2015/2016 Contents 2015/2016

1 From the Director 23 Languages at Africana GERARD ACHING

John Henrik Clarke Africana Library 4 Africana Development Priorities 24 5 Faculty Activities and Accomplishments 25 The Institute for Comparative Modernities 9 Undergraduate Study at Africana GRANT FARRED 26 Mabati-Cornell Kiswahili Prize for African Literature 10 When My Friends First Came to Visit NOLIWE ROOKS on Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye 27 Upcoming Events

Graduate Study at Africana 11 2015-2016 Events NOLIWE ROOKS 29

13 Donald Trump Redefines Republicans’ 31 2015-2016 Co-Sponsored Events Rules for Coded, Racist Language and Deniability Graduate Students KEVIN K. GAINES 33

15 What Scandal’s Civil Rights-Era Critique 35 Jaz Nsubuga ’11: Alum Manages Says About Contemporary Black Marketing Campaign at MTV Women and Girls KATHY HOVIS ONEKA LABENNETT 37 Recent Books by Africana Faculty 17 Jeremiah Grant ‘17: “I began to see what (2013-2016) was between the world and me.” ANNA CARMICHAEL 41 Faculty Engaged Art and its Critique at Cornell 19 Keep in Touch LINDA B. GLASER 43

21 From Why We Don’t Let Black Girls Rock 44 Harriet Tubman 2016 NOELANI GABRIEL

Africana Studies & Research Center Special Thanks to our Administrative Manager, ©2016 Cornell University at Cornell University, 2015-2016 Issue Treva Levine, and our interim Graduate Field Diversity and inclusion are part of Cornell Assistant/Events Coordinator, Lynn Lauper, for Design University’s heritage. We are a recognized their expertise and invaluable assistance in Shannon Williamson employer and educator valuing AA/EEO, bringing this year’s newsletter to fruition. Protected Veterans, and Individuals Photography Content printed elsewhere has been obtained with Disabilities. Cornell University Communications Marketing with permission prior to publication. Group, unless otherwise noted. ii 2015 - 2016 AFRICANA iii United States and Canada to discuss benefited from a visit by Sheri Sher, Africana Center stood at 320 Wait Avenue before it was destroyed by “A number of events organized through and arson on April 1, 1970. Consult our at Africana tackled important global problems webpage for more information and and political practices, fields of inquiry, and updates about this event. pedagogical issues.” It has been a pleasure to welcome Professor Kevin Gaines, the W.E.B. Du Bois Professor of Africana Studies and the philosopher’s contributions to and who was a member of the first MC and History, among our ranks. His stature place in African thought. That same DJ all women crew, and participated in and experience in the field of Africana month, Professor Olúfémi Táíwò took the She Will Be Heard, a documentary that Studies enrich our scholarship, course opportunity to share his research, ideas, examines the relationship between offerings, and mission as a center for and criticism regarding the practice hip hop and women artists. Professor research and public engagement. In and business of foreign humanitarian Noliwe Rooks will launch “Race and addition to these contributions, he aid in Africa in non-emergency Social Entrepreneurship: Food Justice has also been active in highly visible scenarios on a panel discussion called and Urban Reform” in the fall 2016 events and initiatives on campus, such “Humanitarianism and Its Discontents,” semester. This course, which received as moderating a discussion with and which the College of Arts and Sciences the Kaplan Family Faculty Fellowship interviewing Debra L. Lee, Chairman and organized in celebration of its New in Service-Learning Award and also CEO of Black Entertainment Television Century for the Humanities program received support from an Engaged (BET) on April 4, 2016; working closely and the opening of Klarman Hall. With Cornell Program grant, will explore with Professor Steve Pond (Music respect to Africana’s language program, ways to foster social equity and food Department, Cornell), a member of our senior lecturer of Yoruba, Adeolu justice by having students work Africana graduate field, to organize and From the director Ademoyo, and lecturer of Kiswahili, with community stakeholders, such curate Wynton Marsalis’ visits to Cornell Happiness Bulugu, organized and held as farmers, nonprofits, and activists as an A.D. White Professor-at-Large for a the first ever and very successful African in order to examine and propose six-year period beginning in 2015; and, languages symposium at Cornell, which approaches for solving problems of finally, serving as the lead organizer for the forthcoming dedication of the The 2015-16 academic year saw our North Africa, Europe, and North America. included Professors Siba Grovogui’s was attended by colleagues teaching inaccessibility to healthy food. Professor original site of the Africana Center. faculty continuing to bolster Africana’s Also bringing international visibility to and Lori Leonard’s (Department of African languages at universities in the Riché Richardson has developed a status as a leading and generative Development Sociology, Cornell) forum northeastern United States. We look collaborative course called “The Willard Africana this year was Professor Carole On October 6, 2015, we launched an research center and home for scholarly in October 2015, “Governing Extraction,” forward to our language program’s Straight Takeover,” which will be taught Boyce-Davies, who, as president of Africana Alumni Forum, which aims to and activist engagement with a number which examined the effects of the continuing leadership and innovation in for the first time in spring 2017. The the Caribbean Studies Association, provide distinguished alumni with the of issues of continuing importance to Chad Oil and Pipeline Project and the these areas. course will provide students with organized the association’s annual opportunity to describe and reflect on Africa, the Diaspora, and beyond. In conference from June 5-11, 2016 in emergence of forms of governance opportunities to examine an important Faculty also made important strides the relationship between their studies November 2015, Professor Salah Hassan Port-au-Prince, Haiti, where it had never focusing on the extraction of oil, historical but much misunderstood in bringing their research to bear on at the center and their professional brought together resources from the before been held. This historic meeting, gas, and other minerals. Professor moment for Cornell, Africana, and black the courses they have developed and paths and to offer students the chance American University in Cairo, the Sharjah which also featured an event with Grant Farred organized two meetings studies in the United States, when black taught or plan to teach presently. The to interact with our alumni. For the Art Foundation, and the Institute for political activist Professor Angela Davis, at Africana with invited local and students armed themselves in self- Center received word this summer that inauguaration of the forum, which Comparative Modernities at Cornell, was the association’s most attended international scholars: the first, “African defense after occupying the student Professor Oneka LaBennett’s spring 2016 was entitled, “Forum on Environmental which he directs, in order to hold conference drawing scholars, students, Thinking And/At Its Limits,” was held union in 1969 and being threatened. course, “Women in Hip Hop,” ranked in Justice,” Leslie Fields, Esq. (’82), the an international conference in Cairo and journalists from around the world. in June 2015 and focused on African Richardson’s course follows on the the top ten among sixty-three college Sierra Club’s Director of Environmental called The Egyptian Surrealists in Global philosophy, politics, and political theory; heels of one of the most significant courses nationwide that Elle magazine Justice and Community Partnerships, Perspective. The two-day conference was A number of events organized through the second, a workshop entitled, events to take place in Africana’s recent considered the “most compelling” for and Professor Kenneth L. Robinson (’01), a major cultural event in the Egyptian and at Africana tackled important global “Jacques Derrida: A Figure of African history, which will be the dedication examining the experiences of women Associate Professor and Community capital and was attended by scholars, problems and political practices, fields Thought,” took place in April 2016 and on September 24, 2016 (Homecoming and girls. Students in the course Development Specialist at Clemson journalists, artists, and students from of inquiry, and pedagogical issues. These brought together scholars from the weekend) of the site where the original

1 2015 - 2016 AFRICANA 2 “It has been exciting and a genuine honor to witness, facilitate, and participate in the wide and substantive spectrum of activities and projects that the Center generates and sponsors on our campus and beyond.”

University, spoke to our audience campus and beyond. I look forward to about environmental justice and the fall 2016 events commemorating To make a gift or for how their educational experiences at Africana’s initial site on campus as more information about Africana helped them to arrive at their well as to our approaching fiftieth these and other giving involvement in the subject. Screened anniversary of the establishment of the immediately before the forum, Leah Center and of the idea of Africana as a opportunities visit Mahan’s (’88) Come Hell or High Water: field of inquiry and as a source of both africana.cornell.edu The Battle for Turkey Creek (2013), a inspiration and aspiration. documentary about a Mississippi Gulf Coast community, settled by former At the same time, I am very pleased to slaves, that created powerful alliances in announce the interim directorship of order to protect itself from urban sprawl Professor Noliwe Rooks for the 2016- communities and for the social fabric and contamination, provided inspiration 2017 academic year and of Professor of the United States as a whole. In a for the conversation between Fields Kevin Gaines’ directorship for a five-year university such as ours, the freedom to Africana Development Priorities and Robinson. The Africana Center very term beginning in the fall of 2017. I discuss these challenges openly and much looks forward to continuing to look forward to their leadership and safely is valued and respected. Ithaca’s provide this forum and dialogue for our expect the Africana Center to benefit now established branch of the Black Lives Matter movement held some of alumni and students. greatly from their experience, goodwill, The Africana Studies & Research Center The Africana Studies & Research its initial meetings in Africana’s Hoyt and energy. faculty are extremely active researchers, Center is one of the most international Fuller Room. We invite you to engage This academic year marks the end of teachers, mentors, and community departments on the Cornell campus and The year 2019 marks the Africana in this dialogue and in the many others my term as Africana’s director. I would partners. Borrowing from our colleagues is committed to training our students Studies & Research Center’s fiftieth that the Africana Center fosters in our like to take the opportunity to express in the sciences, Africana is offering to understand themselves as global year of existence as a site borne of the classrooms, lecture halls, and public my gratitude to the Center’s faculty, courses with the idea of a humanities citizens with the skills, perspectives and struggle against antiblack racism and spaces for the benefit of all. our graduate field faculty, graduate based “solutions lab.” As molecular outlook engendered by international its attendant social injustices and as the and undergraduate students, staff, biologist Bonnie Bassler has written, travel and engagement with others from historical origin of the idea of Africana the College of Arts and Sciences, laboratories are places populated diverse cultural backgrounds. A gift of as a field of scholarship. Today, the Gerard Aching and our many colleagues and friends overwhelmingly by young people $100,000 would ensure that our majors Center, by the very nature of the work Director of Africana Studies across campus, who have warmly who have the energy and creativity will have the opportunity to travel that it accomplishes, stands uniquely supported and actively contributed to think outside the box and propose internationally and that we can host poised to continue to strengthen its to Africana’s intellectual, pedagogical, and test out solutions to long-standing students from other countries who role on our campus and beyond as a and community engagement goals. It problems. A gift of $250,000 will ensure are interested in learning more about place for examining and addressing has been exciting and a genuine honor that “solutions lab” style courses will be Africa and the African Diaspora by taking the serious challenges—as our to witness, facilitate, and participate institutionalized at Africana. classes here in Africana. in the wide and substantive spectrum programming did last year—that the of activities and projects that the deaths of unarmed African American Center generates and sponsors on our men and women pose for our black

