THE DIASPORA DepartmentDIASPORA of African American Studies • University of California, Berkeley

FALLFALL 20082008 WINTERWINTER 20092009 WelcomeWelcome toto thethe Faculty:Faculty: ProfessorProfessor Na’ilahNa’ilah SuadSuad NasirNasir ProfessorProfessor JanelleJanelle T.T. ScottScott

VisitingVisiting Scholar:Scholar: ProfessorProfessor JoanneJoanne BraxtonBraxton

GraduateGraduate StudentStudent Travels:Travels: FromFrom JohannesburgJohannesburg toto BeijingBeijing

AnAn IntroductionIntroduction toto HoplologyHoplology Department of African American Studies University of California, Berkeley

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Chair Charles P. Henry

Professors William M. Banks (Emeritus) Michel S. Laguerre University of Kentucky University of Illinois African American Studies Charles P. Henry Margaret B. Wilkerson (Emeritus) 660 Barrows Hall University of Chicago University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, CA 94720-2572 Percy Hintzen Phone: (510) 643-0734 Yale University Fax: (510) 642-0318 http://africam.berkeley.edu Associate Professors Na’ilah Suad Nasir Ula Taylor THE University of California, Los Angeles University of California, Santa Barbara Stephen Small DIASPORA University of California, Berkeley The Diaspora is the newsletter of the Assistant Professors Department of African American Studies at the University of Brandi Wilkins Catanese Darieck Scott California, Berkeley. Contributions Stanford University Stanford University are welcomed from UC Berkeley’s G. Ugo Nwokeji Janelle T. Scott faculty and students, as well as University of Toronto University of California, Los Angeles from guest columnists and scholars. Leigh Raiford Yale University Articles may be edited for length, clarity, and style. Adjunct Professor Robert L. Allen University of California, San Francisco Editor Ronald Williams II Visiting & Non-Senate Faculty [email protected] Joanne M. Braxton Hardy T. Frye Visiting Distingished Research Scholar Professor Emeritus Layout & Graphic Design Michael Cohen Aparajita Nanda Glenn L Robertson Dean’s Postdoctoral Fellow and Lecturer Lecturer [email protected] Aya de Leon Director, June Jordan's Poetry for the People All African illustrations have been ______reprinted from African Designs from Traditional Sources by Geoffrey Staff Williams (New York: Dover Vernessa Parker Lindsey Herbert Publications, 1971). Management Services Officer Student Affairs Officer

Stephanie Jackson Glenn L Robertson Administrative Assistant Computer Resource Specialist

PAGE  THE DIASPORA

Table of Contents

Words from the Chair...... 4

Anti-Intellectualism, Stereotypes, and the 2008 Presidential Election...... 5

New Faculty Profile: Professor Na’ilah Suad Nasir...... 6

New Faculty Profile: Professor Janelle T. Scott...... 7

Visiting Distinguished Research Scholar: Professor Joanne Braxton...... 8

Prison Outreach Project: Volunteers Needed...... 9

Keep it Movin: Reflections from a Newly Minted Ph.D...... 10

Congratulations to the 2008 African Diaspora Studies Ph.D. Graduate...... 11

Meet the 2008-2009 First Year Cohort...... 12 eBlack Studies: the Next Movement in Black Studies...... 14

Xiao Kai-Fei’s Return...... 15

My First Trip to Continental Africa...... 17

Blackness, Technology, and Cyberspace: Digital Diasporas Conference...... 18

An Introduction to Hoplology...... 19

Black Public Intellectualism Briefly Reconsidered...... 20

June Jordan’s Poetry for the People: Creating and Renewing Off-Campus Partnerships...... 22

News from the Library...... 24

Race and the Race...... 25

From the Editor...... 27

Contributors

Aya de Leon Lindsey Herbert Shaun Ossei-Owusu Christopher Ferguson Jasminder Kaur Ianna Hawkins Owen J. Finley Libby Lewis Petra Raquel Rivera Robeson Taj Frazier Bryan K. Mason Jason Schultz Charles P. Henry Carmen Mitchell Ronald Williams II

THE DIASPORA • Fall 2008 • PAGE  WordsBy Charles P. Henryfrom the Chair y initial responsibility Concluding a successful search In October, the department’s as chair is to thank process that was started last year, faculty, staff, and student Professor Ula Taylor for the department enthusiastically representatives met at the Clark Mher stewardship of the department welcomes Professors Janelle T. Kerr Campus for a daylong retreat. during the 2007-2008 academic Scott (Ph.D., Education, UCLA) It was the first such retreat in three year. Under Professor Taylor’s and Na’ilah Suad Nasir (Ph.D., and a half years. The department’s leadership, the department Education, UCLA) to the faculty. In external review (completed in 2006) underwent major changes and partnership with the Graduate School gave us a working document to endured many challenges. We of Education and the Berkeley discuss and consider in planning for welcomed Vernessa Parker as our Diversity Research Initiative the future. The morning was spent Management Services Officer, and (BDRI), we were able to recruit discussing the graduate program celebrated Toni Whittle-Ciprazo’s these two talented and engaged and the graduate and undergraduate new employment opportunity with scholars to the campus. Professor curriculum. In the afternoon, the Department of Art Practice. We Nasir joins us from the School of participants discussed future faculty welcomed Professor Darieck Scott Education at Stanford University and staff positions, a possible to our faculty, filling a void in our and Professor Scott comes to minor in African Studies, and department’s literature curriculum. Berkeley from the Steinhardt fundraising. We also endured the loss of Professor School of Culture, Education, and A number of items were referred VèVè Clark, and paid tribute to her Human Development at NYU. to the curriculum committee for life, legacy, and many intellectual We are excited to welcome these further development. Unfortunately, contributions at a campus wide two outstanding scholars to our the current state budget makes celebration in December 2007. intellectual community and look faculty and staff additions unlikely During the past year, the department forward to the many contributions in the near future. However, given hosted several events that furthered they will make to the department that several faculty will be eligible our presence and good reputation and to the university. for retirement in the next five on the campus and in the greater This semester, we also welcome years, intermediate and long-range local community. This included the our twelfth cohort of graduate planning remains essential. The celebration of the tenth anniversary students who commence their current state of the campus budget of the Department’s Ph.D. program. studies leading to the Ph.D. in also makes fundraising critical. As part of Black History Month, we African American Studies. We Opportunities for funding chairs hosted a daylong event and a month welcome Christopher Ferguson, and fellowships were discussed. long photo display highlighting the who completed his undergraduate Professor Taylor also announced that contributions of the Black Panther studies at the University of Southern the new travel research fellowship Party. In spring 2008, we hosted California; Bryan Mason, who honoring Professor VèVè Clark has a campus-wide program on the most recently studied at the been established and is accepting significance of Barack Obama’s Graduate Theological Union; Shaun additional contributions. presidential bid and hosted a Ossei-Owusu, who completed The retreat also offered an conference (under the leadership of graduate work at the University opportunity for faculty to talk about Professor G. Ugo Nwokeji) marking of Pennsylvania before coming to their current and future research. the bicentennial of the abolition of Berkeley; and Ianna Owen, who This discussion made clear that our the slave trade. Over the last year, most recently studied at Hunter faculty is engaged in cutting-edge, the department also graduated five College of the City University of engaged research that should help new Ph.D.s who have all advanced New York. These young scholars shape the department and the field our outstanding track record by will certainly add to the outstanding of African American Studies and securing assistant professorships work done by our graduate students African Diaspora Studies for years and postdoctoral fellowships at and we look forward to their work to come. colleges and universities around in the Department and in the field in the nation. the coming years. Charles P. Henry is Department Chair and Professor of African American Studies.

