Genealogies of Capture and Evasion: A Radical Black Feminist Meditation for Neoliberal Times By Lydia M. Kelow-Bennett B.A., University of Puget Sound, 2002 M.A., Georgetown University, 2011 A.M., Brown University, 2016 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctorate of Philosophy in the Department of Africana Studies at Brown University Providence, RI May 2018 © Copyright 2018 by Lydia Marie Kelow-Bennett This dissertation by Lydia M. Kelow-Bennett is accepted in its present form by the Department of Africana Studies as satisfying the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Date________________ ______________________________ Matthew Guterl, Advisor Recommended to the Graduate Council Date________________ ______________________________ Anthony Bogues, Reader Date________________ ______________________________ Françoise Hamlin, Reader Approved by the Graduate Council Date________________ ____________________________________ Andrew G. Campbell, Dean of the Graduate School iii [CURRICULUM VITAE] Lydia M. Kelow-Bennett was born May 13, 1980 in Denver, Colorado, the first of four children to Jerry and Judy Kelow. She received a B.A. in Communication Studies with a minor in Psychology from the University of Puget Sound in 2002. Following several years working in education administration, she received a M.A. in Communication, Culture and Technology from Georgetown University in 2011. She received a A.M. in Africana Studies from Brown University in 2016. Lydia has been a committed advocate for students of color at Brown, and served as a Graduate Coordinator for the Sarah Doyle Women’s Center for a number of years. She was a 2017-2018 Pembroke Center Interdisciplinary Opportunity Fellow, and will begin as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Afroamerican and African Studies at the University of Michigan in Fall 2018. Awards and Honors 2017-2018 Pembroke Center Interdisciplinary Opportunity Fellowship, Brown University Graduate School 2017 Alternate, Woodrow Wilson Dissertation Fellowship in Women’s Studies 2016-2017 Steinhaus/Zisson Research Grant, Pembroke Center, Brown University 2012 Honorable Mention, Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship 2011 Master’s Thesis with Distinction, Georgetown University Publications Book Chapters 2019. “Black Gender Revolution: The Insurgent Ground of Black Feminist Rage,” in Unknowable: Geography and Black Feminisms, ed. LaToya E. Eaves. [Forthcoming] Teaching Experience Brown University Instructor, Black Women Thinkers: Alternative Genealogies of Black Radical Thought, (Spring 2016) Academic Service 2015-2018 Graduate Student Coordinator, Sarah Doyle Women’s Center, Brown University 2016-2018 Co-organizer, This Bridge Called My Back Dissertation Writing Group, Brown University iv 2016-2018 Member, Advisory Board, Women of Color Leadership Project, National Women’s Studies Association 2016-2018 Member, Diversity Advisory Board, Brown University Graduate School 2016-2017 Graduate Community Fellow, Graduate School, Brown University 2016-2017 Departmental Graduate Representative, Africana Studies, Brown University 2013-2017 Member, Governing Council, National Women’s Studies Association 2013-2017 Co-Chair, Women of Color Caucus, National Women’s Studies Association 2015-2016 Co-organizer, “Pushing Borders: Imagining Difference and Belonging,” Mellon Graduate Workshop, Brown University 2013-2015 President, Nabrit Black Graduate Student Association, Brown University 2013-2014 Graduate Student Representative, Africana Studies, Brown Graduate Student Council, Brown University 2011-2013 Co-chair, Women of Color Leadership Project, National Women’s Studies Association v [ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS] This dissertation was written in early mornings, late nights, stolen moments, in notes, on note cards, on napkins, in a tape recorder, on my iPhone, and gazing into the eyes of my baby. This dissertation was written in defiance of people who thought I wasn’t a serious scholar. This dissertation was written in spite of, and because of, mom brain. This dissertation was written in spite of depression, and this dissertation is marked by depression, indelibly. This dissertation wears those scars with pride, even when I do not. This dissertation was slow to start, quick to finish, and a pleasure in the middle because this dissertation was part of the reason I am here "doing what I came to do." This dissertation got me out of bed every morning when I was at my worst. This dissertation looked like me stepping into my power, finding out how powerful my voice is, breathing and writing every kind of love I can eke out of ink, addressed to Black people across our differences. This dissertation was written because I needed it in order to survive. Not because the academy lets me survive, but because I had time, and a mission, and words, so I wrote them and they constituted a dissertation—and I lived. This dissertation was written because there is so much left to say, and so