3 2015 - 2016 AFRICANA 4 (PSP) program for fourteen years. Africana welcomed new faculty Travis L. Gosa, assistant professor of PSP brings students from different member Kevin K. Gaines, W.E.B. Du Africana Studies, together with Erik backgrounds and ethnicities together Bois Professor of Africana Studies and Nielson (University of Richmond) released for six weeks of college-level classes, History, in 2015-2016. He is the author their new edited volume The Hip Hop enrichment and orientation activities of Uplifting the Race: Black Leadership, & Obama Reader (Oxford University designed to help pre-freshmen Politics, and Culture During the Twentieth Press) in November 2015. The Hip Hop become successful Cornell students. Century, which was awarded the John & Obama Reader includes a range of In Edmondson’s writing seminar, Hope Franklin Prize of the American new perspectives from leading scholars, “Pan-African Freedom Fighters in Studies Association, as well as American journalists, and activists who examine the their Own Words,” students examine Africans in Ghana: Black Expatriates shifting relationship between popular autobiographical writings, advocacy and the Civil Rights Era, which was a culture, race, youth and national politics statements, and speeches by selected Choice Outstanding Academic Title. His through a systematic analysis of hip freedom fighters from Black America, essays, columns and reviews on African hop and politics during the Obama era. Africa and the Caribbean, such as W.E.B. American history, art, music, literature, As the book explores, hip hop is now Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, Amy Jacques and contemporary culture have been altering political mobilization, grassroots Garvey, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm published in the New York Times, organizing, campaign branding, and X, Ella Baker, Septima Clark, Fannie Lou Ebony, The Providence Journal, American voter turnout, while politics is altering Hamer, Rosa Parks, Angela Davis, Nelson Quarterly, American Historical Review, The hip hop’s dimensions and scope in terms Mandela, Winnie Mandela, Ruth Mompati, Journal of American History, American of linguistics, culture, race, and gender – Mavivi Manzini, Albertina Sisulu, and Literary History, Small Axe, Radical History both domestically and internationally. Bob Marley. One student remarked: Review, Truthout, and Social Text. He has “Edmondson’s class changed the way I lectured at universities throughout the In collaboration with the Sharjah Art think about my life and heritage.” U.S. as well as internationally, and is Foundation and the Visual Cultures a past president of the American Program at the American University Faculty Activities & Accomplishments Grant Farred, professor of Africana Studies Association. in Cairo, the Institute for Comparative Studies, organized the conference Modernities (ICM) at Cornell University “African Thinking And/At Its Limits” Professor Siba N. Grovogui organized organized an international conference in June 2015. Hosted by the Africana a conference entitled “Governing entitled “The Egyptian Surrealists in Studies & Research Center, the two Extraction” with Professor Lori Global Perspective” in November 2015. Gerard Aching, outgoing director of N’Dri Thérèse Assié-Lumumba, its 41st Annual Conference, “Caribbean day seminar was attended by scholars Leonard from Cornell’s Department of Salah M. Hassan, who is the Goldwin the Africana Studies & Research Center professor of Africana Studies, co-edited Global Movements: People, Ideas, Culture, specializing in African philosophy and Development Sociology in October Smith Professor of African and African and professor of Africana and Romance a special issue of the International Arts and Economic Sustainability,“ which politics from the U.S., Europe, the Middle 2015. The full-day forum, hosted by Diaspora Art History and Visual Culture Studies, delivered the 2016 Society for Review of Education-Journal of Lifelong was held in June 2016 in Port-au-Prince. East, as well several Africana faculty the Africana Studies & Research Center, in both the Africana Studies & Research the Humanities Invitational Lecture on Learning (IRE) titled, “Rediscovering the An historic meeting, the CSA conference members (Aching, Grovogui, Táíwò focused on the effects of the Chad Oil Center and the Department of History March 2, 2016. In his lecture, Aching Ubuntu Paradigm in Education.” This had never before taken place in Haiti, and Farred) and graduate students and Pipeline Project in this region of of Art and Visual Studies, as well as drew parallels between the calls to is one of several publications to come the world’s first black Republic. Haitian from various Cornell departments. the world, as well as emergent forms the Director of the ICM, served on action in books by Franz Fanon, Ta- from the 2015 59th annual conference author Edwidge Danticat headlined the The seminar papers ranged from of governance in the context of the the Conference and Curatorial Team. Nehisi Coates, and the unfolding of the of the Comparative and International writers and Haitian intellectuals at the contemporary African culture to global rush for oil, gas, and other mineral The conference will be followed by a Black Lives Matter movement. He began Education Society (CIES), organized conference, along with radical intellectual Francophone philosophy, from cinema resources. Presenters included scholars travelling exhibition entitled When Arts his lecture with Fanon’s phrase, “Oh by Assié-Lumumba during her term and activist Angela Davis. Participating to Frantz Fanon, and from Caribbean from universities in Canada and across Become Liberty: The Egyptian Surrealists my body, always make me a man who as President-Elect. The theme of that scholars hailed from Universities across thinking to Karl Marx. The presentations the United States. An edited volume (1938-1965) to be inaugurated at Sharjah questions,” and noted Coates’ central conference was “Ubuntu! Imagining a the U.S., Latin America, the Caribbean, will be published in the Journal of that will include papers from the Art Foundation in 2017 in Sharjah, UAE, question, “How do I live free in this black Humanist Education Globally.” and Australia. A publication will French and Francophone Philosophy in conference and additional papers will followed by an exhibition in Cairo, Egypt. body?” According to him, these inquiries be forthcoming. the fall of 2016. be published in 2017 by Routledge in its A two-volume publication will follow the inform the Black Lives Matter movement Carole Boyce-Davies, professor of series Routledge Studies of the Extractive conference, with the first to accompany as the latter addresses and counters Africana Studies and English, served as Locksley Edmondson, professor of Industries and Sustainable Development. the exhibition and the second to serve as the historical dispossession of the black the 2015-2016 President of the Caribbean Africana Studies, has participated in TOP LEFT: Professor Edmondson’s writing seminar students from Cornell’s the catalogue of the proposed exhibition. body and undervaluation of black life. Studies Association (CSA) and organized Cornell’s Prefreshman Summer Program Prefreshman Summer Program 2016.

5 2015 - 2016 AFRICANA 6 Associate Professor Oneka LaBennett’s Afro-Caribbean history and culture. disempowers, immobilizes and collaboration among LCTL educators, Spring 2016 course, “Women in Hip Hop,” Snorton’s fellowship project is titled, disables its recipients and acts as a and to leverage resources and strengths received national recognition when “Embodied Legacies: Blackness and the dehumanizing force. Rather than in the LCTL community. it was ranked #10 on Elle magazine’s Remaking of Trans History.” enhancing the capacity of recipients list, “63 College Classes that Give Us to exercise autonomy in their own Happiness Patrick Bulugu, Lecturer of Hope for the Next Generation.” The As part of the College of Arts and affairs, development aid in Africa keeps Kiswahili, was awarded a Consortium for list identified “the most compelling Sciences’ New Century for the recipients dependent. Language Teaching and Learning Grant offerings for today’s college students Humanities celebration, faculty from in spring 2016. Funds will support the to examine the female experience,” across various disciplines shared Adeolu Ademoyo, Senior Lecturer of development of Kiswahili vocabulary and noted that LaBennett’s course glimpses of their latest research in a Yoruba, also serves as the President exercises for Elementary Kiswahili Global asks questions such as “What do the series of six “Big Ideas” panel discussions of the African Language Teachers Health (ASRC 1107) and Intermediate sexual politics of rap music reveal about in spring 2016. The topic of the last Association (ALTA). The theme of Kiswahili (ASRC 2101) through Quizlet, Black women’s conceptualizations of panel discussion was “Humanitarianism the ALTA 2015 Conference, co- an online learning platform. Quizlet feminism? How can we apply early and its Discontents,” which brought organized with the National Council exercises will also be accessible to ‘hip hop feminism’ to understand ABOVE: Machel Montano, Award Winning Artiste; Carole Boyce Davies, Professor, Cornell University; together the diverse critical perspectives of Less Commonly Taught Languages students through a mobile app. In Etienne Charles, Jazz Musician; Ryan Leslie, Recording Artist and Producer; Emeline Michel, Singer current debates about Beyoncé and of Professor Olúfémi Táíwò (Africana (NCOLCTL), was “The Languages of Quizlet, students will practice Kiswahili celebrating Caribbean American Heritage Month at the White House Nicki Minaj? How are hetero-normative Studies) and Associate Professor America in the 21st Century.” Participants vocabulary with audio-visual flashcards, gender ideologies reinforced in hip hop Elizabeth Anker (English). Táíwò shared were encouraged to adapt the scope, games, and quizzes. The platform will culture?” Students who were enrolled his ideas and research into foreign nature, method and pedagogy of aid and reinforce usage of unfamiliar humanitarian aid in Africa, and asserted language teaching and research to vocabulary introduced in class, amplify in the course benefitted from a visit Cornell Mellon Diversity Postdoctoral sustainability for those with low or fixed that aid should only be given to the current state of the economy, Kiswahili comprehension and retention, LaBennett hosted with Sheri Sher, a Fellowship Seminar, which accomplishes income. Students will work in concert countries in times of emergency. “No technology, and globalization. ALTA and maximize classroom time for member of the first MC and DJ crew the important work of preparing recent with farmers, nonprofits and community country has moved its people from poor conferences aim to pursue new interacting in Kiswahili confidently. comprised entirely of women, and doctoral students from traditionally activists to learn about local food to rich as a result of foreign aid,” said pathways for advocating innovative author of the book, Mercedes Ladies. underrepresented backgrounds in justice strategies, conduct research, and Táíwò, who argued that development approaches in research and practices, to LaBennett and her students also academia to excel in their intellectual propose approaches to heighten access aid (as opposed to emergency aid) maximize professional exchanges and participated in the filming of She Will and professional endeavors. to healthy food for senior citizens on a Be Heard, a documentary exploring hip fixed income in the Ithaca Area. hop’s relationship with women artists. Noliwe Rooks, associate professor of Africana Studies and Feminist, Gender C. Riley Snorton, assistant professor of ENGAGED CURRICULUM GRANTS AWARDED Associate Professor Riché Richardson and Sexuality Studies, and the incoming Africana Studies and Feminist, Gender has developed a new course for next Interim Chair of Africana Studies for and Sexuality Studies, won the coveted A team of Africana faculty are among include living case study scenarios year entitled “The Willard Straight the 2016-2017 academic year, guest National Endowment for the Humanities select recipients of Engaged Cornell’s that involve students, faculty, and Takeover.” The course will focus on the edited a special issue of NKA: A Journal Schomburg Center Scholar-in-Residence inaugural Engaged Curriculum Grants, community organizations as conscious complex history related to this famous of Contemporary African Art published by Fellowship 2015-2016. Fellowships announced fall 2015, which support partners working toward solutions in incident from 1969, when black students Duke University Press on the subject of funded by the Center allow recipients to work that places community-engaged food, social, racial, and economic justice. occupied the student union on campus “Black Fashion-Art. Pleasure. Politics.” She be in residence with access to resources learning at the heart of the Cornell Throughout the courses, students during Parent’s Weekend and, when also received the 2016 Kaplan Family at the Schomburg Center and other student experience. Knowing that will become familiar with community threatened, returned with firearms in Faculty Fellowship in Service-Learning centers of The New York Public Library. it takes time and effort to develop leadership skills, ethics, and strategies in self-defense. This pivotal event, one award to support a fall 2016 course, The program encourages research mutually beneficial partnerships with these fields. Africana team members are of the most important in Cornell’s “Race and Social Entrepreneurship: and writing on black history and community organizations, faculty Associate Professor Oneka LaBennett, history, remains misunderstood and Food Justice and Urban Reform.” The culture, facilitates interaction among from the Africana Studies & Research Associate Professor Noliwe Rooks, misrepresented. The main goal of this course will examine food justice in participating scholars, and provides Center are building relationships with and Professor Gerard Aching. The course is to make a scholarly framework Ithaca and surrounding areas and widespread dissemination of findings social justice/cultural organizations in community partners for these learning available in which students might explore innovative approaches to through lectures, publications, and Ithaca and New York City, which will experiences are Groundswell Center for reinforce and expand their knowledge bring about social equity and justice in colloquia and seminars. It encompasses be central to two Africana courses that Local Food and Farming in Ithaca and of this topic. Richardson was also relation to food availability, access and projects in African, Afro-American, and will be tested as capstone experiences CaribBEING in New York City. selected to participate in the 2016-17 for Africana majors. Both courses will