PAGE  Anti-intellectualism, Stereotypes, and the 2008 Presidential Election By Charles P. Henry r e c e n t s t o r y a b o u t while Sarah Palin is a Barack Obama in my hockey Mom with “small alumni magazine caught town” values. Former Amy attention. The author was a Secretary of Education, conservative reporter for the New Bill Bennett, said Palin’s York Times who had been assigned to lack of academic heft was interview Obama. It was April 2007 not important. Hillary and after a long day in the Senate the Clinton appealed to “blue- telephone interview was not going collar” and “hard-working” well. The interviewer was asking Americans. All of these about foreign aid and Africa and labels contain explicit and Obama was sounding cranky and implicit messages. What tired. Then the interviewer asked is interesting in Obama’s Obama if he had read Reinhold case is that the notion of an Niebuhr and if he had, what he “over-educated Black” runs thought about Niebuhr’s work. counter to stereotypes and According to the author, Obama creates some confusion. immediately became enthusiastic. The same piece that talks He said that Niebuhr was one of about Obama’s views on his favorite authors and proceeded Niebuhr and asks if he is to offer a fifteen-minute summary too “UC” (University of of Niebuhr’s complex thought. Chicago) also quotes Chris Niebuhr was probably the most Matthews’ asking whether influential American theologian of Obama is too “Southside” the Twentieth Century and a major (Chicago’s Harlem). The influence on Martin Luther King, question demonstrates an and seldom mentioned his Rhodes Jr. However, despite all the talk unwillingness to see any diversity or scholarship. John Kerry was labeled about the importance of religion class differences in the Southside’s a “metro-sexual” even though he in U.S. elections, no one discusses 800,000 Black residents. and Bush were members of the Niebuhr. The author concluded that Richard Hoffstader, in his same exclusive Yale club. What it might be nice to have a “thinking classic work Anti-Intellectualism does it mean when a White voter president” but ultimately Obama’s in American Life (1963), argued says they are not “comfortable” intellectualism could hurt him in that such anti-intellectualism is not with Obama? the election. new and runs in cycles. We seem Hoffstader defines intellect as the Of course, I would be reflecting to like John F. Kennedy’s elite style critical, creative, and contemplative my own bias if I said that using but Jimmy Carter’s wonkishness side of the mind. Intelligence, on the term “professorial” to attack turned us off even though we are the other hand, is an excellence someone seemed absolutely wrong beginning to talk about some of of mind within a fairly narrow, to me! However, I do think the his energy proposals today. Sure immediate and predictable range. increasing anti-intellectualism Ronald Reagan was more likeable We are going to need someone with in American politics has major than Carter but Hubert Humphrey great intellect to lead us out of our negative consequences for all of was more likeable than Richard current problems as a nation. Let’s us. Both political parties, aided and Nixon and lost. Both George W. hope that the “othering” that is abetted by the media, attempted to Bush and Al Gore downplayed their currently going on does not exclude shape our images of the candidates. elite educations and voters preferred those with “intellect.” Obama is an elite professor type Bush’s “C” average to Gore’s while John McCain is a war hero. in-depth speeches. Bill Clinton Joe Biden is the Washington insider emphasized his “bubba” image

THE DIASPORA • Fall 2008 • PAGE  New Faculty Profile: Professor Na’ilah Suad Nasir By Jasminder Kaur he handshake. Our on Human Development). Having rather than merely a bearer of conversation. A hug. once been a student here, the move information. For her, learning for An afternoon chat with brings her back to a campus with is a mutually engaging process. TProfessor Na’ilah Suad Nasir was which she is all too familiar. The Reflected in our discussion is a indeed an effortless experience; East Bay has also been home to her clear student-centered approach an experience I am sure most and her family for the last several to teaching and learning. people will encounter and agree years and her move to Berkeley This approach extends to her with upon meeting her. Nasir brings her professional and relationships with her students. She joins the Department of African personal lives closer together. remains committed to the students American Studies this semester as she was mentoring at Stanford and Associate Professor and holds a is working with them to ensure her joint appointment in the Graduate move is as undisruptive to their School of Education. She taught in process as possible. the School of Education at Stanford Her intellectual focuses University for the past eight years, and teaching beliefs will nicely where she was the recipient of complement our department. I want Stanford’s coveted St. Clair Drake to take this opportunity to extend a Teaching Award (2007). warm welcome to Professor Nasir Nasir shared with me that in her transition to Berkeley and Berkeley seemed like a good fit for hope that everyone else does the many reasons. The department’s same. interdisciplinary approach to teaching and research resonates Jasminder Kaur is graduate student well with her. This reason is in the Department of African coupled with a new cross-campus American Studies. initiative called the Berkeley Diversity Research Initiative (BDRI) of which Professor Nasir is part. BDRI focuses on research related to racial and ethnic Professor Nasir’s research diversity in the University and interests focus on the “intertwining works to generate prescriptions of social and cultural contexts for changes in policy and practice (cultural practices, institutions, that both draw and build upon the communities, and societies) and strengths of our diverse intellectual the learning and educational community. trajectories of individuals, In addition to being a good especially in connection with intellectual fit, there were several inequity in educational outcomes.” other factors that drove Professor In addition to her ongoing research Nasir’s decision to move to projects, Nasir will be teaching Berkeley. A proud Berkeley alum, graduate and undergraduate courses Nasir received her undergraduate that will be cross-listed with the degree in Psychology and Social Graduate School of Education Welfare (with a minor in African and the Department of African American Studies) from UC American Studies. When asked Berkeley. From there, she went on about her teaching philosophy, to UCLA where she earned her M.A. Nasir indicated a strong preference and Ph.D. degrees in Psychological for interactive learning settings Studies in Education (with a focus where she functions as a facilitator

PAGE  New Faculty Profile: Professor Janelle T. Scott By Petra Raquel Rivera Scott received her Ph.D. from and graduate courses beginning in the School of Education at UCLA. the spring semester of 2010. The Her dissertation research dealt courses she will teach include an with the racial politics of public undergraduate survey class on K-12 education. Specifically, Scott African American Education, which looked at politics surrounding she plans to co-teach with Professor school choice policies, especially Na’ilah Suad Nasir. charter schools. Her project We are very excited to welcome examined issues surrounding the Professor Scott to the department. privatization and management of We have no doubt that she will urban public schools by private make marked contributions to corporations, and the negotiation of the scholarship and life of the power between local communities department and the university. and these corporations. Her current project continues her Petra Raquel Rivera is a Ph.D. earlier exploration of the impact and candidate in the Department of politics of privatization and public African American Studies. schools. Scott is now investigating the ways in which philanthropy is shaping school choice initiatives. She is especially concerned with he Department of African venture philanthropy, which is American Studies is pleased a more aggressive and targeted to welcome Professor Janelle philanthropy that provides funding TT. Scott to the faculty. Scott holds a for specific projects at urban joint appointment in the Department schools. She is interested in the of African American Studies and in racial dynamics of these projects; the Graduate School of Education. especially because most of the She joins us from her most recent philanthropists are white males appointment at New York University and the urban schools to which where she was Assistant Professor they donate are populated with of Education in the Steinhardt predominantly students of color. School of Culture, Education, and Professor Scott’s joint position Human Development for the past in the Graduate School of Education six years. and the Department of African Scott is a native of Southern American Studies is part of the California. A Berkeley alum, she Berkeley Diversity Research majored in political science and Initiative (BDRI). BDRI is a took several classes in African partnership between the Graduate American Studies as part of her School of Education, the School undergraduate degree program. In of Law, and the Departments particular, Scott was inspired by of Ethnic Studies and African many courses taught by Professor American Studies. Professor Scott Charles Henry that dealt with policy was especially attracted to the issues in the African American opportunities to collaborate with community, including education. faculty and students from disciplines After college, Scott worked as across the university. She has offices an elementary school teacher in in both Tolman Hall and Barrows Oakland for four years. Hall, and will teach undergraduate

THE DIASPORA • Fall 2008 • PAGE  Joanne M. Braxton Visiting Distinguished Research Scholar By Ronald Williams II he Department of African Professor Braxton delivered the American Studies is pleased commencement address at her to welcome Professor alma mater in 1999, an institution TJoanne M. Braxton as Visiting to which she has also been of Distinguished Research Scholar service as a member of its Board for the 2008-2009 academic year. of Trustees. A renown poet, author, teacher, While at Berkeley, Braxton will and researcher, Professor Braxton continue work on several projects. is visiting Berkeley from the As a curator of American folk art, College of William and Mary Professor Braxton continues her where she teaches Black Studies work in establishing the Anderson and English as the Frances L. and Johnson Gallery in Newport News, Edwin L. Cummings Professor of Virginia. Her work on this project the Humanities. has proven instrumental in the A native of Lakeland, Maryland, preservation and restoration of Braxton is an American Studies Johnson’s work for public display Scholar by training and in practice. and appreciation. A street preacher She took her undergraduate degree biographies of noted women writers in his early life, Johnson was from Sarah Lawrence College such as poets June Jordan and paralyzed in an accident in 1985. and continued her studies at Yale Lucille Clifton and novelist and He spent the duration of his life University, where she completed folklorist Zora Neale Hurston. painting murals in his home, which the Ph.D. in American Studies in Reflecting her longstanding he converted into a church called 1984. At Yale, she worked closely love for teaching, Braxton has been Faith Mission. These murals were with noted scholars Charles Davis on the faculty at the College of discovered and preserved when his and John Blassingame, completing William and Mary since 1980 and home was slated for demolition in a dissertation focused on Black has held the Cummings Chair for the 1993. Professor Braxton’s work Women’s autobiography. Braxton past twenty years. She has taught at with this project (in partnership has continued her work in and on Yale University and the University with the City of Newport News) Black Women’s autobiography of Michigan, and has worked as has produced the first permanent throughout her career. a visiting professor, scholar, and gallery devoted to a single folk Professor Braxton is author researcher at several other colleges artist anywhere in the United States. and editor of several books and and universities, including the She is also curating a traveling collections of essays. Some of her University of Pittsburgh, Harvard exhibition of the sculpture of Black works include a volume of poetry University and Wellesley College woman artist Barbara Chase-Riboud Sometimes I Think of Maryland and Muenster University in for the Muscarelle Museum at the (1977); Black Women Writing Germany. College of William and Mary. Autobiography (1989); Wild Women Professor Braxton’s pioneering We are excited to have Professor in the Whirlwind: Afra-American intellectual contributions have not Braxton as part of our intellectual Culture and the Contemporary gone unnoticed. Her honors include community. A lifelong learner in Literary Renaissance (co-edited recognition as a Danforth Fellow, every sense of the term, Professor with Andrée-Nicola McLaughlin) a Mellon Fellow, a member of Braxton is auditing classes at the (1990); and The Collected Poetry the Michigan Society of Fellows Graduate Theological Union while of Paul Laurence Dunbar (1993). and a Fellow of the American continuing her research and writing. Braxton still writes and publishes Council of Learned Societies. She can be reached by email at poetry, and currently serves as She has taught doctoral seminars [email protected]. editor of the Women Writers of in Spain and Italy as a Senior Ronald Williams II is a Ph.D. Color Biography Series (Praeger Fulbright Professor. A recipient candidate in the Department of Publishing Group). This ongoing of the Alumni Achievement Award African American Studies. multivolume series includes from Sarah Lawrence College,

