Interview with John Baugh

The following interview was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic in the summer of 2021. By that time, I had known John Baugh for about eighteen years after having taken my first class on Black English with him at Stanford. I have always been fascinated by John’s ability to merge innovative and culturally relevant, justice-focused research with liberatory outcomes for Black people and Black language. It was a rare treat for me to talk with my long-time mentor now as a faculty member. In the wake of finally having a critical mass of Black scholars in linguistics and after George Floyd’s murder and a new push to decolonize linguistics, it only seemed fitting to hear the experiences that shaped John’s life, the life of a Black man in linguistics, and how that life has given rise to his groundbreaking scholarship. There is nothing linear about his path. And as the field pushes to admit more Black graduate students and hire more Black faculty, it dawned on me that many in the field might not recognize the exceptional journey of navigating academia as a Black person. Please enjoy this candid snapshot of the life that birthed such a storied career from the upcoming president of the Linguistic Society of America: a unique opportunity to learn how to do better. Consider this a one-time invitation to the cookout.

Regeneration of Empire: Agrarian Vision and Philanthropic Colonisation in H. Rider Haggard's Novels

<p>This thesis focuses on H. Rider Haggard’s fictional use of philanthropic colonisation to illustrate his vision of agriculturally regenerating the British Empire. Haggard’s panacea for poverty, unemployment, urban crowding, and tenuous control of imperial holdings relies on returning people back to the land. Retraining people to become farmers is the solution to all these issues; philanthropic colonisation is the mode through which his vision would come to fruition. Between 1896-1919, Haggard’s depictions of Empire shift from semi-stable to precarious—a sign of his public work as an agricultural reformer influencing his fiction. I argue in this thesis that focusing on three novels, The Wizard (1896), The Ghost Kings (1908), and When the World Shook (1919), written during Haggard’s work as an agricultural reformer, provides a scope in which to watch Haggard’s agrarian vision develop, climax, and fade. I analyse Haggard’s use of philanthropic colonisation to reflect the desired virtues of his agrarian vision as well as the charitable endeavours which expand or prolong the Empire’s reach. Chapter one, “‘The Rider Haggard of the New Crusade:’ Philanthropy and Declining Civilisations,” traces the degradation of Haggard’s hopes to regenerate the Empire through philanthropic colonisation. In The Ghost Kings, Haggard uses Rachel’s charity to extend the Empire and to demonstrate the effect one individual’s virtue can make in saving or destroying a civilisation; in When the World Shook, Haggard shows the depth of imperial corruption through the decay of Christian missions. Through Arbuthnot and Oro, Haggard struggles to understand the fate of the Empire; using both characters to grasp the concept of civilisation, Haggard concludes that although the Empire has serious flaws, it is ultimately worth trying to save. Chapter two, “Zealot, Renegade, and Reformer: Haggard’s Vision for the Empire,” uses Gerald Monsman’s idea of Haggard as a “heretic in disguise” to look at how Haggard utilises Christian missionary characters to propagate ideas of imperial regeneration. The move between zealot, renegade, and reformer character types reveals Haggard’s developing sense—from the late 1890s through to 1919—that the Empire needs to be rejuvenated. Chapter three, “The Role of Condescension in Interracial Friendship,” explores how Haggard’s vision of a rebirth for the Empire is endangered by interracial friendships. Friendship strips away the prescribed roles given to both coloniser and native, allowing for something more intimate to develop. Thus, any interaction between a white and black person was socially scripted—language borrowed from philanthropic condescension. It is the act of condescension that enables interaction between a coloniser and native; only when deviating from prescribed roles does friendship become a possibility.</p>

Regeneration of Empire: Agrarian Vision and Philanthropic Colonisation in H. Rider Haggard's Novels