7 2015 - 2016 AFRICANA 8 BELOW: Grant Farred, Director of Undergraduate Studies at Africana

LEFT: Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison, M.A. ‘55, during a visit to Cornell

immediately important to me in part because I am an only child. My parents divorced when I was five and I split years between the two of them. They lived in different regions of the country and year after year I moved from the West Coast to the South and back again. I changed schools every single year. From first When My Friends grade through the eighth, I was always the new girl. I never started a school year knowing a single soul. Though Undergraduate Study at Africana First Came to Visit I always made friends, I never once NOLIWE ROOKS ON TONI MORRISON’S THE BLUEST EYE anticipated seeing any of them during the summer. I was always leaving in the summer to start my new year with my It was a very good way to end the One of our majors, who also worked Our undergraduate program provides By the time I was ten I had both inhaled and join the characters to sit at their other parent. I spent a lot of time alone. 2015-16 academic year. At our May in the Africana office, Noelani Gabriel, a wide range of courses on Africa and inhabited a lot of books. I knew well fictional kitchen table and drink milk When I read The Bluest Eye, I understood graduation, two of our minors, did an independent study exploring and the African diaspora in the fields the escape of imagining myself as one out of a Shirley Temple glass. Shirley and for the first time that I didn’t need to independently of each other, went out black women’s mental health at Cornell of literature, art history, philosophy, of Nancy Drew’s friends who sleuthed. I I were already regular acquaintances. read in order to escape loneliness. My of their way to tell me that a class they which was directed by Professor Rooks. international relations, history, sociology, understood the shape shifting required We met weekly on Sunday mornings to time alone could transform. had taken in Africana was “the best” Another May graduate, Jacquelynn and anthropology and a variety of to spend an entire day imagining myself smile and tap dance our way through they had enrolled in at Cornell. These Jones, who had Professor Richardson analytical approaches and methods to be one, and then another of Louisa hardship before rushing together toward The Bluest Eye was the first book to help students, and others, remarked on as her advisor, will start an MA at that train students to view such fields May Alcott’s Little Women. When Edgar our triumphant ending. For the first time me to understand the mundane and how transformative their experience Brown University in fall 2016. Next in light of Africana’s long tradition of Allen Poe’s House of Usher fell, I lived the characters in a book came forth from immediate nature of evil, the fragile yet in Africana had been and how it had year, we look forward to senior theses interdisciplinary study, scholarship, for days with a self-congratulatory their world to join me in mine. They kept precious nature of Black girl friendship, shaped their decisions about their future. being written, for instance, by Abram and public engagement. Our gateway satisfaction for disbelief well and me company. They occupied me. They and the truth of the matter about love These responses are an endorsement of Alebiosu, supervised by Professor Táíwò; courses to the major and minor willfully suspended. were friends who whispered secrets and and its ability to both protect and the work being done in Africana classes Nicole Mensa, supervised by Professor continue to inspire students, and we revealed everything I thought a ten- destroy. There would of course be other and a testament to our ability to teach, Grovogui; and Anthony Halmon, look forward to their increased ranks in However, it was not until I read year-old girl needed to know about how works that deepened those truths and reach and serve – pedagogically, socially, supervised by Professor Gaines, and to our classrooms and lecture halls. Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye that I she should see the world, and how the revealed others but that story and those politically – a diverse student body. I the projects which they will showcase understood the difference between my world saw her. I was illuminated. friends were the first to introduce me to would like to thank all my colleagues for for the department in their April 2017 inhabiting the world of a book, and a the power of literature. For me, that first their commitment in the classroom. thesis defenses. Grant Farred book inhabiting me. When turning those I think that the relationship with love is still the truest. Director of Undergraduate Studies particular pages, I didn’t need to leave the children in The Bluest Eye was so

9 2015 - 2016 AFRICANA 10 Sasso, Kanyinsola Obayan, and Marshall Smith, all passed their initial exams admitting them to candidacy, the Q-exam. Their work focuses on the tension between Afropolitanism and indigenous forms of knowledge on the African continent; literary studies of Black girlhood in Cuba, Haiti and Brazil; the meaning and range of Black ethnic identities in the United States; and Black literary studies in French and the Caribbean in relation to Louisiana.

Collectively, in the past year our students have won competitive fellowships, grants, and residencies. In addition, a number of them have presented at national and even international conferences and have all moved closer to successfully completing their degrees. For these reasons, we believe that the future of graduate study in Africana is very bright indeed. Graduate Study at Africana Noliwe Rooks Director of Graduate Studies

Our doctoral program is ready to enter that, beginning in the fall of 2016, we and U.S. Black liberation struggles; its third year and this spring we admitted will offer a graduate minor available to formations of gender, Blackness and our third cohort. It is now clear that the graduate students currently enrolled race in Colombia, South America; and PhD program in Africana at Cornell is in any doctoral program at Cornell. queering race and gender in U.S. Black poised to make a mark on the scholarly Interested students will take four literary studies. landscape that is the global study of courses in Africana, including our two Blackness in Africa and her diaspora. introductory seminars, and have a These incoming students, Zifeng Liu, member of our graduate field on Afifa Ltifi, Amaris Brown, and Natalia Given our newly defined research Applications are fields in Gender and Sexuality, Africana their committee. Santiesteban, will join the second Political and Philosophical Thought, year class, Kristen Wright and Mayowa open for Fall 2017 The four newest students who will join Global Black Radical Tradition, Black Willoughby, whose scholarly work admission at Feminist Thought, Youth and/or Popular us in the fall are themselves diverse focuses respectively on Black feminist Culture Studies, and Literary, Art and in terms of where they call home, playwrights and their melding and africana.cornell. Visual, Performance and Cultural Studies, encompassing four of the seven interventions in literary theory and edu/graduate we believe our doctoral program is as continents. In addition, they have history, and a project on Blackness and rigorous, stimulating, and relevant as scholarly projects that span the globe. Arab identity in Turkey. it is geographically broad. Given our Their intellectual interests include: Finally, this year our first class of depth and breadth in these areas and feminism, Blackness and religion in students, Marsha Jean-Charles, Nadia others, we are pleased to announce Tunisia; Maoist China, propaganda,

11 2015 - 2016 AFRICANA 12 “When Trump and many of his supporters say The investigative journalist Jane Mayer they refuse to be “politically correct,” they want has noted the irony of the far-right, anti- to eliminate public taboos on racist, sexist and government billionaire Koch brothers’ objection to Trump’s xenophobic, bigoted speech.” authoritarian campaign. Mayer reminds us of the Koch-financed “grassroots” opposition to the Affordable Care Act. As Atwater explained: It seems fitting that Duke has figured Then, in 2010, the Koch brothers had no in Trump’s own effort to go beyond problem whatsoever with the hate- [Y]ou start out in 1954 … saying ‘n*****, the GOP establishment’s disturbing filled mob atmosphere of a rally on n*****, n*****.’ By 1968, you can’t say protocol of dog-whistle appeals to Capitol Hill, where some whites yelled ‘ n*****’ -- that hurts you. So you say white prejudice. When Trump and homophobic and racial slurs and spat stuff like forced busing, state’s rights…. many of his supporters say they refuse upon three African-American members You’re getting so abstract now, you’re to be “politically correct,” they want to of Congress. talking about cutting taxes, and all these things … are totally economic, and eliminate public taboos on racist, sexist The use of racial euphemism in US a byproduct of this is Blacks get hurt and bigoted speech. politics goes back to President Richard worse than whites…. Because … saying Even more concerning than his Nixon’s Southern strategy. Using coded “we want to cut this” is much more legitimizing hate speech is Trump’s appeals to “law and order” and fear of abstract than the busing thing, and … complete denial that his words have crime to demonize Black demands for saying ‘n*****, n*****.’ consequences. His rallies have become equality, Nixon triggered a mass exodus rituals of hate and physical violence of white southern Democrats angered Much of Trump’s support comes from against outsiders and people his by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into the this constituency, forged during the supporters disagree with. Trump insists Redefines Republicans’ Rules for Republican Party. 1980s and 1990s, motivated largely by Donald Trump Coded, Racist Language and Deniability white racial fear and loathing. Atwater’s that he is not responsible for the chaos Ronald Reagan announced his notorious “Willie Horton” ad yoked the we are witnessing. And now he has KEVIN K. GAINES campaign for the presidency in crimes of an African-American man to predicted there will be riots if he doesn’t Philadelphia, Mississippi, where civil Democratic Party nominee Michael get the Republican nomination. rights workers were killed by white Dukakis. Though widely condemned, Where would we be without plausible the candidate’s rallies, when they aren’t campaign of 1948. Caught up in the Of course, not all of Trump’s supporters supremacists in 1964. Though polarizing, the ad helped propel George H.W. Bush deniability? A gift from the Reagan asking protesters to share the blame. occasion of Thurmond’s 100th birthday, are afflicted with the sickness of racism. such manipulation helped advance to victory in 1988. presidency that keeps on giving, that In fact, Trump’s combustible appeals to Lott claimed that the nation would have Many have legitimate economic Reagan’s anti-government, tax-cuts for phrase lowered the bar for truthfulness white racial resentment have long been been better off had Thurmond won and grievances. Job flight, falling wages, the rich, deregulatory economic agenda, Though his 1990s campaigns for and accountability. The concept gained a staple of conservative politics. What’s somehow prevented civil rights reforms. the Great Recession and Republican- whose benefits did not trickle-down to statewide office in Louisiana were currency after Ronald Reagan used it to new is that Trump refuses to back down For transgressing the rule of deniability led cuts of the social safety net have white, blue-collar supporters. unsuccessful, David Duke ran viable absolve himself of involvement for the from racist and xenophobic statements. with his expression of hidebound views, campaigns as a Republican and plunged many into a desperate struggle Iran-Contra scandal. The verbal arsonist Lott fell on his sword. It was Republican Party political attracted funding from a national to survive. Tragically, those who have Conservatives horrified at Trump’s front- Donald Trump has done away with the operative Lee Atwater, however, who network of contributors spouting benefited so little from backing the runner status may be nostalgic for a One wonders how Lott must feel as plausible part, and even the deniability perfected the alchemy of turning base, racism and anti-Semitism unvarnished GOP establishment are now submitting time when rules of coded language and Trump’s poll numbers rise with each part as well, reserving the act of denial anti-Black racism into electoral gold. enough to make Republicans uneasy. to the dangerous manipulations of a deniability -- a reprehensible practice, seemingly damning statement, and only when he has been accused of Toning down the racial demagoguery Duke stoked the resentments of poor demagogue unworthy of their support to be sure -- regulated how their side of even after incidents of violence at his inciting riots. of a Thurmond or George Wallace, and struggling whites, even those on and unfit for office. the aisle communicated their views on rallies. Trump continues to rack up Atwater mined the racial fears and government assistance themselves, For its part, the GOP establishment race. Just ask Trent Lott, who resigned primary delegates -- despite bigoted and Kevin K. Gaines is the W.E.B. Du Bois resentments of whites with a subtlety by portraying African Americans is deep in denial, viewing Trump’s as Senate Majority Leader in 2002 after authoritarian attacks of Mexicans and Professor of Africana Studies and History. that proved effective in national, as well as undeserving beneficiaries of incendiary rhetoric as the main bipartisan objections to his unguarded Muslims -- and his reluctant, winking This article originally appeared on and has as statewide elections. government programs and worse. cause for the unmasked racism and praise of Sen. Strom Thurmond’s pro- disavowal of an endorsement from the likes been reprinted with permission. occasional violence that have marred segregation third party presidential of Ku Klux Klan spokesman David Duke. Copyright, Truthout.org.