PAGE  Prison Outreach Congratulations to Project: Volunteers Needed By Lindsey Herbert Our Graduate Students he Prison Outreach Project Who Received the Master of Arts Degree in has been a huge success for African American Studies in Spring 2008 the past five years because Tof the work of student volunteers. We have maintained a program that allows us to mail educational material to inmates to assist them with their personal goals while incarcerated. Some of these services include sending selected readings around the topics that are of interest to inmates; providing them with books that have been donated; responding to and giving feedback on writing; and researching topics that may be of interest personally, Malika Crutchfield academically, and legally. Students and staff in the J. Finley Department of African American Studies have also participated in numerous events at prison sites, where both graduate and undergraduate students were able to contribute as guest speakers or discussion participants. These programs have been extremely successful in the past and mutually beneficial as well. We are currently working to maintain a pen pal program that keeps prisoners in touch with students and allows them to Jasmine Johnson engage in educational conversations Michael McGee, Jr. and dialogues around issues of both historical and contemporary significance. This project is more of a challenge due to students matriculating and leaving the area. The Prison Outreach Project is in need of volunteers. For more information contact us by email at [email protected] or by phone at (510) 642-3419.

Lindsey Herbert is the Student Affairs Officer in the Department of Gabrielle Williams African American Studies.

THE DIASPORA • Fall 2008 • PAGE  Keep It Movin’: Reflections from a Newly Minted Ph.D. By Libby Lewis riting a dissertation is the news industry are engaging the while avoiding Mosques. He more than a notion. I African Diaspora. offered a list of mosques he had filed my dissertation Speaking at the U.N. opened visited and Muslim Americans with Wthis past summer. As I transition doors to a wide range of networking whom he had been working. Obama into a postdoctoral fellowship at the opportunities. I was also invited maintained a calm demeanor as Ralph J. Bunche Center for African to speak about the dissertation in he answered each question with a American Studies at UCLA, I want Brussels because some of the issues detail that most journalists were to share some of the highlights of raised in the dissertation resonated not accustomed to after eight years this past summer and what I mean with the Black women visiting from of George W. Bush. We were when I say, “keep it movin.” Europe, organizing around issues of witnessing Obama deconstructing My dissertation has undergone a race, gender, sexuality, and power. assumptions about him based on few title changes over the years. The Who knew? race and journalists’ expectations title that I finally decided on, The Soon after the conference at of politicians as evasive as Bush. Monolithic Media Myth: Struggle the U.N., I attended the Unity It was another learning moment Over Representations of ‘Blackness’ Journalists of Color conference in in terms of expanding on some in Television News, caught the Chicago where Obama spoke for of the issues of power, branding, attention of organizers of a diversity the first time after what CNN coined marketing, and placing “Blackness” and leadership conference at the his “information gathering” trip in television news raised in my United Nations. As a result, I was overseas. Security and secret service dissertation. invited to speak at the conference agents had noticeably increased in The learning moments outside as part of a panel discussion called number and quality of service since academe and the classroom may be “Global Diversity and Gender in the Summer 2007, when I met Senator as rewarding if not more rewarding Media.” While I was honored to be Obama. Back then, I was able for a dissertation. I encourage invited to speak at the U.N., I was to walk up to him without much graduate students to present at hesitant in accepting the invitation difficulty. The only visible security conferences, give talks, say yes while dealing with the challenges measure was checking the bags of to panel discussions, and publish of finishing a dissertation. I was conference attendees and media whenever possible; in other words, also preparing for one of the largest coming to hear him speak. While face whatever challenges come journalism conferences in the U.S. I was happy to get my copy of his your way and keep it movin’. Get where then-Senator Barack Obama book, The Audacity of Hope, signed to know Graduate Student Policy was scheduled to speak. Like the by him in 2007, I was disturbed on any and all matters concerning conference at the U.N., it was an by the ease with which I was able you and your rights as a graduate opportunity to find new ways of to walk up to him and make the student. Most importantly, take engaging some of the issues and request. This time was noticeably time to get to know the professors concepts offered in the dissertation. different (bags were checked, metal you are considering inviting onto In addition, I wanted to better detectors were used, and the rules of your dissertation committee. understand how people outside audience decorum and participation Choose committee members who the academy connected with my during the question/answer segment will support your project and make project. Speaking at the U.N. turned were more stringent). The extra sure that everyone has a clear out to be more helpful than I had security at least signified a shift understanding of what support imagined. I received extensive in understanding of what was at means. Support may come in a feedback from conference attendees stake. variety of ways including: writing and U.N. representatives. It was During this year’s journalism letters of recommendation, providing an opportunity to gain a better conference, Obama answered meaningful feedback on your work, understanding of African Diaspora questions from journalists in various making themselves available outside journalism praxis and the critical news organizations. The questions office hours, making extensive tools that African Diaspora Studies got heated fairly quickly when he detailed comments that encourage offers in discussions and debates was asked to explain why he had thinking and rethinking your around how Black journalists in visited Christian sites of worship theoretical framework, concepts, and

PAGE 10 arguments. Supportive committee Libby Lewis, Ph.D. members also encourage publishing Ph.D., African American Studies, University of California, Berkeley - guiding you to the appropriate M.A., African American Studies, University of California, Berkeley academic journals. They keep you M.A., Journalism, University of California, Berkeley informed of academic conferences B.A., African American Studies, University of California, Berkeley that are closely related to your work, and throughout your Ph.D. program, ibby Lewis’ dissertation, committee members introduce The Monolithic Media Myth: you to faculty interested in your Struggle Over Representations work, which may lead to future Lof ‘Blackness’ in Television News, job and postdoctoral fellowship examines the ways in which Black opportunities. television news anchors and reporters Now that I literally have to meet the unique challenges of their jobs. keep it movin (to Los Angeles), I Through her work and research, Libby am overwhelmed by the amount of has received speaking invitations from support from staff, administrators, numerous organizations including the undergraduate and graduate United Nations. When asked to offer students, faculty, and leadership some words in praise of Libby and her here at Berkeley. I consider myself work, Professor Paola Bacchetta said, lucky that everyone in my cohort “Libby worked very hard and diligently was so encouraging during the to produce her highly interdisciplinary tougher times of the Ph.D. program. dissertation, with great results. She I am going to miss being able to gathered together an impressive, meet and greet everyone at Percy original set of primary sources, which included written documentation, data Hintzen’s infamous pool parties. from fieldwork, and extensive interviews.” Bacchetta further praises Libby’s I am also very thankful for my work for its “use of a wide range of pertinent theoretical materials on gender, dissertation committee: Herman sexuality, race, visibility/invisibility, the body, media, etc….a wonderful Gray, Paola Bacchetta, Robert combined creative-intellectual endeavor.” Allen, and Trinh Minh-ha. Offering further praise of Libby’s work is Professor Trinh Minh-ha. She Our department graduates some writes, “Libby is certainly one of the most dedicated students I’ve had at of the nation’s most innovative Berkeley…Libby repeatedly struck me as being unusually receptive in her scholars, and I am excited about absorption of complex theoretical issues. Time and time again, she surprised the work of graduate students in our me with her fresh input and her huge, unprejudiced curiosity – qualities that program. I am proud to say that I I rarely find even among my best students.” Adds Professor Robert Allen, have earned all of my degrees from “Libby Lewis chose to take a critical look at the construction of ‘blackness’ Berkeley. For graduate students in the newsroom…she produced a ground-breaking study of how a discourse feeling overwhelmed, it is okay of ‘professionalism’ is deployed to produce an acceptable ‘blackness’ in the to take a step back and unplug – I newsroom and on the screen.” certainly did – the Bay Area has a lot Libby Lewis began her journey at Berkeley twenty-two years ago when to offer. Connect with communities she enrolled as a first-time freshman. Originally from Los Angeles, California, outside the Berkeley campus that Libby took her undergraduate degree in African American Studies in 1990. are helpful to your projects, and After completing her undergraduate studies, Libby returned to Los Angeles soon you too will have a better where she worked as a newsroom intern for KPBS TV. After her brief stint appreciation of Maya Angelou’s with KPBS, Libby returned to Berkeley to continue her studies in the Graduate poem, “And Still I Rise.” School of Journalism where she was awarded the M.A. in journalism in 1995. Libby went on to work in various capacities in the television news industry. Libby Lewis is a recent graduate These included working as an evening anchor and midday reporter for the CBS of the Ph.D. program in African affiliate in Humboldt County, California, and as a morning and noon anchor for American Studies. She is currently the NBC affiliate in northern Mississippi. In 1999, Libby returned to Berkeley a postdoctoral fellow at the Ralph to begin graduate work in African American Studies. She earned the M.A. in Bunche Center for African American 2003 and completed the requirements for the Ph.D. in 2008. Studies at UCLA.