<p>This thesis focuses on H. Rider Haggard’s fictional use of philanthropic colonisation to illustrate his vision of agriculturally regenerating the British Empire. Haggard’s panacea for poverty, unemployment, urban crowding, and tenuous control of imperial holdings relies on returning people back to the land. Retraining people to become farmers is the solution to all these issues; philanthropic colonisation is the mode through which his vision would come to fruition. Between 1896-1919, Haggard’s depictions of Empire shift from semi-stable to precarious—a sign of his public work as an agricultural reformer influencing his fiction. I argue in this thesis that focusing on three novels, The Wizard (1896), The Ghost Kings (1908), and When the World Shook (1919), written during Haggard’s work as an agricultural reformer, provides a scope in which to watch Haggard’s agrarian vision develop, climax, and fade. I analyse Haggard’s use of philanthropic colonisation to reflect the desired virtues of his agrarian vision as well as the charitable endeavours which expand or prolong the Empire’s reach. Chapter one, “‘The Rider Haggard of the New Crusade:’ Philanthropy and Declining Civilisations,” traces the degradation of Haggard’s hopes to regenerate the Empire through philanthropic colonisation. In The Ghost Kings, Haggard uses Rachel’s charity to extend the Empire and to demonstrate the effect one individual’s virtue can make in saving or destroying a civilisation; in When the World Shook, Haggard shows the depth of imperial corruption through the decay of Christian missions. Through Arbuthnot and Oro, Haggard struggles to understand the fate of the Empire; using both characters to grasp the concept of civilisation, Haggard concludes that although the Empire has serious flaws, it is ultimately worth trying to save. Chapter two, “Zealot, Renegade, and Reformer: Haggard’s Vision for the Empire,” uses Gerald Monsman’s idea of Haggard as a “heretic in disguise” to look at how Haggard utilises Christian missionary characters to propagate ideas of imperial regeneration. The move between zealot, renegade, and reformer character types reveals Haggard’s developing sense—from the late 1890s through to 1919—that the Empire needs to be rejuvenated. Chapter three, “The Role of Condescension in Interracial Friendship,” explores how Haggard’s vision of a rebirth for the Empire is endangered by interracial friendships. Friendship strips away the prescribed roles given to both coloniser and native, allowing for something more intimate to develop. Thus, any interaction between a white and black person was socially scripted—language borrowed from philanthropic condescension. It is the act of condescension that enables interaction between a coloniser and native; only when deviating from prescribed roles does friendship become a possibility.</p>

“Beings of an Inferior Order”

This chapter discusses the role of the legal system, including the Supreme Court, in upholding the constitutionality of slavery. It first examines the case of Prigg v. Pennsylvania in 1842, in which the Supreme Court reversed the conviction in state court of Edward Prigg, a professional slave-catcher, for kidnapping Margaret Morgan, who escaped from slavery in Maryland to the free state of Pennsylvania. Ruling that state officials could not hinder enforcement of the federal Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, the Court also held that state officials could decline to aid slave-catchers, leading to mass demonstrations in Boston over the “rendition” of escaped slaves George Latimer and Anthony Burns. The chapter includes a recounting of the infamous Supreme Court decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford in 1857, in which Chief Justice Roger Taney held that no Black person was a citizen and that Blacks were “an inferior order of beings” who had “no rights that the white man was bound to respect.” The chapter concludes with a discussion of the impact of the Dred Scott ruling on the presidential campaign of 1860, in which Abraham Lincoln denounced the decision and provoked the slave states to secede from the Union and launch the Civil War.

"I Am Black and Beautiful": A Black African Reading of Song of Songs 1:5-7 as a Protest Song

Adamo's article on Ebed-Melech's protest brings fresh insight into my earlier article on Song of Songs 1:5-7, prompting me to reread the text as a protest song (essay) against the racial stigmata that continue to bedevil black people in the world. The current article, using hermeneutics of appropriation, maintains the meaning of שְׁחוֹרָה as a black person, who in the Song of Songs protests against the racism, which transformed her status to that of a socioeconomic other. The study is informed by the contemporary and historical contexts of racial injustices and stigma suffered by Blacks for 'being' while Black. The essay investigates this question: In which ways does Adamo's reading of Jer 38:1-17 influence an African reading of Song 1:5-7 as a protest against racism? The article employs African Biblical Hermeneutics, as part of a creative and literary art in the protests against racism, to read the biblical text as our story-a divine story, which in the language of Adamo, has inherent divine power that can empower oppressed black people.