13 2015 - 2016 AFRICANA 14 artists, such as Stevie Wonder, Marvin respectability, marital status, is not immune to such blowback. What Scandal’s Civil Rights-Era Gaye, and Sly and the Family Stone, is adherence to a patriarchal family Herein lies the contemporary sting due to the “strong sense of nostalgia structure—have traditionally of Scandal’s nostalgic universe: [of] these songs.” So although Kerry marginalized African American With every narrative choice she Critique Says About Contemporary Washington (who plays Pope) was women from the status of “lady.” makes, Rhimes holds the weight born in the Bronx at the dawn of hip- Black feminist scholars such as of a history of stereotypical Black Women and Girls hop’s materialization, Olivia and Fitz’s Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham have representations of Black femininity love affair unfolds to tracks by Otis noted that in the Jim Crow South, on her shoulders. Indeed, in her ONEKA LABENNETT Redding, Aretha Franklin, and Booker little Black girls were socialized celebrated Emmy Award-acceptance T. and the M.G.s. to understand that the bathroom speech, Viola Davis counted Rhimes labeled “Black Women” was for them and Washington among the Black “…Do the impossible, raise an African American girl who felt as fully entitled to own the world as much as Like its soundtrack, Scandal’s and the one labeled “White Ladies” women who have precipitated more any white man,” I recalled that line, uttered in a recent episode of Scandal, when I saw the viral video of a central premise transports us to a was off limits, a stark example barrier-breaking roles for Black white South Carolina school police officer violently ripping a Black teenage girl from a desk, then dragging pre-Obama White House. It offers of entrenched racial/gender women actors. Americans a nostalgic fantasy world her and slamming her to the floor. norms. Thus Mrs. Obama’s status in which we can attempt to reconcile is dependent on her embodying When Scandal acknowledges the our disbelief at Michelle Obama’s gendered conventions that have racism Black women and girls The line resonated with me, and Part of Scandal’s appeal rests in how former White House communications presence as “Mom-in-Chief.” In many historically been the exclusive face, even in “post-racial” America, many other Black women I know, it depicts a dark sense of nostalgia director, political fixer and President ways, Pope is Michelle Obama’s endowment of white women. By it reveals that we can neither be because it cast the protagonist Olivia for an era in which the only hope Grant’s true love, will never become alter ego, embodying all that she is situating its improper romance recognized as “ladies,” nor “feel fully Pope’s entire persona as a “what a Black woman had of being the a legitimate member of the First not. On Scandal, the Black woman within a nostalgic past, Scandal entitled,” like white men. Images if” scenario within and beyond the president’s partner would be as Family. Debuting three years into sharing the president’s bed is not nods to those Civil Rights-era such as that of the Spring Valley High program’s confines: What if a Black his mistress—a plot belied by the the Obama presidency, Scandal the respectable-but-approachable intersections of race and gender, School student being ripped from girl-turned-woman actually felt legitimacy of Michelle Obama’s was at once avant-garde and a “Southside girl,” and moral compass while simultaneously contesting her desk, or that of a white police that entitled? What would it mean historic role, yet bolstered by the throwback—it featured the first to the president that is Michelle them. In so doing, it hopes to present officer in McKinney, Texas forcing for how we interpret a powerful unfulfilled promise of a post-racial female African American protagonist Obama. Olivia is a childless, career- Black women as complex heroines, a Black teenage girl in a bikini to Black female character like Pope, America. This immensely popular on a network drama in almost 40 minded home-wrecker who fell in fettered by the interconnections of the ground at a pool party, collapse who is involved in an affair with the show’s longue durée relates the years, but it eschewed the reality love with, and helped rig an election race and gender, but determined to the divide between Civil Rights-era president of the United States? And impossibility of Black women of Michelle Obama’s historic post for, a Republican president. Of surpass the accompanying barriers. historical footage and contemporary what might it mean for real Black and girls—especially those who for a blast-from-the-past plotline course, these are facile dichotomies race/gender politics. In this way, girls who get in trouble with police, do not meet the standards of that smacked of Thomas Jefferson that situate Obama as little more ShondaLand is a world in which Scandal’s universe is exposed, not as such as the Spring Valley High respectability—being able to enjoy and Sally Hemings (a connection than a “dutiful lady” and Washington’s Black women are both powerful and a nostalgic one, but as very much of School student? the privileges and the power that Olivia acknowledged in Season 2). character as a “woman of ill repute.” flawed—for all of her lip quivering the here and now. have historically been the exclusive While it routinely features ripped- In actuality, early depictions ridiculed and melting into the arms of the Last week’s Scandal teaser put domain of their white counterparts. from-the-headlines subplots, Obama as “militant,” while more president, the unladylike Olivia is regular viewers on edge by For Pope’s character, that privilege Scandal’s narrative thread portrays recent commentators undermined a mighty Washington player who Oneka LaBennett is Associate Professor suggesting an impending wedding amounts to the temerity of admitting and transgresses Civil Rights era her influence on school lunch accomplishes the impossible every at the Africana Studies & Research between Pope and the president. she is in love with the president, but racial-gender norms in which Black programs and racialized her body week. The fallout Liv faces after she Center. This article originally appeared Thursday’s episode will reveal if for regular Black women and girls women did not get to be “ladies,” in one fell swoop. Critiques that the publicly admits to being Grant’s on the Ms. Magazine blog and has the show’s bold move to expose like the South Carolina teenager, it let alone, The First Lady. At a time Obama daughters’ skirts were too mistress (with Aretha Franklin’s 1967 been reprinted with permission. Fitzgerald Grant and Olivia Pope’s amounts to expecting that you will when hip-hop dominates popular short provided further “evidence” of single “Do Right Woman—Do Right affair will result in a seismic shift to be treated with the same level of music (and TV, on shows like Empire), the First Family’s unsuitability. Man” providing non-diegetic sound), its narrative thrust—one premised dignity afforded to white teens. Scandal’s Motown-era soundtrack is centered around her “hav[ing] on the impropriety of a Black woman underscores the nostalgia on which The tropes that Obama, and the audacity to be born female and who dares to imagine life as the For the past five seasons, Scandal it is predicated. Executive producer Pope, would have to successfully Black.” And, as a New York Times president’s partner. has derived its dramatic tension and creator Shonda Rhimes has said marshal to be considered worthy article situating Rhimes as “an angry from the notion that Olivia Pope, her intentional use of classic soul of inhabiting the White House— Black woman” revealed, even she

