We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting for: Pan-African Consciousness Raising and Organizing in the United States and Venezuela by Layla Dalal Zanele Sekou Brown-Vincent Department of Cultural Anthropology Duke University Date: _______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Diane M. Nelson, Supervisor ___________________________ Anne-Maria B. Makhulu ___________________________ Baiyina W. Muhammad ___________________________ Louise Meintjes Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, in the Department of Cultural Anthropology in the Graduate School of Duke University 2016 ABSTRACT We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting for: Pan-African Consciousness Raising and Organizing in the United States and Venezuela by Layla Dalal Zanele Sekou Brown-Vincent Department of Cultural Anthropology Duke University Date: _______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Diane M. Nelson, Supervisor ___________________________ Anne-Maria B. Makhulu ___________________________ Baiyina W. Muhammad ___________________________ Louise Meintjes Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, in the Department of Cultural Anthropology in the Graduate School of Duke University 2016 Copyright by Layla Dalal Zanele Sekou Brown-Vincent ABSTRACT This dissertation draws on fifteen months of field research accompanying organizers, participating in protests, planning/strategy meetings, state-run programs, academic conferences and everyday life in the United States and Venezuela. Through comparative examination of the processes through which African Diasporic peoples engage in processes of radicalization, this work deconstructs tendencies to deify political s/heroes of eras past. Using the framework of “encuentros,” as moments and spaces of encounter which facilitate dialogue, insurgent learning, collective research and analysis in moments of struggle, I position encounters as critical to the moments in which African Diasporic youth in particular, realize they are they ones they have been waiting for. The daily labor of determining what Black/African descended liberation and self- determination looks like, in its many facets, is the process of radicalization explored here. Through comparative analysis, I suggest the vertical structures of “capitalist representative democracy” dominating the U.S. political climate remain unyielding to critical analyses of social stratification based on race, gender, and class as articulated by Black youth. Conversely, I contend that present Venezuelan attempts to construct and fortify more horizontal structures of “popular democracy” under what Hugo Chávez termed 21st Century Socialism, have resulted in social fissures, allowing for a more dynamic and hopeful negation between Afro-Venezuelan youth and the state. Ultimately, I read the various manifestations of the ways in which Black/African descended youth organizing occurs in the context of their perpetual victimization by neoliberal, genocidal state-politics in the US, and in Venezuela, a state that has charged iv itself with the responsibility of radically improving the quality of life of all its citizens, as an example of a Pan-African praxis extant in 21st century global social movements. v For my grandmother, who transitioned before I began writing but whose spirit, grace, sophistication, understanding, and boundless love are the foundation of all that I am and hope to become. Many years ago you said to me, “you are going to be one educated lady when you’re finished.” I only hope it has made you proud! vi “Freedom and love may be the most revolutionary ideas available to us, and yet as intellectuals we have failed miserably to grapple with their political and analytical importance. I have come to realize that once we strip radical social movements down to their bare essence and understand the collective desires of people in motion, freedom and love lay at the very heart of the matter. Indeed, I would go so far as to say that freedom and love constitute the foundation for spirituality, another elusive and intangible force with which few scholars of social movements have come to terms.” ~ Robin D.G. Kelley “I have learned that a woman can be a fighter, a freedom fighter, a political activist, and she can fall in love and be loved. She can be married, have children, be a mother. Revolution must mean life also; every aspect of life.” ~ Leila Khaled vii CONTENTS Abstract ………………………………………………………………………………… iv Dedication ……………………………………………………………………………… vi Epigraphs ………………………………………………………………………………. vii List of Abbreviations ………………………………………………………………........ x List of Figures ………………………………………………………………………….. xi Acknowledgements …………………………………………………………………… xiii Preface: Encountering Venezuela, Funding My Voice …………………………………. 