THE DIASPORA • Fall 2008 • PAGE 11 Meet the 2008–2009 Graduate Students of African American Studies

ach year the Department of African American Studies welcomes a new cohort of graduate students to begin their studies leading to the Ph.D. in African American Studies. The individuals featured in these pages certainly represent the best and brightest of future scholarship in the field. We welcome them to the Department and to graduate life Eat Berkeley. We are excited about their work and look forward to their emergence as preeminent scholars. Each student in the fall 2008 cohort brings a unique background, set of motivations, and research interests to their graduate studies. They certainly further our department’s reputation as a center for diverse and engaged scholarship. A few weeks ago, we asked them to provide us with some information on their backgrounds, motivation for pursuing the Ph.D. in African American Studies at Berkeley, and to give us an idea of some of their hobbies and interests beyond their intellectual pursuits. This is what they shared with us.

Christopher Ferguson B.A., African American Studies, University of Southern California My name is Christopher Ferguson, and I’m originally from Boston. I completed my undergraduate degree at the University of Southern California where I majored in African American Studies. My research interests include black masculinity, hip-hop, and the repertoire of blackness styled therein. I am also drawn to notions of black authenticity, namely its production and (mis) appropriation by both peoples of color and non-Blacks. While I am still new to the area and have plenty of exploring to do, my favorite leisure activities include sporting events, exercising, and enjoying the outdoors. I chose African Diaspora Studies at Berkeley because of its esteemed faculty and its emphasis on interdisciplinarity.

Shaun Ossei-Owusu B.S., Communication Studies, Northwestern University M.L.A., Africana Studies, University of Pennsylvania I was born and raised in the South Bronx, New York to Ghanaian immigrants. In 2007, I completed my undergraduate education at Northwestern University. Subsequently, I attended the University of Pennsylvania and received a master’s degree in Africana Studies with an emphasis in Urban Studies. While at Penn, I taught at a charter school in North Philadelphia. Having lived in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and now the Bay Area, I have become fascinated with the relationship between race and space—particularly urbanity, urban sensibilities, and the host of issues faced by communities in urban centers. Additionally, I am interested in how the law and legal institutions impact racialized communities and immigrants in urban areas. Lastly, I am interested looking at the ways in which popular culture (specifically sports, hip-hop, and urban fiction) provides unique insight into race, class, and gender relations and disparities in urban America and globally. I came to Berkeley because I think it is the best place to draw the conceptual connections between these interests while conducting interdisciplinary, ethnographic fieldwork. Moreover, I find Berkeley to be replete with the faculty, academic resources, and intellectual vibrancy necessary for me to become a sound scholar. For fun, I enjoy traveling domestically to visit friends and family, exploring cities (which ever one I’m in at the time), writing, playing basketball, listening to music and watching collegiate and professional sports.

PAGE 12 Meet the 2008–2009 Graduate Students of African American Studies

Ianna Hawkins Owen B.A., Africana Studies, Hunter College, City University of New York I was born to artists in New York City and grew up in Tannersville, Pennsylvania. I earned my undergraduate degree in Africana Studies at Hunter College of the City University of New York, where I graduated as valedictorian. During my time at Hunter I became radicalized by my experiences in All City (a Freirean popular education activism group), as well as by experiences in Anarchist People of Color-NYC and Canterbury-NYU. Later I worked for the Safe OUTside the System Collective of the Audre Lorde Project in Brooklyn to end police and hate violence against queer and transgendered people of color without relying on state power. In addition, I have been active in the arts by organizing poetry readings called “We’re Gonna Make It” to fundraise for a cure for Rheumatoid Arthritis. I am honored and blessed to have been afforded the opportunity to study in the Department of African American Studies at Berkeley. I am excitedly exploring my interests in the Black Diaspora in the Celtic world and in the areas of folklore, gender, and sexuality studies. I also have a love for zombies, vegetarianism, driving with my best friend through Pennsylvania back roads, laughing with my parents, and hanging out with my younger brother in Philly.

Bryan K. Mason B.A., Information Systems, Drexel University M.A., Systematic Philosophical Theology, Graduate Theological Union I am originally from Philadelphia, home to such great inventions as the U.S. Constitution, the Cheesesteak (not Cheez Whiz), and the Philly left hook (Joe Frazier). Not to mention some of the best music in the world (Patti LaBelle, Boyz II Men, The Roots, etc.). About four years ago, my wife and I came to the Bay Area from Washington, D.C. to pursue our careers; she as a lawyer, and me as an academic. In that short time, I have earned a master’s degree, been introduced to the word “hecka” (though I still refuse to use it), and made a lot of good friends. Best of all, I find myself pursing a doctorate in African American Studies at Berkeley. I am a student of Hoplology, a little known form of anthropology that focuses on the study of human combative behavior across various cultures. It is an interdisciplinary study that can combine aspects of anthropology, sociology, psychology, and even physiology and kinesiology. I have come to study in the Department of African American Studies because my personal interests center on the too often ignored combative traditions of the African Diaspora. I am hopeful that my time at Berkeley will be the beginning of a scholarly conversation on these cultural arts as well as an understanding of how the connections between them translate into connections between the Diasporic cultures that created them. In addition to Hoplology, I am interested in the Harlem Renaissance, issues of Double-Consciousness in contemporary African American life, and Diasporic cultures in general. When I am not in school, I study martial arts (both physically and academically), watch movies, listen to music (Jazz, Blues, R&B and Hip-Hop), and I read. I will read anything from Don Quixote or Paradise Lost to a Star Wars novel. I am also a big Shakespeare fan. Huge. Like I would get the throwback. So that’s me in brief. I haven’t been here long, but I’m inspired by the atmosphere of the department, the broad range of knowledge and projects, and most of all, the close-knit feeling that permeates the sixth floor of Barrows Hall. I’m as excited about the friends that I might make among students and professors as I am about the knowledge I will gain and the work that I’ll do. I have a long road ahead, which means I’ll be around for a while. So if you see me, say hi. I’ll do the same. Peace.

THE DIASPORA • Fall 2008 • PAGE 13 eBlack Studies: the Next Movement in Black Studies By Carmen Mitchell Black Studies describes contribute to creating a better world the ongoing application of for all peoples. eBlack Studies will current digital information work to eliminate the vast digital Etechnology towards the production, divide across and transform the dissemination, and collection of technological systems that structure historical knowledge critical to the Black life, as well as the patterns field of Black Studies. Thus, eBlack of political, economic, and cultural Studies, as it is now understood, power relations that influence is widely recognized to be at the technology design, production, forefront of research in the field. and use. With this in mind, a group of Black We see eBlack Studies as a Studies scholars from across the movement which is integral to country first gathered together the future of the discipline of economic insecurity for African at the University of Illinois at Black Studies, and that this future Americans and others in the African Urbana-Champaign in July 2008 will include utilizing, innovating, Diaspora, and also dislocations for the inaugural eBlack Studies interrogating, critiquing, and, where among others in society. Our workshop. needed, resisting digital tools and communities have been digitally The scholars gathered at this spaces. We believe that Library divided but we are dedicating meeting represent various subfields and Information Sciences will also ourselves to serve as a bridge in Black Studies and emerging prove central to the development over the river of that divide. Our issues of digital technology. We of eBlack Studies. Not only will social values are cyberdemocracy, work in a number of related fields of eBlack Studies be at the vanguard collective intelligence, and study including Afro-Latin America for work in Black Studies, it will information freedom. We embrace and Latino(a) Studies, Archaeology, also contribute to its future through the information revolution and Black Atlantic Studies, Black Queer the development of digital archives dedicate our scholarship to academic Studies, Comparative Literature, in documenting the history of Black excellence and social responsibility. Cultural Studies, Ethnomusicology, Studies and Black experiences. We welcome others to join us in this Psychology, Public Health, and We believe that eBlack Studies endeavor. Women and Gender Studies. As and Black Studies in general must This workshop was sponsored we work to influence the future of reaffirm scholarly commitment to by the National Council for Black the field through eBlack Studies, the wide-ranging diversity in Black Studies (NCBS) with funding from we acknowledge and celebrate experiences, as eBlack Studies holds the Ford Foundation. It resulted our roots in the history and promise to innovate and develop from discussions at a series of traditions of Black Studies, while new directions for the field. The workshops during the conferences enthusiastically embracing digital innovations we collectively achieve of the Association for the Study culture as it critically interrogates, will offer unique possibilities for of African American Life and interprets, defines, and documents other disciplines as well. History and NCBS, and the Ford the experiences of people of African We are witnessing an information Foundation. The workshop was descent. revolution — a revolution that hosted by the Department of African eBlack Studies is grounded is leading global transformation. American Studies at the University in the everyday experiences of People of African descent have of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. living Black communities, and is always played pivotal roles in the committed to increasing access history of technological revolutions Carmen Mitchell is a graduate to knowledge about the histories, — sometimes as innovators and student in the Department of African experiences, and perspectives of inventors, more frequently as American Studies. Africans and African descendents laborers – and whose labor permitted throughout the world. Moreover, the wealth that spurred further eBlack Studies is based on a model technological advances. The social of engaged community advocacy. consequences of today’s information As such, eBlack Studies hopes to revolution include suffering and