15 2015 - 2016 AFRICANAAFRICANA 16 “It was amazing to see some of my history and I wanted to learn more about it. I knew it was WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE what I had to study. It’s self-discovery as well TO RESEARCH? Right now, I am interested in population as education.” health in diverse, underestimated, underserved communities, globally. I want to understand how public health can work in combination with the undergraduate, masters and graduate WHERE DO YOU SEE YOURSELF private healthcare sector to bring about students. I help students learn about IN 10 YEARS? meaningful change. internship and volunteer opportunities. I see myself with with my B.A in It’s a group to provide resources and Africana Studies from Cornell, my Ph.D Anna Carmichael is a writer for the College a home on campus. I’m a part of the in Epidemiology and Human Genetics of Arts & Sciences at Cornell University. This Coca Cola Scholars on campus. I provide and crafting alternative solutions to article was reprinted with permission. mentorship to students, volunteer and positively increase health outcomes serve the community. I am a recruiter for minority communities. I see myself for the Future Leaders Foundation, researching the haplogroup diversity of serving the talent advisory student. We people of African descent and traveling look for first generation students with the world and understanding the Check out the academic excellence and leadership cultures of diverse human populations. potential. I’m also a Cornell Tradition I see myself advocating for equal access Africana major Fellow, a member of Scholars Working to health data for minority patients to and minor at Ambitiously to Graduate (S.W.A.G.), the make educated decisions and serving as Weill Ithaca Network (W.I.N.), and the advisor to the White House’s, the World africana.cornell. “I began to see what was OADI Pre-Professional Program (P3). I’m Health Organization and the National edu/undergraduate Jeremiah Grant ‘17: between the world and me.” a Columnist for the Cornell Daily Sun and Institutes of Health. write “Gates and Ladders”, which appears ANNA CARMICHAEL every other week in the Opinion section.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE MAJOR: Africana Studies with a WHY DID YOU CHOOSE just physical, but after taking it here CORNELL MEMORY? concentration on the Caribbean AFRICANA STUDIES? at Cornell, I realized there was so It was meeting Bill Gates. It was a special I started off as a biology major, and while much more to learn about it. It’s not memory because he is the man who Jeremiah Grant is recognized HOMETOWN: Queens, NY studying biology I took a genetics course. just physical; it goes into history and gives me the funding to pursue my as a Future Global Leaders We took a genetics test to find out where philosophy and taught me what it was education. I got to thank him, which was WHY DID YOU CHOOSE CORNELL? Fellow, Gates Millennium your ancestors were from. It gave me a like to be a team. definitely a highlight. It just felt right. You’re looking at result from the East Indies, and this made Scholar, Bezos Scholar, colleges and wondering which one WHERE IS YOUR FAVORITE STUDY no sense to me, so later on I took an WHAT DO YOU VALUE ABOUT YOUR Cornell Tradition Fellow and would be the best fit for you. And there introductory course in Africana Studies. It SPOT AT CORNELL? LIBERAL ARTS EDUCATION? came a time when everyone who was was amazing to see some of my history 3rd floor Uris Library. I truly value the mantra: “any person, Coca Cola Scholar. The World entering my life had some connection and I wanted to learn more about it. I any study.” What I really value is that no Economic Forum to Cornell and the people I met here WHAT ARE YOU INVOLVED WITH knew it was what I had to study. It’s self- matter what it is that you’re interested in, recently named him were just genuinely nice and willing to discovery as well as education. AT CORNELL? WHY ARE THESE it exists on campus. I have learned more help people. At the same time Cornell ACTIVITIES IMPORTANT TO YOU? about the world, classmates, community a Global Shaper. is an Ivy League institution and one of WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FAVORITE I’m involved with the Gates Opportunity and know that no matter what my the best of the best – I would argue CLASS AT CORNELL SO FAR AND WHY? for Academic Advancement program, interests and passions are, there is a that Cornell is the best – and so when Intro to Taekwondo. Taekwondo which is the Gates Millennium professor who teaches about them. I received the acceptance letter I knew gives you structure. It teaches you Scholar Cornell Chapter on campus, this is where I belonged. self-discipline. Most people think it’s a 10 year scholarship fully funded for JEREMIAH GRANT

Photo by Julia Xanthos, New York Daily News

17 2015 - 2016 AFRICANA 18 moved away from a Eurocentric linear model toward a more global one of studying art movements and artists, “Contemporary art doesn’t give you easy and in the process it incorporates solutions. It makes you think in more complex, new methodologies engendered by imperatives of race, gender, sexualities less instrumental ways and identifies things to and other intersectionalities that truly which you should be attentive.” define our world. The field has also moved away from linear narratives of art history that center on the West toward a more comparativist global approach in the study of modernism and modernity.”

Riché Richardson, associate professor of Africana Studies, says that for a long time she kept her art and her academics in separate compartments, “but I’ve been astonished at how frequently the subjects I’m working on in my research are paralleled by subjects I end up making into quilts. In that sense, the processes are dialectical. I’m able to frame similar questions in my art to ones I develop in my research but for a Engaged Art and its Critique at Cornell different audience.”

LINDA B. GLASER Fifty-eight of Richarson’s quilts were featured in an exhibition at the Rosa Parks Museum when the national Artists today engage with a world very Cornell faculty are engaged in the of thinking and experiencing that go commemoration of the Selma-to- different from that of their predecessors: creation of contemporary art as well beyond established norms, and that’s Montgomery March was held in globally connected, technologically as in its study and curation. Because its value.” 2015. Her Rosa Parks quilt is now on advanced and highly diverse. In the last contemporary art mediums are limited permanent display at the museum. 50 years the Western canon has been only by the artist’s imagination and have His own work, created with his partner, displaced as the benchmark for “good” become unbounded by geographical Elizabeth Dadi, is a good example of and worthwhile art, opening the door borders, the wide range of cultural this. “Efflorescence,” the Dadis’ recent to works intended to challenge viewers, expertise at Cornell lends an important project, uses the language of pop art Linda B. Glaser is a writer for the College of rather than simply to aesthetically please. depth to the study of contemporary art. and commercial signage in a large- Arts & Sciences at Cornell University. This Visual artists today even engage with scale commentary on sovereignty and article was reprinted with permission from “It’s an exciting time to be an artist,” says the boundedness of time, in different the nation-state: The series consists of the Cornell Chronicle. Iftikhar Dadi, M.A. ’01, Ph.D. ’03, Associate forms of performance media. six giant industrially fabricated neon Professor of History of Art and Interim flowers, each the national symbol of a Director of the South Asia Program. “A lot Says Dadi: “Contemporary art doesn’t country or region with disputed borders. LEFT: Malcolm X art quilt of contemporary art is very provocative, give you easy solutions. It makes you by Riché Richardson RIGHT: Rosa Parks art pointing us at things that we need to think in more complex, less instrumental Notes Salah Hassan, the Goldwin quilt by Riché Richardson look at but we don’t always.” ways and identifies things to which Smith Professor of African and African you should be attentive. It offers ways Diaspora Art History and Visual Culture, “The field of art history itself has

19 2015 - 2016 AFRICANA 20 “Both cultural competency and an explicitly continue to be at the nexus of school antiracist and antisexist posture is necessary for pushout. Much like the word “thug” educators to reverse and eliminate this trend. ” has been used as a stand in for much harsher racial terms to describe Black men and boys, “loudness” has become a euphemism used to describe Black girls likely be treated like a student who are constructed around young Black as oppositional. Contrastingly, loudness, talks back. These are both oppositional women’s identity as the ‘other’”. It is according to Signithia Fordham, is acts against the ideal social hierarchy of by now clear that Black women and a way that Black girls can assert a the educator – student relationship. girls, even if academically successful, positive feminine identity. She uses experience gendered and raced labeling the example of one student, Rita, who Research shows that teachers are due to historical, cultural, and social does very well in her academics but is actually more concerned with these stereotypes endorsed by their teachers often reprimanded by her teachers for small behaviors than the academic and school officials. her “attitude”. Her disposition causes progress of the same students. This them to label her negatively instead is striking considering that several In the context of school discipline, this of reinforcing her positive academic scholars have concluded Black girls with creates an environment in which “Black achievement. Yet, her behavior is never more confidence in their femininity do [girls] are structurally positioned as guilty bad enough to be considered against better in school despite their constant subjects who warrant punishment. the school policy. Black girls often exposure to racism, sexism, and classism. Unless this changes, Black girls will never occupy this in-between place in which Edward Morris suggests that this relates be seen as innocent or confident or their personalities are seen as inherently to the teachers’ emphasis on acting like creative, but rather loud, obnoxious, and oppositional and disruptive to the a “lady”, a construct that immediately on the way to the principal’s office. school culture and power dynamic in signals the politics of respectability. From Why We Don’t Let Black Girls Rock: “Loudness, Attitude, and Innocence,” the classroom even if they are not being Teachers may have positive outlooks is an excerpt from Noelani Gabriel’s School Discipline, Zero Tolerance, and the Politics of Attitude violent or severely distracting. In the about Black girls’ academic achievement award-winning essay, “Why We Don’t Let best-case scenario, Rita may be shielded but may simultaneously view them Black Girls Rock: School Discipline, Zero NOELANI GABRIEL ‘16 from academic or extracurricular as poorly behaved because of their Tolerance, and the Politics of Attitude.” Ms. opportunities because her teachers loudness, just like Rita: Many teachers encouraged girls to exemplify a docile Gabriel’s essay won First Place in the 2016 She continues: think she is prone to misbehavior; the LOUDNESS, ATTITUDE, AND In her formative book, Black Feminist National Council for Black Studies (NCBS) worst-case scenario would result in femininity, emblematized in the INNOCENCE “By failing to acknowledge the Thought, Patricia Hill Collins explains Undergraduate Student Essay Contest. her being carted off in handcuffs and prescription to act like “ladies.” Most unique ways that African American that both white and African-American “Loud, disruptive, confrontational, referred to law enforcement like so teachers, Morris observed, viewed the girls’ educational experiences are institutions perpetuate limiting images Noelani Gabriel ’16 was an Africana aggressive, unlady-like, ratchet, ghetto many other Black girls in our public existing femininity of these girls as impacted by explicit and implicit bias of Black women who are hailed as Studies major. --- these are all disparaging adjectives schools. Schools do not celebrate a coarse and overly assertive, leading one and the underlying racial and gender sexually promiscuous, incapable of commonly used to describe the confident feminine identity – they teacher to go so far as to describe them stereotypes which fuel them, we rational or logical thought, or brash and behavior of African American women stamp it down. as “loudies”. Again, Black girls are pitted enable the phenomena known as domineering, and any combination and girls”. This is how Janel George as the very antithesis of respectability. ‘school pushout’ and the ‘school-to- thereof. Thus, it follows that these describes the way Black women and girls Fordham argues that silence can also prison pipeline,’ which are currently negative stereotypes must influence Venus Evans-Winters weighs in with an are figured in the public imagination. be an act of defiance against the school operating to make African American interactions between Black girls and incisive description of how Black women Black girls find themselves at the culture. She tells the story of many girls the fastest-growing segment of the school officials. and girls are othered by these standards: crossroads of a system that sees their Black girls who chose to fly under the juvenile justice system”. “At this historical moment young Black identities as a threat to order. George’s Both cultural competency and an radar by avoiding much conversation – which defies the common stereotype. women are socially constructed as the article in the Arkansas Law Review These negative associations and labels explicitly antiracist and antisexist posture Both of these patterns of behavior – epitome of exactly what whiteness (as discusses much of what has already projected onto Black girls and women is necessary for educators to reverse loudness or silence – can be punishable maleness) and femininity (as whiteness) been included; however, she makes are grounded in America’s dark past. and eliminate this trend. If schools are under zero tolerance policies in school. is not: dark, sinister, raunchy, belligerent, several key associations between cultural Black women and girls are oft held as embedded deeply in this system of A student who refuses to answer will burly, and licentious…other’s identities stereotypes and school discipline. the antithesis of (white) womanhood. racist and sexist labeling, Black girls will NOELANI GABRIEL