much love to still write, and so many words we still have yet to read and to hear and I wanted to be a drop in that ocean. This dissertation was written because I want us to live, and I still believe that we can, if we take these words, and those words, and your words, and my words, and all of our words, and build a world of words and actions and love that can withstand the destruction of this moment. This dissertation was written because people loved me into it. This dissertation was written because people loved me through it. This dissertation was written because I learned to love myself into it. This dissertation was written. I thank Spirit and my ancestors for the paths they have laid before me in this program and beyond. I am grateful for your protection, for guiding me and working on my behalf to bring beauty and abundance into my life, for teaching me how to work in ways totally other than what we see each day. I am grateful for all of the sacrifices, hands that worked, bodies that broke and bled, and spirits that refused to be bowed. I carry you with me always. I am the fruit of a family that values critical thinking and education. The oldest of four siblings, but by no means the smartest, I am indebted to my parents, Judy and Jerry Kelow, who instilled in me a love of reading, writing and learning at an early age. Your intentional care for my mind has paid dividends. I hope that you are proud of me, even if you don’t always agree with me J. Thank you for loving me. To my siblings, Andrew, Hannah and Simon. I am so proud of each of you, of the ways that you have manifested your talents in the world. It has been a pleasure to grow up with such smart (ass? J) siblings. You each challenge me to learn, think, grow, and be a better person. Thank you for loving me. I am grateful to the many people who have walked with me through this journey called graduate school. To my committee, Matt Guterl, Anthony Bogues, and Françoise Hamlin, vi thank you for seeing me through. A special thanks Matt Guterl, my advisor, for making roads of possibility for me to stay in school and to pursue this work. I am grateful for your patience along this road. And special thanks to Tony Bogues, you will forever be the teacher I aspire to be. Your care in pedagogy and your humanizing praxis is a precious gift and I am grateful for the time I have spent under your tutelage. To Ms. Deborah in the Department of Africana Studies, thank you for always being a place of peace and love in a storm of something entirely other. Thank you for the chocolate, and the paperwork, and the hugs. They got me through. To the amazing other-mothers who have watched and cared for my son through this process, this dissertation simply would not exist without you. Phoebe, Sage, Sani, and Hannah, you all have blessed me in ways that I am not able to put into words. Thank you for your loving, consistent care of Amir and of me, for exposing him to the wide and beautiful world around us, for nurturing his love of dogs and the outdoors, gardening and good food, movies, ice cream, soul music, all music, sun, rain and snow. You all taught me one of the hardest and most important lessons of mothering: to trust a community with your precious ones. Thank you for loving Amir, and therefore loving me. To my community of love and light, thank you for seeing me, believing in me, and for not allowing me to give up. I am indebted to many, many people who gave me care and love along the way, including Majida Kargbo, Akoto Ofori-Atta, Mara Jones-Branch, Anne Gray-Fisher, Erika Alexander Brown, Caryl Nuñez, Desiree Bailey, Jazzmen Johnson, Prabhdeep Kehal, Jonathan Cortez, Anna Thomas, Lily Mengesha, Felicia Bevel, Linda Quiquivix, Suzanne Enzerink, Adé, Chris Zizzamia, Estebán Roncancio, Aimee Grause, Jessica Pineda, and Molly Smith among many others. I am also deeply indebted to a community of magical mentors and sista-scholars through the National Women’s Studies Association that have encouraged my growth and survival in ways big and small, ever since 2009. All of my love and thanks go to Michele Berger, who started me on this path; Kaye Wise Whitehead, my favorite partner in social change; Nana Osei-Kofi, world traveler, speaker of truths and corrector-of-records J ; Yi-Chun Tricia Lin, who has taught me that mentoring is the survival of revolutionary change; Vivian Ng, whose wisdom overflows; Beverly Guy-Sheftall, who makes mentoring look like a joy; Barbara Ransby, who reminds me that our work is community accountable; Aishah Shahidah Simmons, who reminds me that love is accountable. I am also indebted to a number of beautiful friends and colleagues I see each year at NWSA and other conferences, who have offered encouragement, love and care along the way: Stephanie Troutman, Shaeeda Mensah, Adela Licona, Mel Lewis, LaToya Eaves, Lisa Covington, Anya Wallace, Ashleigh Greene Wade, Jenn Jackson, Nikki Lane, and Courtney Marshall: seeing you each year lifts my spirit and reminds me that our work is wide, far, and fierce.