PAGE 14 Xiao Kai-Fei's Return By Robeson Taj Frazier n autumn 2007, I spent six meant I was now part weeks in China completing of their family. My research for my dissertation. I host brother’s name Itraveled to Beijing and Hong Kong was Xiao Kai-Da, so to analyze Chinese newspapers, the family thought it government documents, and the would be funny to archives of several American name me Kai-Fei. expatriates who resided in China You see, in Mandarin, between the years of 1955 and Kai-Fei means, “to 1976. My project examines fly a plane.” They several African American activist figured that since I intellectuals’ relationships with traveled to Beijing the Chinese government and on a plane, this name their interest and study of Maoist would be both ironic thought during the height of the and comical. What Cold War. It considers how people made this even more life on an unready college student who were not diplomats, foreign humorous was that, the name, who cursed me out in Mandarin correspondents, or government depending on how you pronounce it, due to his embarrassment. I, on officials engaged and translated could mean something completely the other hand was excited because the politics of the Cold War to different—a fact I soon learned. I could understand what he was local, national, and international When I would tell people my saying! And I was treated by my populations and utilized China name, they would instantly laugh, host family with profound courtesy and Chinese communism as a site something that I felt broke the ice and warmth, being awakened early to flesh out alternative models and opened up the space for more by my host mother for warm milk of development, community dialogue. But I soon learned that and bread, assisting my host father relations and affairs, and radical the joke was on me! When I said in preparing “jiao-zi” (dumplings) politics. They recognized China’s the name, my East Coast American every Saturday afternoon (one of our emergence as an imminent global accent made it sound more like, weekly rituals), and staying up late force and employed China’s focus “Syau Café” than “Xiao Kai-Fei.” to gamble and play mahjong against on the Third World to challenge In Mandarin, “Syau Café” translates neighbors from our apartment racial capitalism and U.S. into “Small Coffee.” For most of building. imperialism. the Chinese people that I met, it It was with all this in my mind This was a very exciting trip. was therefore fantastic and a bit that I returned to Beijing last year. Ten years earlier, I lived in Beijing satirical that the first Black person It had been ten years since I lived for five months as an exchange they ever met, who, I might add, there, and I was excited to see how student. Housed in the home of a happened to be over six feet tall (a Beijing had changed and to locate Chinese family, I was immersed into grand height to some), was named, my host family. I spent my first days Chinese society and culture. My “Small Coffee.” walking the city and was shocked host father was a scientist and my My five months in Beijing by its new look. Gone were all host mother worked as a technical during the autumn and winter the bicycles. In their place was engineer. My host brother, a second of 1997 are some of my fondest car-to-car traffic. Even the rinky- year student at a university on the memories. My bicycle and I were dink multicolor taxicabs (which we city’s exterior, was gone during the inseparable. I rode to all sections used to call bread boxes), so light week (which allowed me sleep in of the city, immersed in bike-to- in weight that a person could push his bed and take over his room) and bike traffic, figuring out how to it over easily, were gone. They returned home on the weekends. weave my way through narrow and were replaced by cog-like cabs—a The family gave me the Chinese wide streets, speeding cars, and testament to the government’s name, Xiao Kai-Fei, which I still dusty roads. I played basketball efforts to give the city and its use today. In China, the family throughout the city, dunking a services a more uniformed look. name is always stated first, thus Xiao basketball for the first time in my Skyscrapers surrounded me, and

THE DIASPORA • Fall 2008 • PAGE 15 where there was air, the foundations One thing I did find truly Williams, during their stays in for new buildings stood, waiting to interesting is how Black culture Beijing. I left Beijing and spent be developed and raised to towering is being remolded, reshaped, the rest of my time in Hong Kong heights. I visited my old school. and repackaged on Chinese soil. in the library at the University of Where its dusty track used to be was Basketball courts are everywhere Hong Kong. Although I enjoyed now a world-class track, which was in Beijing. Advertisements and Hong Kong, I could easily sense its so soft on the shoes that you felt like billboards with Black American past as a former British colony. The you were running on carpet. Ten faces such as Tiger Woods, Lebron narrow winding roads, cars on the years ago, the school was heated James, and Kobe Bryant are all left side of the street, and double- by a large coal furnace. Now, it has throughout the city. Also becoming decker public buses reminded me of an electrical heating system. Third prominent more and more among London. Ultimately, Beijing made Ring Road, down the road from Chinese youth is rap music and Hip a more lasting impression. While my former home, was now lined Hop culture. But rather than study I knew that Beijing’s development with trees and vibrant businesses, hip-hop’s pioneers like Kool Herc, had been spurred and accelerated resembling white flight suburbia in Grandmaster Flash, and Afrika by China’s future hosting of the the U.S. in the 1950s. The butchers Bambaata, they look to artists of Olympics, it was apparent that and markets that were once there the mid-to-late 1990s such as Gang China, or at least Beijing, had had been replaced with cell phone Starr, Tupac, Biggie Smalls, and forgone its former image for a stores, banks, ATMs, and expensive Lauryn Hill. They are becoming more modern cosmopolitan look. retail shops. Much of what I connoisseurs of kicks and are now Beijing had appropriated the West remembered was gone. Also gone part of the ever-growing sneaker in some ways, but was also staking from much of the city were the poor culture, another byproduct of the out its own claims for development, residents of the Hutongs. In poor amalgamation of hip-hop culture sophistication, and a unique elite Chinese citizens’ former depleted and basketball. Chinese adolescents national and international identity. homes now were chic boutiques, and young adults are collecting I returned to the states with bags shops and cafés that housed China’s hard-to-find Nike Dunks, Reebok filled with hard-to-find documents new coffee-shop culture. Inside, Pumps and old school sneakers to examine, faux Chanel bags and people drank cappuccinos and such as British Knights and Filas, Northface jackets to give family conversed while Coldplay plays sneakers produced predominantly members for Christmas, memories in the background and a picture of by their countrymen and other of a past that I wished to relive Mao hangs above the counter—a Asians in East Asian and Southeast again, and curiosity about what complete juxtaposition of globalism, Asian factories. else will emerge in a place I once communism, and Chinese tradition. With all of this development, called home. Sadly, my host family too had been the Chinese government and higher forced to move. I stopped by their education are also opening up their Robeson Taj Frazier is a Ph.D. building and found out that rents libraries and archives more and more candidate in the Department of had skyrocketed. They had moved to support research by foreigners. African American Studies. to the countryside to help take care I was able to examine various of their parents. documents at the Chinese National Library. For example, I spent days looking at the papers of Anna Louise Strong, an American writer and journalist who lived in China from the mid 1950s until her death in 1970. Strong developed close relationships with scholar W.E.B. Du Bois, writer and activist Shirley Graham Du Bois, and Black militant and internationalist Robert F. Williams and his wife Mabel

PAGE 16 My First Trip to Continental Africa By J. Finley

June 23, 2008 like the thousands of followers of Knowing my ancestors were Isaiah Shembe. We walked to the stolen from a place makes main ‘sanctuary’ where people sold me feel like I was taken everything you could think of, like a from my mother, even before flea market. I felt the ground under birth. Like finding out I was my feet. I could finally feel Africa. adopted, left by my mother This was the feeling I longed for on some strange doorstep—I when I got off the plane—home. I want to find her. I want to have been here almost a month and know her, feel like she is part at that moment, history became of me and if I could only find reality. I couldn’t help but think of her and know her I could Malcolm X’s pilgrimage to Mecca. n summer 2008, I received a know myself better. Now He arrived angry and untouchable, Fulbright-Hays Fellowship that I found her I realize she is no a hatred 400 years deep and came to study the Zulu language in longer my mother. The longing back with a hope, a hope that had ISouth Africa. This was not my first ends anticlimactically. My mother the potential to turn hate to love. introduction of Zulu. However, is no longer my mother—our bond August 10, 2008 it was my first trip to the African is broken. Time has done so much I realized what freedom is during continent. Over the two months to change us both—an ocean, my visit to South Africa. The that I was there, I stayed in three centuries, names. I realize I have choice to wear pants when all the different places, including the more than one mother. Africa is other women in the township can University of KwaZulu-Natal, my dead mother. America is my only wear skirts. I am leaving Pietermaritzburg (near Durban), an abusive stepmother who I can South Africa today, going back to urban home stay in the township never disavow because she molded the future. of Imbali, and a rural home stay and shaped me. in the township of Maqongqo. J. Finley is a graduate student in the During both home stays we spoke June 29, 2008 Department of African American only Zulu. It was an amazing trip, I think I dreamed in Zulu last night. Studies. with many ups and downs along The church choir sang “Go Down the way. It was a life-changing Moses.” experience. Here is a short piece July 4, 2008 that captures my journey. It didn’t even occur to me that I should celebrate this day. Telling June 16, 2008 a Zulu you don’t live your life to Arriving in Durban make money is like telling them It smells like cooked food. The you are crazy. people are beautiful. The weather is like Oakland but the atmosphere, July 9, 2008 as yet, cannot be qualified. People ask me if I am ‘colored’ daily. Only in America is life so June 20, 2008 black and white. Here I am pressed A poem in between the two. We don’t even know it but our union was July 17, 2008 accidental and could I learned the Lord’s Prayer in Zulu appear as catastrophic today. That should be helpful. and painful as sweet and destined. July 22, 2008 How can I ever go home? My life changed today. We got off How can I stay here? the bus and took off our shoes,