21 2015 - 2016 AFRICANA 22 GLOBAL HEALTH SWAHILI COURSE

Each summer, select students in Cornell’s Global Health Program travel to Moshi, Tanzania. In preparation for the trip, students take the Global Health Swahili Course, taught by Lecturer Happiness Patrick Bulugu, which combines language learning with cultural orientation. This classroom-based learning is applied and enhanced by experiential learning in the course of daily life abroad. The goals of the eight-week summer program in Tanzania are to enhance the cross-cultural competence of participants and to provide students with the opportunity to gain broad knowledge about global health issues in the Tanzanian context. Participants live with a local family, enroll in a local college, and contribute Languages at Africana 160 service hours to a local The John Henrik Clarke Africana Library non-governmental organization, hospital, government agency, or research project. This direct FOREIGN LANGUAGES ACROSS THE In spring 2016 a total of 81 students experience deepens students’ In 1985, faculty of the Africana Studies providing resources on the history that Angela Davis’ Freedom is a Constant CURRICULUM: YORUBA AND SWAHILI were enrolled in Arabic, Mandarin, Hindi, understanding of the health & Research Center named the Africana Dr. Clarke spoke of. In part, it does this Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine and the Indonesian, Japanese, Latin, Russian, problems that disproportionately Library in honor of Dr. John Henrik Clarke, by providing a specialized collection Foundations of a Movement, Radley Balko’s Formally launched in 2015–2016, the Spanish, and Yoruba FLAC courses at affect the resource poor. a distinguished African/African American focusing on the history and culture of Rise of Warrior Cop: The Militarization of FLAC program at Cornell offers optional Cornell. The courses averaged 6 to 7 historian who was a trail-blazer in the field people of African ancestry. This would America’s Police Forces, and Lisa Bloom’s one-credit foreign language courses students per class and were focused on dating back to the Harlem Renaissance. include collecting resources on Africa Suspicion Nation: The Inside Story of the that are connected to a variety of active discussion in the target language. learning experience, as I get to discuss Dr. Clarke was instrumental in establishing as well as those in the African Diaspora Trayvon Martin Injustice and Why We existing academic courses offered by the stances of revolutionary minds in the Africana Center’s curriculum in with special focus on the Americas Continue to Repeat It. The Africana Library departments across the university. FLAC Students in the Yoruba FLAC, taught the African American community— the 1970s and taught courses in Black and the Caribbean. also played a role in bringing two of courses are not traditional language by our senior language lecturer Adeolu in Yoruba.” history at Cornell. He was the author of the founders of the #BlackLivesMatter courses, as the only language issues Ademoyo, have shared they find it numerous books. Dr. Clarke once said: Another way that the library endeavors movement, Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi, included are oral and written discourse powerful to discuss concepts such Demand for FLAC courses is strong “History is a clock that people use to tell to embrace the words of Dr. Clarke is to Cornell. conventions in the target language, as Afrocentrism or migration in their among both faculty and students across their time of day. It is a compass they use by creating displays which showcase or how people speak and write in the native or heritage language. “We talk the university. Next year, the FLAC to find themselves on the map of human its collection. This past year the During the fall of 2016, the Africana academic field in that language. The about issues that affect people of program will expand to include courses geography. It tells them where they are, Africana Library created a display on Library is playing a leading role in the overall objective of the FLAC program is the African diaspora in America,” says in French, German, Modern Greek, but more importantly, what they must be.” the #BlackLivesMatter movement. It Ithaca community read of Michelle to give Cornell students an opportunity Ololade Olawale, a sophomore in Arts Hebrew, Portuguese, as well as a Swahili showcased photos and books that Alexander’s The New Jim Crow. to practice and develop their fluency in and Sciences, and a participant in the course taught by our language lecturer The John Henrik Clarke Africana Library captured the meaning of the movement. the target language. Yoruba FLAC class. “This is truly a novel Happiness Patrick Bulugu. aspires to the words of its namesake by Among the books on display were

23 2015 - 2016 AFRICANA 24 PRIZE WINNERS FROM LEFT:

Mohammed Ghassani their own collaborative project and culminating in a public presentation at Enock Mageresi, the end of the academic year. Anna Samwel, Off campus, the ICM co-organized with the Sharjah Art Foundation a Christoper Bundala three-day conference on “The Egyptian Surrealists in Global Perspective.” Held in Mabati Rolling Mills’ Cairo, Egypt, the conference gathered Vikrant Srivastava participants including scholars, literary and art critics, filmmakers, poets, and artists in order to document one of the most interesting chapters of modernism in the late 1930s up to the early 1960s, highlighting the multifaceted entry will be published in Kiswahili by The Institute for aspects of modernity and its global First Mabati-Cornell East African Educational Publishers, interconnectedness in the 20th century. and Ghassani’s book of poetry will be Comparative Modernities The conference precedes a travelling Kiswahili Prizes Announced translated and published by the Africa exhibition entitled When Arts Become Poetry Book Fund. Liberty: The Egyptian Surrealists (1938- LINDA B. GLASER 1965) to be inaugurated at Sharjah Art The six judges said that the winners used “captivating, measured, flowing discussion of Négritude, a documentary Foundation in 2017 in Sharjah, U.A.E., Winners of the new Mabati-Cornell languages and that is possible to The Institute for Comparative and sometimes humorous poetic by Manthia Diawara posing an imagined followed by an exhibition in Cairo, Egypt. Kiswahili Prize for African Literature, fund the growth of African languages Modernities (ICM) brings together language” to address issues facing conversation between Léopold Sédar A two-volume publication will follow selected from among 65 entries, have through African-led philanthropy.” an interdisciplinary group of scholars East African societies, such as drugs Senghor, one of the founding fathers the conference with the first to been announced. The award recognizes from the humanities and the social and the harm they unleash globally; of Negritude, and Nobel laureate Wole accompany the exhibition and the excellent writing in African languages Anna Samwel received first prize sciences who are interested in the issue gender relations and women’s rights; Soyinka; a feminist critique of the ways second to serve as the catalogue of and encourages translation from, for fiction for “Penzi la Damu,” and of comparative/global modernities. It and political corruption. “This is African in which Ghanaian activists and civil the proposed exhibition. between and into African languages. It Mohammed K. Ghassani received first aims to contribute to the intellectual neo-realism in an African language at its environment at Cornell University servants both fetishize the law and is supported primarily by Mabati Rolling prize for poetry for “N’na Kwetu.” Second ICM is an affiliate of the Africana Studies & best,” they said. through seminars, lecture series, reckon with its violence; the history of Mills of Kenya, Cornell’s Office of the Vice prize went to Enock Maregesi for Research Center at Cornell University. symposia, and publications, and by the global spice trade and the ways in Provost for International Affairs and the “Kolonia Santita” (fiction) and third prize encouraging related on-going initiatives which it has shaped the modern world; Africana Studies & Research Center. to Christopher Bundala Budebah for and research projects. internationalist and surrealist aspects “Kifaurongo” (poetry). Linda B. Glaser is a writer for the College of ABOVE: “The Egyptian Surrealists in in the work of Egyptian writer and Mukoma Wa Ngugi, Assistant Professor Arts & Sciences at Cornell University. This Global Perspective”, Opening Session, The prizes were presented at the Kwani During the 2015-2016 year, the ICM critic Edwar al-Kharrat; and a workshop of English and co-founder of the prize, article was reprinted with permission from Salah M.Hassan, Hoor Al Qasimi, Bahia Literary Festival Dec. 3rd at the Capital hosted a series of events and workshops, on philosopher Jacques Derrida as a said, “The amount of support we have the Cornell Chronicle. Shebab. American University in Cairo, Club in Nairobi, Kenya. First-prize winners ranging in subject from the connections figure of African thought. The ICM also received for the prize shows that 2015. Image courtesy of Sharjah Art receive $5,000 in the categories of fiction between 19th century abolitionists, provided funding and administrative there is hunger and room for writing Foundation. and poetry; second prize is $3,000 and modern anti-slavery movements, and support for six interdisciplinary graduate in African languages, that the African third prize is $2,000. Samwel’s winning #BlackLivesMatter; a screening and panel reading groups, each working on literary tradition can flourish in African

25 2015 - 2016 AFRICANA 26 OCTOBER 4: ELAINE BROWN OCTOBER 27: EUGENE ROBINSON

at 320 Wait Ave. The establishment of Former Black Pulitzer the site was requested by Black Students Panther Party Prize-winning United in their November 2015 letter leader, author, columnist to President Elizabeth Garrett and Vice and activist and political President Ryan Lombardi. The site will Elaine Brown analyst Eugene include a bench, landscaping and will present a Robinson will plaque bearing an image of the original talk entitled, deliver the Africana Center building. “New Age 2016 Reuben Racism and A. and Cheryl “We are both inspired and energized by Revolutionary Casselberry LEFT: the rich history of black student activism Change: A Conversation,” at the Africana Munday Distinguished Lecture at the 320 Wait Avenue house: at Cornell. It is a legacy we take seriously; Studies & Research Center on Tuesday, Africana Studies & Research Center on Archives 37-4-3113, Box the story of the old Africana building 37, Courtesy of Division Oct. 4th at 4:30pm. Thursday, Oct. 27th at 4:30pm. of Rare and Manuscript must be told wholly and truthfully,” said Collections, Cornell Amber Aspinall ’17 and Jaylexia Clark ’19, Throughout the last four decades This distinguished lecture series brings University Library co-chairs of Black Students United. Elaine Brown has committed her life to campus a leading scholar in the field to effecting progressive change in the of Africana Studies annually to highlight “In order to repair and strengthen our United States. Brown’s recent work issues pertaining to the Africana and community, it is important for the focuses on the radical reform of the African Diaspora communities. university to acknowledge the criminal criminal justice system. destruction of the original Africana house,” said Kevin Gaines, the W.E.B. DuBois Professor of Africana Studies and OCTOBER 17: “WITNESS PROJECT WE SEE YOU” LAUNCH an event organizer. Upcoming Events for Fall 2016 “Witness Project/We See You” is a multisite installation of records, responses and The dedication ceremony will include representations of police violence. This exhibit is part of a campus-wide yearlong series performances by student groups; remarks “Freedom Interrupted: Race, Gender, Nation and Policing” organized by Africana Studies by student, faculty and alumni speakers; & Research Center, American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program, American Studies and remarks by Rev. Kenneth Clarke, Program, Asian American Studies Program, Feminist, Gender and Sexuality Studies The university will host two major events SEPTEMBER 23 & 24 On Friday, Sept. 23, at 2:30pm, the director of Cornell United Religious Work. Program, Latina/o Studies Program, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies during the weekend: a screening and Africana commemoration will kick off A photographic exhibition, “Black Life on Program, and Yang-Tan Institute on Employment and Disability. This collaboration Two events will honor panel discussion of the film Agents of with a multigenerational panel discussion the Hill, 1966-1970,” with photographs by comprises symbolic, artistic, and scholarly events to foster ongoing discussions of race, Change on Sept. 23rd; and the dedication Africana Center’s history featuring alumni, faculty and students Fenton Sands, ‘70, will be on display at gender, nation, and policing, and raise awareness about victims of police violence who of the original Africana Center site on LINDA B. GLASER that will place the Willard Straight Hall the Africana Studies & Research Center have not received much national attention. Sept. 24th. The events are free, and the takeover in the context of black student during the month of September. Nearly half a century ago, student public is invited. activism at Cornell and nationwide. The protests led to the creation of Cornell’s event will also feature a screening of Sponsors for the events include the Africana Studies & Research Center. Since “This is a wonderful opportunity to the new hourlong documentary Agents Office of the President, Division of then, the Africana Center has trained celebrate the Africana Center’s important of Change, produced by Cornell alumni Student and Campus Life, College of Arts generations of leaders in academia, the contributions to the entire university Abby Ginzberg ’71 and Frank Dawson & Sciences, Africana Studies & Research professions, business, and public service. and the Ithaca community, and to ’72. The film documents the 1969 events Center, Black Students United, Alumni commemorate the tragic destruction of at Cornell and events at San Francisco Affairs and Development, and the This fall during Homecoming Weekend, Africana’s original home, which is tied so State in 1968. The panel and screening Division of University Relations. Cornell will sponsor a series of deeply to Cornell’s history,” said Hunter will be held at the Willard Straight Theater commemorative events culminating in Rawlings, Interim President and Professor and will be introduced by Gretchen Ritter Linda B. Glaser is a writer for the College of the dedication of the site of the original Emeritus of Classics. ’83, the Harold Tanner Dean of Arts and Arts & Sciences at Cornell University. This Africana building at 320 Wait Ave., which Sciences. On Saturday, Sept. 24th, the article was reprinted with permission from was destroyed by suspected arson on dedication ceremony will be held at 11am the Cornell Chronicle. April 1, 1970.

