Literacy skills favorably rewarded black men relative to black women and white men and women, net of education and other relevant variables. More importantly, literacy completely explained the effect of a high school diploma and some college on earnings of black men. We conclude that the economic importance of literacy skills is particularly salient for less-educated black men.


2020 ◽  
pp. 40-50
Author(s):  
Michael D. Yates

As the long history, right to the present day, of police and vigilante violence against black people has shown with great clarity, the racial chasm between black and white people in the United States lives on. A few black men and women have climbed into the 1 percent, and a sizable African-American middle class now exists. But by every measure of social well-being, black Americans fare much worse than their white counterparts. Just as for the economic, political, and social distance between capitalists and workers, so too is there a differential between black and white people, for these same interconnected components of daily life continue because of the way our system is structured.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Teah Monique Hairston

Systemic racism has resulted in the disproportionate imprisonment of Black people. With Black men constituting a large percentage of incarcerated bodies, many Black women (44 [percent])--mothers, wives, sisters, etc.--will experience vicarious incarceration. This research examines the ways this population, as caretakers and supporters of their incarcerated loved, ones manage resilience in their daily lives as they navigate a racist, sexist society. Ten women were interviewed about their experiences with vicarious incarceration and reentry. I conclude that the women manage resiliency largely through the support of other Black women and community-family, who--in many instances--are also experiencing vicarious incarceration and/or other racial stress and trauma. Findings provide implications for the need for effective resources, more specifically, culturally-informed, culturally-relevant resources--to assist Black communities with healing from the effects of incarceration, and to prevent and intervene in the intergenerational cycles of criminal justice entanglement.


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