THE DIASPORA • Fall 2008 • PAGE 17 Blackness, Technology, and Cyberspace: Digital Diasporas Conference and eBlack Studies By Carmen Mitchell wo major conferences and workshops late last spring and during the summer Thighlighted the continued growth and awareness of cyberspace and Internet technologies, in the African Diaspora and African American Studies. The 2008 Digital Humanities and African American/African Diaspora Studies Conference at the University of Maryland, College Park, featured a diverse array of poster presentations, academic talks, artistic works, and institutional reports that all fused technology, archiving creativity, theory, activism, and pedagogy in relation to black communities and allies in the United States and beyond. Noted to be the first of its kind, close to one hundred fifty participants attended the of ‘downloadable Blacknesses’, and country, presented an array of conference. interactive web technologies. The projects and created a collective The keynote address was conference was organized by the statement on the genesis, mission, delivered by Abdul Alkalimat African American/African Diaspora and movement of what is termed (University of Illinois) moderator Area Group of the Department of “eBlack Studies.” H-NET AFRO AM listserv. He English and the Maryland Institute The Information Technology spoke on the continued persistence for Technology in the Humanities at and Black Studies Workshop of the digital divide in low-income the University of Maryland, College was hosted by the Department of Black communities, hip-hop Park. African American Studies at the pedagogy and technologies of Conversations and active University of Illinois and sponsored the studio, and eBlack Studies. dialogue around Black by the National Council for Black Other speakers and panelists communities, African American Studies with funding from the Ford included Alexander G. Weheliye Studies, technology, and new Foundation. For more information (Northwestern University), Kara media continued over the summer on the workshop, the full manifesto Keeling (University of Southern with the Information Technology and continued online and interactive California), Anna Everett (UC and Black Studies Workshop held dialogue please visit the website at Santa Barbara), Howard Dodson at the University of Illinois at http://eblackstudies.org/workshop. (Schomburg Center for Research Urbana-Champaign from July in Black Culture), and Merle 24 to July 27, 2008. In addition Carmen Mitchell is a graduate Collins (University of Maryland, to being the keynote speaker for student in the Department of African College Park). San Francisco-based Digital Diasporas Conference, American Studies. composer/performer and audio artist Abdul Alkalimat was also the Pamela Z provided a multimedia main organizer and director of performance. D.J. Spooky (Paul this workshop. An enthusiastic Miller) also performed and gave gathering of graduate students, the conference closing talk on archivists, professors, independent creativity, Pan-Humanism, Pan- researchers, community activists, Africanism and new media in the age and librarians from around the

PAGE 18 An Introduction to Hoplology By Bryan K. Mason

The name Hoplology primarily by the International derives from the Greek word Hoplology Society (IHS). IHS is Hoplos, which refers to arms a semi-academic group founded by or armor. The Hoplite, or former protégées of Draeger in the armored person, was the years following his death. As such, soldier of the ancient world. they continue his tradition of field The term Hoplology was first research and emic participation in used to refer to a scholarly various parts of Asia. discipline by Sir Richard F. Burton, a prolific writer, explorer and Orientalist of ll life has a single the late nineteenth century. fundamental goal: to Though his life and work were survive. Within this contemporary to the beginnings of Aoverarching need are the roots modern anthropology, Burton was of several other human needs, unable to secure a similar place for including the need to fight. The Hoplology within the academy, and human need to fight manifested the term fell into disuse. itself the first time a human being Following World War II, acted to defend territory, property Burton’s charge was taken up by or life, or just as likely, the first Donn F. Draeger, a marine captain time one person attempted to relieve who served as part of the American another of these things. occupation forces in Japan. Like most human needs, the Draeger’s interest in Japanese need to fight is met with recourse to combative methods, beginning tools. Like all tools, those dedicated with Judo, led him to investigate to fighting demand systems to many of Japan’s oldest and most govern their usage. Through a venerable art forms. Eventually costly process of trial and error, tool, his travels would take him to nearly Though the study of Hoplology user, and method are all refined, all corners of Asia, including the closely parallels that of anthropology, and the system becomes an art. Philippines, Indonesia, and India. it is often thought of as a separate Concurrently, new weapons and Simultaneously, his writings would entity. This may account for some methods are constantly evolving. provide a point of intellectual access of the difficulty the discipline has The study of that evolution and of to Asian martial arts that continues faced as it has sought a place in the varied cultural contexts in which to influence both scholarly and lay the modern academy. As the IHS it takes place is called Hoplology. interpretations of such arts. In the is only semi-academic, its efforts hope of again establishing seem to have done little to solidify Hoplology as an valid field Hoplology within normative of study, Draeger engaged academic traditions. Moreover, in an aggressive schedule as an organization, they appear not of touring and lecturing. to have transcended the Orientalist He also made himself predispositions of Donn Draeger, available to mentor many as they conduct little to no research like-minded Westerners outside of that geographic area. who traveled to Japan to immerse themselves in its Bryan K. Mason is a graduate martial culture. student in the Department of African Today, the banner American Studies. of Hoplology is carried

THE DIASPORA • Fall 2008 • PAGE 19 Black Public Intellectualism Briefly Reconsidered By Shaun Ossei-Owusu ntellectuals have traditionally elite has nonetheless produced an having identifiable constituencies held a particular prestige often-discussed disconnect between similar to some of their progenitors.2 in American society, and intellectuals and folk. The result Michael Eric Dyson (1997) (the Imore broadly, in “modern” and of the foregoing is somewhat first scholar often identified in “postmodern” society. The role paradoxical. It has facilitated the Black public intellectual critiques) of the public intellectual has belief that somehow Black folk contends that Black scholars should become more complicated with the need translators as well as the be reflexive and self-critical of proliferation of new media. Blogs, presumption that black populations each other but not ad hominem and podcasting, and digital visual media are a monolithic group with uniform hostile. The critiques continue and (e.g. Youtube) have expanded the interests, perspectives, and politics. are seemingly infinite. outlets and possibilities for the Historically, Whites often selected While there is certainly no public intellectual—all of which Black leaders who were palatable panacea to the several questions require a reconsideration of his or (e.g. Booker T. Washington), and and contestations that surround the her role. Similarly, the increased with some exceptions public figures role of Black public intellectuals, presence of African American were usually not tied to academic there are ways to continually and intellectuals in American colleges institutions, and sometimes were critically consider their role. Michael and universities in the last thirty connected to religious organizations. Burawoy’s (2005) conceptualization years has posed a unique quandary With the marked increase in numbers of public sociology and the larger for Black intellectuals in their efforts of Black scholars and the emergence discipline provides a useful to reach audiences larger than those of cultural critics the position of approach. Burawoy identifies four who are privileged to study or work the Black public intellectual has types of knowledge: professional, in colleges and universities. changed. critical, policy, and public.3 One Numerous studies have So how do we imagine the could argue that critical knowledge illustrated the contested role and Black public intellectual? Who is can be subsumed in the other function of the public intellectual. his or her “public”? What should three categories. Hence, Black Lewis Gordon (1997) points out his or her priorities be? Can he public intellectuals can address a how the public intellectual can be or she assume the moniker when professional audience, focusing easily confused with the popular speaking to other racial groups particularly on the academy (who  intellectual. Gordon argues that and not Blacks? Where do Black in a way are a particular public). the popular intellectual is a public conservative commentators fit into They can also speak to policy figure, but may or may not produce existing conceptions of the African issues; in this role one does not knowledge for public consumption, American public intellectual? In have to be an academic and can whereas a scholar may be public with what ways do they disrupt it? How be a grassroots activist, local their work but unpopular because of do market incentives complicate his organizer, or a journalist, providing their political perspectives. or her role? Can Black intellectuals provocative commentary on social The role of the black intellectual not trained in formal institutions policy (which often impacts a is also problematic itself, as it makes fall under this designation? As specific or several populations). several assumptions. Among the for professional intellectuals, how Lastly, and most generally, the many criticisms of this role is the do ties to academic institutions Black public intellectual that idea that it assumes a separation enhance or hamper their ability to focuses on the “public” speaks to between Black intellectuals and speak to the public? broader audiences and to a public Black folk. Certainly this is Some of these questions have that is fluid and diverse. She or he rooted in a late nineteenth and been previously examined and are can be a professor, artist, graduate early twentieth century conception the source of debate for numerous student, journalist, religious leader, of a Talented Tenth upon whom scholars. For example, Joy James or simply a lay scholar. This was bestowed a responsibility of (1997) argues for a democratization conceptualization widens the providing leadership to the race. of American intellectualism. possibility for contributions by As contested as the discourses Similarly, Adolph Reed (2000) Black public intellectuals in their surrounding the Talented Tenth insists that Black public intellectuals various forms. may be, the notion of an educated directly engage each other while