27 2015 - 2016 AFRICANA 28 2015–2016 EVENTS

“Africana Studies has a global bibliography that aids students in offering solutions to intractable social, economic and cultural problems.” – NOLIWE ROOKS

29 20152015 - 2016 - 2016 AFRICANAAFRICANA 30 2015–2016 CO-SPONSORED EVENTS

TOP: Participants, including moderator Chad Coates (Assistant Dean, Undergraduate Admissions & Advising), in one of six campus-wide small group discussions of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ 2015 National Book Award-winning publication Between the World and Me.

LEFT/BELOW: Reverend Dr. Kenneth Clarke, Sr. (Director, Cornell United Religious Work) and Ross Brann (Milton R. Konvitz Professor of Judeo-Islamic Studies, Department of Near Easern Studies), “Blacks and Jews in America: A Conversation.”

ABOVE: Black Lives Matter leaders Janaya Khan, Alicia Garza, and Opal Tometi with moderator Sean Eversley Bradwell (Ithaca College), speak at the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Lecture. Photo: Cameron Pollack, Cornell Daily Sun. Reprinted with permission.

RIGHT: Debra L. Lee (BET) and moderator Kevin K. Gaines (W.E.B. Du Bois Professor of Africana Studies and History), “A Conversation with Debra L. Lee, Chairman and CEO of BET Networks.” Photo: Cameron Pollack, Cornell Daily Sun. Reprinted with permission.

31 2015 - 2016 AFRICANA 32 AFIFA LTIFI Bogotá will be published by the Centre OLUMAYOWA for Afro-Diasporan Studies (CEAF) of Afifa Ltifi is a first year Africana Ph.D. WILLOUGHBY Icesi University, from which she is an student from Mareth, Tunisia and has associate researcher. Olumayowa Willoughby is a second year a M.A. in Cross Cultural Studies and a Africana Ph.D. student and received a B.A. in English from the University of summer Foreign Language and Area Languages of Tunis. She is an occasional NADIA SASSO Studies (FLAS) Fellowship to study web-writer, editor and a contributor for Nadia Sasso is a third year Africana Turkish at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul. various media outlets such as Urban Ph.D. student and has been traveling FLAS fellowships aim to provide training Africa, Aljazeera English, and Medium. extensively with her documentary in modern Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, and Her research interests include racial film Am I: Too African to be American or Turkish in order to meet the national formation of blackness in the maghreb, Too American to be African? Am I the need for specialists on the Middle East black minority rights, and youth culture film explores the complex identity region. Willoughby’s current work draws in the newly found spaces of freedom in formations of young African women upon Africana, indigenous, and so-called post-revolutionary Tunisia. living in America and West Africa who Near Eastern studies in an attempt to identify bi-culturally. It is a multimedia explore the relationship between the position of Africa within the Ottoman KANYINSOLA OBAYAN intervention with a discussion on the politics of identity with respect to imaginary and the interpellation of Kanyinsola Obayan is a second year immigrant populations and movements black and blackened persons within the Africana Ph.D. student and was granted back and forth of the diaspora. The Turkish national landscape. a 2016 pre-doctoral fellowship, courtesy film explores seven women’s histories of the West African Research Association with their bi-cultural identity and how (WARA) located at Boston University’s KRISTEN WRIGHT they wrestle with concepts of race, African Studies Center, for research in complexion, gender, and heritage, Kristen Wright is a second year Africana Nigeria: “Igbo Migration, Entrepreneurship Graduate Students among other issues. Ph.D. student and won the 2016 Marvin and the Creation of the ‘Igbo Scare’ in Carlson Award for Best Student Essay British Southern Cameroons, 1920- in Theatre and Performance from 1970.” WARA’s mission is to foster the MARSHALL SMITH Cornell’s Department of Performing and production and dissemination of current Marshall Smith is a third year Africana Media Arts for her article “’The Killing AMARIS BROWN MARSHA JEAN-CHARLES ZIFENG LIU research on West Africa and the diaspora, Ph.D. student and was asked by of My Mother I Claim Myself’: Adrienne Amaris Brown is a first year Africana Ph.D. Marsha Jean-Charles is a third year Zifeng Liu is a first year Africana Ph.D. to promote scholarly exchange among conference organizers to chair a Kennedy’s Electra and Orestes, Aeschylus’ student from Brooklyn, New York and Africana Ph.D. student and received one student from Qingdao, China and has West African scholars and institutions and panel at the 20th-21st Century Oresteia, and the Question of Justice.” has a B.A. in African & Afro-American of only ten Engaged Graduate Student a M.A. in American Studies from Brown their counterparts in the U.S. and beyond. French and Francophone Studies The award consists of a cash prize and Studies and Sociology from Brandeis Grants through Engaged Cornell. These University, B.A. in English from South- International Colloquium in St. Louis. certificate and is given to the best University. Her research interests focus grants support and enhance community Central University for Nationalities, and is His paper dealt with the specters of essay in theatre and performance by a on the relationship between the partnerships while providing completing a second M.A. in International NATALIA SANTIESTEBAN the “French Transatlantic Slave Trade in Cornell student. Wright’s work is focused injustices black women face and the opportunities for Cornell doctoral Relations at Beijing Foreign Studies Natalia Santiesteban is a first year Africana Contemporary French Popular Culture on African-American women’s drama, gendered consciousness black women’s students to conduct critical research University. His research interests include Ph.D. student from Bogotá, Colombia and and Politics”. Smith also presented a paper particularly the works of Adrienne unique oppressions establish. She and scholarship. For her community- black transnationalism/internationalism, has a Master’s in Gender Studies from the at the Council for European Studies at Kennedy. She is particularly interested focuses on black women’s experiences engaged research project, Jean-Charles the African diaspora, black feminism, black National University of Colombia and a B.A Columbia University’s annual conference, in the ways that Kennedy and other as represented in Afrofuturism by co-facilitated an International Study radicalism, modern China, U.S. foreign in Languages and Sociocultural Studies held in Philadelphia in mid-April. He also black female playwrights transform privileging black women’s narratives, Program (ISP) trip to Haiti and Cuba in relations, and the Cold War and examines from the University. Her research interests presented two papers and participated canonical works by white playwrights. knowledge and culture in order to summer 2016 for The Brotherhood/Sister post-World War II African diasporic- focus on everyday racism in conversation in the panel “Changing Creole Narratives Wright is also a playwright, and her play situate their contributions within social Sol (Bro/Sis) youth program. Chinese encounters and exchanges and with dominant national discourses in Common Places: Comparative APPLE CORE will be produced as a part of movement histories. in particular the incorporation of China about race, gender, class and sexuality. Perspectives” at the Caribbean Studies Cornell’s 10 Minute Play Festival this fall. into Africana radical thought and praxis Her (auto)ethnographic dissertation on Association conference in Port-au-Prince, during the Cold War era. biographic narratives of Black women in Haiti in June 2016.

33 2015 - 2016 AFRICANA 34 my messages to them,” she said. For Grey, Nsubuga actually created an onboarding program to help teach new Africana Studies has a history of shaping employees everything they needed to know about men’s shaving – from the students’ intellectual discipline, creativity, and pricing strategy for shaving tools in Brazil social and political awareness. to why shaving habits are declining in North America to cultural rules about shaving in India. starting as a freshman, to career fairs and “I used my history major as a selling Her Cornell classes allowed her to networking lunches. She also connected point,” she said. “I’m intellectually curious, “dabble in so many different things,” with alumni in advertising and I know a lot about global policy and Nsubuga said. She supplemented marketing for numerous informational economics, I’m able to do strong analysis her liberal arts education with interviews, prepared with some key and research and I can write a 40-page strong internships. questions about their company or paper at the drop of a hat.” Nsubuga was also involved in the Teszia specialty. While working with the Cornell Kathy Hovis is a writer for the College of Belly Dance troupe and Slope Media, Annual Fund, she also met alumni who Arts & Sciences at Cornell University. This started a group for East African students were willing to give advice. article was reprinted with permission. at Cornell (her parents immigrated from She landed summer internships in Uganda) and had a campus radio show, hospitality and non-profit management, Traffic Jam, which featured new music then a key internship with the McCann and faculty guests. LEFT: Times Square in New Alum Manages Marketing Erickson agency before her junior year, York City is the location of Campaign at MTV “I was an eager beaver and used so where she worked on campaigns for MTV headquarters Jaz Nsubuga ‘11: many of Cornell’s resources,” she said, Kohl’s and Clean & Clear. KATHY HOVIS from Career Conversation events

In the last few years, Jaz Nsubuga ’11 has Nsubuga was on campus in mid- management at Grey Advertising and at become an expert on the following: September for a Career Conversations Digitas and then working with the men’s event with the College of Arts & grooming division of Birchbox. Jaz Nsubuga is the Manager for Integrated • Men’s shaving habits, Sciences Career Development Center, • Digital and social marketing sharing her strategies for networking “I become our team historian,” Nsubuga Marketing at MTV. She is a 2016 recipient campaign strategies, and career success with students. said of the role she’s played at her of the Cynopsis Rising Star award from • Women’s facial cleaning products, various companies. “I always want to Nsubuga is still riding the waves Viacom. This award is given to people with • Credit card habits of wealthy people, and know the brand a little better than the from her latest success, a Coca-Cola clients do.” • Coca Cola, among other things. rising talent that is staking out the Viacom campaign she created for MTV’s Fandom This deep knowledge involves hours As manager of integrated marketing Awards and Fest in July that generated company’s future. Jaz was an Africana and of reading, researching, scouring the at MTV, Nsubuga knows that the best buzz with a Tumblr social media effort History major who graduated in 2011. Internet for obscure resources and way to market a company or product that brought in 28 million votes. She sorting through mounds of data. is to understand it inside-out. And, as a also designed campaigns for Apple History and Africana Studies major, that’s and American Legacy that aired during MTV’s Video Music Awards in August. “As an historian, I learned how to be the part of her job she loves the most – objective about my subject matter the research. She joined MTV in January of this so it helps me to understand these year, after starting out in account various types of consumers and relate JAZ NSUBUGA