1 Finding Venezuela, Being Found ………………………………………………. 4 Finding My Voice ……………………………………………………………….21 Seein’ It for Wearin’ It: Methodological Concerns ……………………………………. 28 Gaining Access ………………………………………………………………….30 Collecting Data ………………………………………………………………… 34 Motives & Thoughts on this Comparative Project ……………………………...37 A Note on Naming Terminology………………………………………………………...44 Pan-African Encounters …………………………………………………………………51 The Network of AfroVenezuelans ………………………………………………52 The International Year for People of African Descent ………………………… 56 Haitian Connections: A Debt to be Repaid ……………………………………..59 Encountering Afro-Venezuelan Politics ………………………………………...61 Resolutions from the Encounter ……………………………………………… 67 More Terminology: Encuentro as Theoretical Intervention …………………………… 70 To Have the State on Your Side…………………………………………………………75 Setting the Stage for the Bolivarian Revolution ……………………………….. 78 Bolivarianismo, a 21st Century Socialist Nation Building Project ……………...81 Bolivarianismo in Pan-African Perspective …………………………………….85 Redefining Venezuelan Electoral Democracy ………………………………….92 Venezuela’s 2012 Presidential Election ………………………………………...96 Election Day, 2012 …………………………………………………………….101 Communal Councils …………………………………………………………...104 Chavismo and Feminism ………………………………………………………109 And for Afrodescended Women? …………………………………………….. 117 Political Economies of Race in two Americas ……………………………………… 121 viii Alejandro’s Story ………………………………………………………………125 Some Points for Comparison …………………………………………………..130 Census Politics and The Bolivarian Revolution ……………………………….138 Racial Encounters ……………………………………………………………...144 Fundayacucho ………………………………………………………………….161 Bearing Witness to the Weapon of History ……………………………………………169 Re-Centering the Narratives of Radical Black/Afro Women ………………………… 179 We Need New Names: Sketching A Pan-African Feminist Theory …………. 180 Stories of Pan-African Feminist Praxis ………………………………………. 188 Merlyn ………………………………………………………………… 188 Nirva …………………………………………………………………. 198 Roraima ……………………………………………………………….. 200 Luisa …………………………………………………………………... 202 An Intellectual Labor of Love …………………………………………………………206 Kinship Connections: My Momma and Daddy’s Civil Rights Movement ……………213 A Little on my Father’s Story ………………………………………………… 242 A Little More on my Uncle Bob ……………………………………………… 245 A Brief Meditation on Being Our Father’s Daughters ……………………….. 247 We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For: Intergenerational Concerns ………… 254 #BlackLivesMatter …………………………………………………………….261 I Did it Because I’m Free Bree’s Story ……………………………………… 264 In the Belly of the Beast: Making “Yo Parents’ Civil Rights Movement” Ours …….. 273 The Dream Defender’s Congress ……………………………………………. 287 Josh’s Story ………………………………………………………………….. 298 A Note on the Term Radical …………………………………………………………. 309 Some Conclusions on the Will to Love and Dream …………………………………. 312 Musical Epistemologies in the Movement for Black Lives …………………. 325 #IfIDieInPoliceCustody ………………………………………………………328 Using Anger In The Name of Love …………………………………………..332 References ……………………………………………………………………………322 ix LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS A-APRP All-African People’s Revolutionary Party AAWRU All African Women’s Revolutionary Union ALBA Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America ALD African Liberation Day BLM Black Lives Matter BPP Black Panther Party BYP Black Youth Project CORE Congress On Racial Equality CELAC Community of Latin American and Caribbean States HBCU Historically Black College or University SNCC Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee UPTBAL Universidad Politécnica Territorial de Barlovento Argelia Laya x LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 – Soy Afro Census Advertisement …………………………………………….48 Figure 2 – AfroEncuentro Advertisement ……………………………………………....51 Figure 3 – Garifuna Man Holding Child ………………………………………………..58 Figure 4 – Norma Romero………………………………………………………………64 Figure 5 – “Miko Mandante” ……………………………………………………….......75 Figure 6 – Police Shoot Obama Stimulus Chimp ………………………………………76 Figure 7 – Bolívar, Digital Sketch……………………………………………………...133 Figure 8 – Bolívar un 1837 …………………………………………………………….134 Figure 9 – Casta Painting ………………………………………………………………135 Figure 10 – “Nuestra Alegría” ..………………………………………………………..139 Figure 11 – “Mi Belleza” ………………………………………………………………140 Figure 12 – Angela’s Fro ………………………………………………………………141 Figure 13 – Venezuelan Riot Police …………………………………………………...144 Figure 14 – UPTBAL Graduation ……………………………………………………..165 Figure 15 – UPTBAL ………………………………………………………………….180 Figure 16 – Vargas State Institute for Women Logo ………………………………….190 Figure 17 – Klan Country ……………………………………………………………...221 Figure 18 – This Ain’t Yo Daddy’s Civil Rights Movement ………………………….257 Figure 19 – DD