PAGE 20 Congratulations to This framework does leave several questions on the table and creates new inquiries. My larger Professor Charles P. Henry goal is to reexamine how Black Recipient of the Chancellor’s Award for public intellectuals are imagined Advancing Institutional Excellence and understood. In a “post-race” America, the role the Black public intellectual may either lose purchase or gain value. Part of this reconfiguration depends on our own intra-racial interpretations of his or her role. Notes 1. Joy James, Transcending the Talented Tenth: Black Leaders and American Intellectuals (New York: Gibor Basri, Vice Chancellor for Equity & Inclusion Professor Charles P. Henry, African American Studies Routledge, 1997). Angelica M. Stacy, Associate Vice Provost for Faculty Equity; Robert J. Birgeneau, Chancellor 2. Adolph Reed, Class Notes: Posing as Politics and Other Thoughts on Professor Robert Allen the American Scene (New York: New Recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award Press, 2000). For the Division of Social Sciences of the 3. Michael Burawoy, “2004 College of Letters and Science American Sociological Association Presidential address: For public sociology,” British Journal of Sociology, Volume 56:2, 260-290.

Shaun Ossei-Owusu is a graduate student in the Department of African American Studies.

Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost, George Breslauer; Professor Robert Allen

Lia T. Bascomb Recipient of the Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award From the Department of African American Studies

Lia Bascomb; Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost, George Breslauer

THE DIASPORA • Fall 2008 • PAGE 21 June Jordan’s Poetry for the People: Creating and Renewing Off-Campus Partnerships By Aya de Leon

oetry for the People was schools. These weekly workshops founded at UC Berkeley are free of charge, open to the in 1991 by the late poet public, and include an open mic Pand essayist June Jordan (1936- component. Our programming also 2002). Jordan’s vision for the includes community performances program was that it would provide by visiting literary artists, who are a space for artistic expression presented along with local spoken and personal empowerment for word, poetry, music and hip hop students. Since its inception, artists, as well as students and the program has maintained two student teachers from the Berkeley primary components. First is campus. teaching the work of poets of Keeping with Berkeley’s color in their historical political mission of Equity and Inclusion, contexts. The second component we have begun a teacher-training is workshopping student poems program that reaches out to talented weekly, according to a rigorous set individuals outside of the university of guidelines developed by Jordan who have the potential to teach at the program’s inception. and excel at Berkeley, but have Taught by Student Teacher not had access. Our partnerships Poets, the workshop sections of working tirelessly to keep Professor with Berkeley City College, Mills the course encourage student Jordan’s vision alive. College, and other two-year, writing in the tradition of Jordan’s In fall 2006, I joined the four-year and graduate programs, work. Student writing deals Department of African American ensures a high level of cultural with experiences of oppression, Studies as Director of Poetry for and socioeconomic diversity in speaking what has been silenced, the People. As a community artist our student teacher class. Our and offering alternative visions of and activist, I bring a background continued outreach to non-students what the world can be. of university-level teaching and contributes to this as well. Throughout her involvement in over twenty years experience in This year, Poetry for the People the program, Jordan always created community organizing, teaching, is also undergoing a paradigm strong bridges between Poetry for and arts administration. I remain shift in our program. We are the People and the community. Non- excited about the direction in gravitating away from an emphasis students have always been allowed which the program is moving and on “outreach” and are focusing more to fully participate in the program am committed to keeping with on service learning and engaged and its classes. Jordan regularly Jordan’s tradition of reaching scholarship. The program has been organized off-campus readings beyond the university. selected for the University’s Engaged and brought students to poetry Thanks to generous grants Scholarship Initiative. In Spring readings outside of the university. from the Chancellor’s Community 2009, we will integrate service Poetry for the People’s outreach Partnership Fund, the Poetry in learning into our programs, classes, program has a history of bringing the Community Collaborative has and other activities. This will place Student Teacher Poets to schools been able to revive Poetry for the all of our students in ten-hour mini- and community settings throughout People’s historical partnerships internships at organizations in the the Bay Area. The program has with Berkeley High School and La community, including schools, arts struggled since Professor Jordan’s Peña Cultural Center. In addition, and literary centers, youth agencies, death in 2002. However, with the we have created partnerships with and community organizations. We continued participation and support new entities including Berkeley will also integrate service learning of students and the Department City College. Some of our other theories and reflective practices of African American Studies, we activities include student teacher into the curriculum. This reflects continue to move forward and are poets and student residencies our belief that the program should teaching poetry at our partner

PAGE 22 equip students not only with literary Congratulations to tools and skills, but also with relationships beyond those that they will make at the University. We often think of campus walls as locking some young people out. However, I am equally concerned about how it locks other students in. From a young adult development perspective, I want to institutionalize students’ opportunities to create meaningful relationships with young artists in the greater Bay Area and community institutions outside African American Studies Alumna of the campus. So many of our Maggi M. Morehouse students need this exposure in order Assistant Professor of History to chart trajectories in arts careers University of South Carolina Aiken and activist communities beyond Recipient of the University’s Community Service Award their college years. Otherwise, they And recently elected to the South Carolina Humanities Council Board hit a wall when they graduate, as they find themselves limited in their Introducing ability to transition to the so-called real world. Johnael Glenn Rafael Simmons The upper division course, Grandson of Glenn L Robertson which satisfies the University’s Birthday: 8/29/2008 American Cultures requirement, is Time of Birth: 3:12 AM open to freshmen and sophomores. Weight: 7 lb, 6 oz This year we will be studying Length: 20.5 in Baby's Proud Family African American, Arab/Arab Tiuana and Rafael American, and Native American poetry. Students of all writing levels are welcome. As always, Poetry for the People is recruiting interested students and student teachers for the program. Both Berkeley and non-Berkeley students are invited to participate. Students begin the program in January. The student teacher training program Miles Scott Perry is by application only and begins Son of Janelle Scott and Matt Perry Birthday: 12/14/2008 in either fall or spring. Our Third Time of Birth: 11:27 AM Thursday Poetry in the Community Weight: 7 lb, 13 oz performances will be at La Peña Length: 20.87 in Cultural Center. All shows will feature both campus and community poets. All of our events are open to the public.

Aya de Leon is Director of June Jordan’s Poetry for the People. She is also a lecturer in the Department of African American Studies.

THE DIASPORA • Fall 2008 • PAGE 23 LIBRARY NEWS ­New Library Database: Black Studies Center By Jason M. Schultz

he University Library recently purchased the electronic database Black Studies Center (BSC). This resource combines a number of print and electronic reference sources for current and historical research on African Americans, the African Diaspora, and Africa. The BSC contains the following resources: the Schomburg Studies on the Black TExperience, International Index to Black Periodicals (IIBP), Black Literature Index, ProQuest Black Newspapers, The Chicago Defender (1910-1975) in full-text, and the ProQuest Dissertations for Black Studies. The Schomburg Studies on the Black Experience includes interdisciplinary essays on the Black Experience. It is accompanied by timelines, citations to scholarly articles, images, and film clips. The International Index to Black Periodicals (IIBP) includes current and past bibliographic citations and abstracts from numerous scholarly journals and newsletters from the United States, Africa, and the Caribbean. Many titles are core Black Studies periodicals. Black Literature Index is an electronic index to the microfiche collection by the same name. It includes over 70,000 bibliographic citations for fiction, poetry and literary reviews published in 110 Black periodicals and newspapers between 1827 and 1940. BSC includes full-text access to the Chicago Defender between 1910 and 1975. This is in addition to the ProQuest Black Newspapers that has bibliographic citations and abstracts to four additional historical Black newspapers, namely New York Amsterdam News (1922-1993), Pittsburgh Courier (1911-2002), Los Angeles Sentinel (1934-2005), and the Atlanta Daily World (1932-2003). In addition, the Black Literature Index includes links to full-text articles from the New York Amsterdam News and Pittsburgh Courier. Finally, BSC includes ProQuest Dissertations for Black Studies covering Ph.D. dissertations and Master’s theses in various subjects related to Black Studies composed between 1970 and 2004 at institutions of higher learning throughout the U.S. Jason M. Schultz is the librarian for African American Studies at the University Library.