35 2015 - 2016 AFRICANA 36 Africa & World War II Martin Heidegger Saved African Voices on Slavery JUDITH BYFIELD My Life and the Slave Trade: Vol. 2 This volume considers the military, GRANT FARRED SANDRA GREENE economic, and political significance In Martin Heidegger Saved My This volume explores diverse sources of Africa during WWII. The essays Life, Grant Farred combines such as oral testimonies, possession feature new research and innovative autobiography with philosophical rituals, Arabic language sources, approaches to the historiography of rumination to offer this unusual European missionary, administrative Africa and bring to the fore issues meditation on American racism. and court records and African of race, gender, and labor during Farred grapples with why it is that intellectual writings to discover what the war, topics that have not yet Heidegger resonates so deeply they can tell us about slavery and received much critical attention. with him instead of other, more the slave trade in Africa. This book It explores the experiences of predictable figures such as Malcolm will be invaluable for students and male and female combatants, X, W. E. B. DuBois, or Frantz Fanon. researchers interested in the history peasant producers, women traders, of slavery, the slave trade and post- missionaries, and sex workers. slavery in Africa.

RECENT BOOKS by Africana Faculty Freedom from Liberation: Millennium Development Measuring and Analyzing (2013-2016) Slavery, Sentiment, and Goals (MDGs) in We Are an African People: Informal Learning in the The Hip Hop & Literature in Cuba Retrospect: Africa’s Independent Education, Digital Age Obama Reader GERARD ACHING Development Beyond 2015 BlackPower, and the OLÚFÉMI TÁÍWÒ TRAVIS GOSA By exploring the complexities of N’DRI ASSIÉ-LUMUMBA Radical Imagination Investigating some of the Before the presidential candidacy enslavement in the autobiography This volume examines the impact of RUSSELL RICKFORD primary technologies being and election of Barack Obama, hip of Cuban slave-poet Juan Francisco the Millennium Development Goals This book presents an intellectual used in educational settings and hop was clearly in trouble. Nas’s 2006 Manzano (1797–1854), Gerard (MDGs) on Africa’s development history of subaltern education, a how a less structured and more album, Hip Hop is Dead, seemed Aching complicates the universally post-2015. It assesses the current critical analysis of the fate of Black open learning environment can to articulate the growing concern recognized assumption that a slave’s state of the MDGs in Africa by Power ideologies in the post- effectively motivate students among many performers, fans, and foremost desire is to be freed from outlining the successes, gaps and segregation era, and a portrait of and non-traditional learners, this academics that nihilistic gangsterism bondage. As the only slave narrative failures of the state goals, including African-American self-activity at the premier reference is a crucial and a lack of musical creativity were in Spanish that has surfaced to date, lessons learned. A unique feature neighborhood level. Rickford puts source of information for educators, eclipsing three decades of hip hop’s Manzano’s autobiography details of the book is the exposition on forth a groundbreaking explanation administrators, theorists, and creative innovation, as well as its the daily grind of the vast majority post-MDG’s agenda for Africa’s of Black Power’s preoccupation with other professionals in the field of dedication to counter-hegemonic of slaves who sought relief from the development. forging a new people. education. movements and discourse. burden of living under slavery.

37 20152015 - 2016 - 2016 AFRICANA 38 RECENT Africa Must Be Modern: Problems, Promises, and Nobody Is Supposed to Gender/Class “Intricate Entanglement: The A Manifesto Paradoxes of Aid: Africa’s Know: Black Sexuality on Intersections and African ICC and the Pursuit of Peace, BOOKS OLÚFÉMI TÁÍWÒ Experience the Down Low Women’s Rights Reconciliation and Justice in In a forthright and uncompromising NICOLAS VAN DE WALLE C. RILEY SNORTON CAROLE BOYCE DAVIES Libya, Guinea, and Mali” manner, Olúfémi Táíwò explores This book is an anthology of essays This book traces the emergence African women’s rights, in its early SIBA GROVOGUI by Africana Faculty Africa’s hostility toward modernity contributing new scholarship to and circulation of the down low expressions, was linked to the International justice is not merely a and how that hostility has impeded the contemporary discourse on in contemporary media and critique of particular economic/class function of legislation and adjudication. (2013-2016) economic development and social the concept of aid. It provides an popular culture to show how these systems which disempowered the It depends on the extent to which it is and political transformation. What interdisciplinary investigation of the portrayals reinforce troubling majority of women in contemporary viewed as legitimate by litigants and has to change for Africa to be role of aid in African development, perceptions of black sexuality. Africa. The way gender and class others based on perceptions of the able to respond to the challenges compiling the work of historians, Reworking Eve Sedgwick’s notion of intersect in an African context relationships of the operations of existing of modernity and globalization? political scientists, legal scholars, the “glass closet,” Snorton advances a continues to be an ongoing critical regimes of dispensation of justice. Táíwò insists that Africa can renew and economists to examine where new theory of such representations lever of analysis. itself only by fully engaging with aid has failed and to offer new in which black sexuality is marked Africa Development, Vol. 40, No. 2 (2015), Meridians, Vol. 13, No. 1 (2015), pp. 1-25 democracy and capitalism and by perspectives on how aid can be by hypervisibility and confinement, pp. 99-122 mining its untapped intellectual made more effective. spectacle and speculation. resources.

Nka Journal of Contemporary African Art

Nka focuses on publishing critical work that examines the newly developing field of contemporary African and African diaspora art within the modernist and postmodernist experience and therefore contributes significantly to the intellectual dialogue on world art and the discourse on internationalism and multiculturalism in the arts. Nka mainly includes scholarly articles, reviews (exhibits and books), interviews, and roundtable discussions.

No. 37, “Black fashion: Art. Pleasure. Politics.” Special issue editor Noliwe Rooks The Calendar of Loss: Mrs. Shaw argues that black fashion is a key, though underexplored, facet of black Race, Sexuality, and MUKOMA WA NGUGI history, culture, and identity in the African diaspora. Contributors to the issue Mourning in the Early Era include academics, artists, journalists and writers, and a filmmaker. From the In the fictional East African of Aids introduction: “While it is not an encyclopedic compilation of thinking about Kwatee Republic of the 1990s, the race, art, politics, or fashion, each contribution functions as an individual lens, DAGMAWI WOUBSHET dictatorship is about to fall, and so to speak, capturing crucial snapshots of particular moments, figures, and His world view colored by growing the nation’s exiles are preparing to events that are central to understanding the whole. Taken together, the texts up in 1980s Ethiopia, where death return. One of these exiles, a young in this volume explore various definitions and meanings of black fashion as a governed time and temperament, man named Kalumba, is a graduate launching point for thinking about race, gender, politics, power, and class.” Dagmawi Woubshet offers a student in the United States, where startlingly fresh interpretation of he encounters Mrs. Shaw, a professor Nka is an affliate of the Africana Studies & Research Center at Cornell University and melancholy and mourning during emerita and former British settler is published by Duke University Press. the early years of the AIDS epidemic who fled Kwatee’s postcolonial in The Calendar of Loss. political and social turmoil.

39 2015 - 2016 AFRICANA 40 Gerard Aching Salah M. Hassan Professor Goldwin Smith Professor Director Of Africana Studies African and African diaspora art history 19th- and 20th-century Caribbean literatures; and visual cultures slavery and philosophy

N’Dri Assié-Lumumba Oneka LaBennett Professor Associate Professor African and African diaspora education, Race and gender, migration, gender issues, family and social structure transnationalism and globalization FACULTY

Carole Boyce-Davies Riché Richardson Professor Associate Professor African and Caribbean literature, African diaspora studies, African-American literature, gender Black feminist theories, Black women’s writing studies, and Southern studies

Locksley Edmondson Noliwe Rooks Professor Associate Professor African and Caribbean politics Race and politics of education, aesthics of race and gender, 19th- and 20th century mass culture and periodicals

Grant Farred C. Riley Snorton Professor Assistant Professor Theory, formation of intellectuals, literature Cultural theory, queer and transgender theory, Africana studies, performance studies and popular culture

Kevin Gaines Olúfémi Táíwò W.E.B. Du Bois Professor of Africana Studies Professor U.S. and African American intellectual and cultural history African/Africana Philosophy, late transitions to modernity, African political thought, law and philosophy

Travis Gosa Ricardo A. Wilson II Assistant Professor Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow Sociology of education, sociology of the family, 20th- and 21st-century literature and film from race and ethnicity, popular and youth culture the Americas, blackness and collective memory

Siba Grovogui Professor Africana Studies is the multidisciplinary analysis of the lives and International relations, political theory thought of people of African ancestry throughout the world.

41 2015 - 2016 AFRICANA 42 Harriet Tubman triptych, by Frederick J. Brown, on display at Africana

Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew announced in April 2016 the most sweeping and historically symbolic makeover of American currency in a century, ABOVE: Professor Alondra Nelson delivered the Reuben A. and Cheryl Casselberry Distinguished proposing to replace the slaveholding Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill with Lecture “A Portal To The Past: A Beacon For The Future” on Oct. 21st, 2015. Harriet Tubman, the former slave and abolitionist.

Riché Richardson, associate professor of Africana Studies, says: “This move profoundly illustrates one of the major points of my book-in-progress, which focuses on how black women, over time, have impacted national femininity Keep in Touch with Africana and emerged as national emblems and voices in our political culture, in ways that go well beyond familiar stereotypes such as Aunt Jemima. In a nation where Rosa Parks catalyzed change by remaining seated, Shirley Chisholm Share amazing things about our students and alumni became the first woman to run for president, Condoleezza Rice became the by email at [email protected] most powerful woman in the world, and Michelle Obama became the nation’s first black First Lady, choosing Harriet Tubman as the new emblem for the $20 bill further illustrates the power that black women sometimes have had to help represent and define America.” @africanaCU /CUAfricana /CUAfricana

@africanaCU africana.cornell.edu

43 2015 - 2016 AFRICANA 44 310 Triphammer Road Ithaca, NY 14850 p. 607-255-4625 e. [email protected] w. africana.cornell.edu

45 2015 - 2016