It Doesn't Have to Protest: A Review of Black or Right: Anti/Racist Campus Rhetorics

[To predominantly white institutions:] Whose responsibility is it to make our Black community feel like their lives matter here, and what are we purposefully and creatively doing about it [every day] to live up to it? Reflecting critically on my own intimate experiences as a Black doctoral student, college lecturer, and former student affairs professional in predominantly white spaces, I share an insightful review of Louis M. Maraj’s (2020) riveting new book, Black or Right: Anti/Racist Campus Rhetorics. Based on the title, I initially expected Black or Right to be some sort of a guidebook to help campuses learn how to refrain from using racist language in their marketing, programming, classrooms, and ways of interacting with campus constituents and community partners. I speculated that it would teach these same folx how to make Black faculty, staff, and students feel welcomed and equal instead of anxious and hyperaware. I thought about the white colleagues [and students] I could pass this text on to, with the accompanying note, “You might like this!,” which really means, “You need this.” Sigh. While Black or Right is not a guidebook on how to eliminate racist language on college campuses or an explicit outline for how to embrace the Black members on them, it is a beautiful piece of choreographed words that illustrates, examines, and disrupts how decolonized ways of writing, storytelling, and ways of being, teaching, and communicating on college campuses confronts, strategizes, calls out/in, and proclaims notions of Blackness in anti-Black spaces. I argue that this type of work is far more important than a Black person writing another book to teach white people how to talk to and treat us. Black or Right pays homage to and educates readers on the Black academy’s social justice pioneers, whose trailblazing paths and research encourage us to keep running in this race and reminds us we are dynamic. Courageously accepting the baton to complete the next leg, Maraj empowers and pushes us to run alongside him through his creative ability to discuss these topics through literary events, discussions, and assignments he has created in his own safe space, in his classroom. Brother Maraj, thank you for bringing your whole self, multiple identities, and diverse lived experiences to this text. In the spirit of your mother who allowed you to leave the islands to come to the US for greater opportunities - this book is a manifestation of her knowing your worth. Thank you for writing this fascinating piece that reminds us to never forget our worth, to demand our respect, and for educating and engaging all people in this necessary dialogue. Black is right. Black is right. Black is right. But Black folx are always protesting. Dear Brothers and Sisters, never forget: We always mattered.

Racism as a Human Rights Risk: Reconsidering the Corporate ‘Responsibility to Respect’ Rights

Darnella Frazer, a teenage witness to a fatal police encounter, used social media to share her cell phone video footage capturing a white police officer casually kneeling on the neck of a handcuffed Black man named George Floyd for nearly nine minutes. Her video rapidly went viral, sparking civil unrest across the United States (US) and protests around the world.1 Independent experts of the Special Procedures of the United Nations Human Rights Council came together to issue a joint statement condemning ‘systemic racism’ and ‘state sponsored racial violence’ in the US.2 George Floyd was not the first unarmed Black person to die in police custody under questionable circumstances,3 but his murder motivated many to confront the reality of racism in American society. A broad section of the business community reacted to the civil unrest in the immediate aftermath of the murder of George Floyd with solidarity statements denouncing racism and pledges to promote racial equality.4 Brands rushed to embrace the previously untouchable #BlackLivesMatter movement in marketing campaigns. Business leaders expressed interested in evaluating how particular policies and practices operate in ways that serve to promote racial discrimination or perpetuate racial inequality.5

The 'associative' discrimination fiction: part 1

Associative discrimination is a consequence of the open formulas used in the UK (and EU) equality legislation to define direct discrimination. The treatment needs only to be ‘because of a protected characteristic’ (such as race, sexual orientation, etc) rather than because of his (or her) protected characteristic. Hence, a white worker dismissed for marrying a black person could sue for direct (racial) discrimination. The open formula is not limited to such cases and, so, treating associative discrimination as a term of art is a mistake, as this could unnecessarily restrict the reach of the deliberately open legislative formula. This article identifies the Supreme Court judgment in Lee v Ashers as an example of this mistake. It further asserts that any compromise for conflicting rights is found in the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA 1998), and not by distorting the definition of discrimination.