PAGE 24 Race and the Race: Some Notes By Ronald Williams II n the face of Barack Obama’s oration did not put the issue of race to African Americans. He has unprecedented popularity in and racism to rest entirely, it served as effectively shown the United States American politics, numerous Obama’s way of positioning himself and the world that there is more than Iquestions and assertions have and his campaign relative to the one way to be African American. surfaced about his racial designation. issues of race and racism. Through Certainly, Obama (whether Questions that have been raised this speech, Obama positioned out of necessity or by choice) include the following: Is he Black himself as a person who lives an strategically positioned himself enough? Is he Black at all? When African American experience. He on issues related to race and racial did he “become” Black? How can acknowledges his connection to the inequality. Yet he accomplished he be Black when he was raised various races of the world through is this without completely eradicating by his white grandparents? Why White American mother, his Kenyan his symbolic connection to other did he choose to marry a Black father, his Indonesian stepfather, and African Americans. Indeed the Woman? Was he being strategic his Chinese brother-in-law. Most support he enjoyed among African in this choice? These are by no significant in this speech was the American voters underscores this. means exhaustive or representative way that Obama positioned himself He was the resounding choice of of the numerous ways in which in relationship to African Americans. African American voters in the Obama’s race has been interrogated He movingly connects himself with Democratic Party primaries and in the media and in everyday African Americans and to African in the general election. This is conversation. In response to these American experiences. He cites his a particularly noteworthy feat questions, numerous people have relationship with his wife who is a considering the profound affection made assertions that have sought descendant of American slavery. He that African American Democrats to situate Obama in relationship to professes his connection to Black have historically shown to Bill and what is understood as a normative Americans not only through his own Hillary Clinton. Even in the face Blackness. People have said that lived experience at the intersection of contested visions about race and he is not Black enough. They have of race, class, and gender, but racial progress, Black Americans charged his marriage to an African also through his marriage to an have shown Obama, his campaign American woman as part of a indigenous African American and and his family, a level of affection quest for legitimacy among African to the two daughters who were born that no other presidential candidate Americans. People have suggested of this union. The most important has enjoyed from the same group. that because Obama was reared aspect of this speech concerning This election has shown the by his White grandparents that he African Americans is that Obama is possibility for an African American was not really connected to Black a self-identified African American. to win a presidential election and America or to Black Americans. Moreover, he has never explicitly to secure the percentage of non- Not only are these questions or implicitly disassociated himself black votes necessary to do so. inherently problematic, but they from Blackness in general or the This is no small feat. However, also presuppose that there only one experiences of African Americans Obama’s ascendancy does not, in way to be African American. in particular. any way, illustrate that Americans Certainly the controversy What was most impressive about have somehow moved beyond surrounding Reverend Jeremiah Obama’s approach and response to race. Instead it shows that White Wright contributed to this question's the race question was his ability to Americans are, at times, willing to surfacing. This instance caused respond to one of the most complex subordinate what can be understood numerous people to question issues in the history of the republic. as their racial interests to the need Obama’s relationship to “the” Yet he did so in a way that enabled to produce meaningful change in Black community and to issues him to remain immensely popular. the way that the economy and the of race and racism in America. He won his party’s nomination in government operates. Certainly Obama’s response to this in his the primary elections and went on to Obama’s success in the election famed address “A More Perfect win the presidency through landslide is the product of political genius Union” at Philadelphia provided a victories in the Electoral College and combined with a citizenry that is thoughtful and defining response in the popular vote. And he did this grossly dissatisfied with certain to this controversy. Although his while maintaining his connections aspects of the status quo. Still,

THE DIASPORA • Fall 2008 • PAGE 25 these factors, and their production constructed. They have recognized of a history-making election, do not that race in its “ism” form was show that the issue of race has, at used historically (and arguably all, been put to bed. contemporarily) to subjugate groups A recent op-ed column in of people based on the allegation of the Washington Post presented inferiority because of phenotypic an argument that was indeed and cultural variations in the species. disheartening. The column, written Still, contemporary scholars of race by author Marie Arana, was published in America (and in the world for under the headline, “Barack Obama that matter) have recognized that, is Not Black.” Connecting with as problematic of a concept that Obama’s experience as a biracial race may be, it does have meaning. American, Arana attempts to Individuals and groups are still substantiate her claim by arguing socialized around it as a category the need to end the use of a racist of analysis. People’s identities practice if we are truly in a post-race are formed around various human America. She insists that, because characteristics and race remains Barack Obama is biracial, that he one of them. Certainly the state has just as much claim to Blackness continues to perpetuate the use and as he does to Whiteness. On the relevance of race as well. surface this sounds fair. However, Thus, rather than seeing the to suggest that Obama is somehow early twenty-first century as the other than Black not only represents beginning of a post-race America, a shortsighted vision of progress, it is important that all Americans but it also demonstrates a less than celebrate the decisive electoral sophisticated understanding of victory of Barack Obama (a self- race. It seems that because Obama identified African American) as has been able to earn the respect, evidence of progress toward the adoration, and votes of American vision of a “more perfect union.” Whites, or more generally, of non- To suggest that the vision of a more African Americans, that attempts perfect union means that an African are now made to again claim that he American man can win the highest is somehow other than Black. This office in the land only bynot being is not to discount his biraciality. African American presents a blurred However, Barack Obama makes it (and in some ways backward) clear that he has been socialized as vision of progress. What it does an African American and identifies show is that there are different (and with that racial designation. And, oftentimes conflicting) visions of the when voting for him, people of this soi-disant perfect union. Again, all races were clear that they were if their level of support for Barack voting for an African American Obama is any indicator, African (even those who did not “see ” him Americans seem to see a president as Black). So why should we try and first family who identify as to take this away from him now? African American and interact with Had he lost the election, would African Americans as an indicator this columnist have made the same of progress toward a more perfect argument? union. Every American should see Scholars on race and racism in it this way. the United States have made several key theoretical and conceptual Ronald Williams II is a Ph.D. observations about race. They candidate in the Department of have proven that race is socially African American Studies.

PAGE 26 From the Editor By Ronald Williams II he latter half of 2008 perseverance and played witness to several the ways that one important moments in can be presented TAfrican American history, American with numerous history, and the history of the opportunities to world. Barack Obama’s defeat of showcase their Hillary Clinton for the Democratic r e s e a r c h a n d Party’s nomination for President of talents over the the United States was certainly a course of their history-making feat. And Obama’s graduate studies. landslide victory over John McCain Carmen Mitchell’s in the November 2008 Presidential essays on the Ethan L. Caldwell Photo credit: Election carried that feat forward development of to mark a turning point in the “eBlack Studies” world. Not only is Obama the first provide further and diverse body of work. Lastly, African American elected to the examples of how our intellectual Professor Charles Henry’s essay American Presidency, but also in community involves itself in on anti-intellectualism in the 2008 doing so, he has become, arguably, numerous activities beyond the presidential election raises important the most powerful man in the world. campus. Shaun Ossei-Owusu’s considerations about the place This historic election presents essay on Black intellectuals was for intellectualism in a changing many opportunities for exciting thought provoking, indeed. It American political climate and new intellectual engagement in raises some important questions scene. If the outcome of the election African American Studies and the about the complex role and social is any indicator, Americans seem numerous fields and disciplines obligations of public intellectuals. I to prefer intellectualism in national through which the experiences was also fascinated to read Bryan K. politics over efforts to discount the of Africans, African Americans, Mason’s essay on Hoplology, which intelligence of the American people. and other African descendents are provides valuable insight into the Certainly Professor Henry’s essay studied. I am excited to be a part of Black martial arts tradition. And J. prepares us to grapple with this. this important moment in history. Finley’s narrative about her first trip Previous issues of this newsletter The work of my colleagues to continental Africa underscores the have benefited from the expertise of gathered in this issue of the Diaspora ways that the study of the African Glenn L Robertson. This issue is touches on a diverse array of Diaspora is capable of producing no exception. Therefore I extend research interests, covering subjects profound experiences both within my thanks to Glenn for his efforts and activities that I hope expand the and beyond the university campus. in turning what would have been perspective of the reader as much This issue of the Diaspora also merely a collection of short essays as they expanded mine. There are showcases the work of some of our and notes into the newsletter that several pieces in this issue alone Department’s faculty. Petra Rivera you hold in your hands. that are particularly interesting. and Jasminder Kaur’s respective For example, Robeson Taj Frazier’s essays on Professors Na’ilah Suad descriptions of his experiences Nasir and Janelle Scott introduce us studying and conducting research to two accomplished scholars who in Beijing and Hong Kong provide will continue to make important a meaningful connection to his contributions through their teaching pioneering research on the ways that and research on various aspects African American intellectuals have of African American education. interacted with China. Libby Lewis’ In addition, it was an enriching recount of some of her experience privilege to meet with Visiting as a doctoral student serves as Professor Joanne Braxton and to refreshing reminder of the value of make contact with her expansive

THE DIASPORA • Fall 2008 • PAGE 27 Summer Sessions 2009 Take Courses in African American Studies schedule.berkeley.edu

Freshman Composition (African American Studies R1A) with Aparajita Nanda African American Life and Culture in the United States (African American Studies 5B) with Lia Bascomb Film of the African Diaspora (African American Studies 119) with Leigh Raiford The Philosophy of Martin Luther King (African American Studies 124) with Charles Henry Black Visuality: A Crisis of Representation (African American Studies 139) with Ariane Cruz The Life and Legacy of Tupac Amaru Shakur (African American Studies 139) with Lisa Morris Scream, Queens, Ravishing Simians, and Missing Links: Race, Gender, and Simian Others in Cinema (African American Studies 139) with Zakiyyah Jackson Black Popular Music and Culture: From Be-Bop to Hip-Hop (African American Studies 159) with Rickey Vincent Popular Music and the African Diaspora in the Caribbean (African American Studies 159) with Petra Rivera

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