EXPRESS: Body Swapping with a Black Person Boosts Empathy: Using Virtual Reality to Embody Another

Perspective-taking, whether through imagination or virtual-reality interventions, seems to improve intergroup relations; however, what intervention leads to better outcomes remains unclear. This pre-registered study collected measures of empathy and race bias from 90 participants, split into one of three perspective-taking groups: embodied perspective-taking, mental perspective-taking, and a control group. We drew on virtual-reality technology alongside a Black confederate across all conditions. Only in the first group, participants got to exchange real-time viewpoints with the confederate and literally “see through the eyes of another.” In the two other conditions, participants either imagined a day in the life of the Black confederate or in their own life, respectively. Our findings show that, compared to the control group, the embodied perspective-taking group scored higher on empathy sub-components. On the other hand, both perspective-taking interventions differentially affected neither explicit nor implicit race bias. Our study suggests that embodiment of an outgroup can enhance empathy.

Racismo institucional: percepção sobre a discriminação racial nos serviços de saúde / Institutional racism: perception about racial discrimination in health services

Introdução: O racismo institucional se caracteriza por qualquer ação de discriminação racial praticada dentro de instituições, como a omissão de informação ou atendimento, fortalecimento de estereótipos racistas, comportamentos de desconfiança, de desrespeito e desvalorização da pessoa negra. Objetivo: Analisar a prática de racismo institucional no serviço de saúde público e/ou privado a partir da percepção dos usuários negros acerca do atendimento recebido. Material e Método: Estudo de abordagem quantitativa,realizado a partir de questionário fechado, construído via google forms, e veiculado na rede social Facebook. A coleta de dados ocorreu entre setembro e novembro de 2019, sob os critérios: ser negro, idade superior a18 anos e vivência de racismo nos serviços de saúde público e/ou privado. Participaram33 pessoas neste estudo: 28 pessoas se autodeclararam pretas e 5 pardas. Resultados: Dentre os principais achados, estão que 63,6% referiram ter sofrido racismo em serviços públicos de saúde; 51,5% relataram que a discriminação ocorreu no consultório médico, e 21,9% durante a triagemou na sala de medicação. Do total, 93,9% acreditam que a discriminação foi ocasionada por serem negros. Conclusão: Os usuários identificam o racismo durante a assistência em saúde recebida, e que a violência pode distanciá-los dos cuidados, principalmente de promoção e prevenção. Faz-se necessário efetivar a assistência em saúde à luz da Política Nacional de Saúde da População Negra. Palavras chave: Percepção, Discriminação, Iniquidade em saúde, Racismo, Acesso aos serviços de saúde ABSTRACTIntroduction: Institutional racism is characterized by any action of racial discrimination practiced within institutions, such as information or care omission, strengthening of racist stereotypes, behaviors of distrust, disrespect and devaluation of the black person. Objective: To analyze the practice ofinstitutional racism in the public and/or private health service from the perception of black users about the care received. Material and Method: Quantitative approach study, conducted from a closed questionnaire, built via google forms, and carried on the social network Facebook. Data collectionoccurred between September and November 2019, under the criteria: being black, aged over 18 years and experiencing racism in public and/or private health services. Thirty-three people participated in this study: 28 people declared themselves black and 5 brown. Results: Among the main findingsare that 63.6% reported having suffered racism in public health services; 51.5% reported that discrimination occurred in the doctor’s office, and 21.9% during screening or in the medication room. Of the total, 93.9% believe that discrimination was started because they were black. Conclusion:Users identify racism when receiving health care, and that violence can distance them from care, especially promotion and prevention. It is necessary to affect health care in the light of the National Health Policy of the Black Population.Keywords: Perception, Discrimination, Health inequities,Racism, Access to health services