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Questions and Answers
According to the authors, what is the nature of White supremacy in Western societies?
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Why do the authors cite Mills and West at the outset?
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What is implied about Western liberal democracies in the context of White supremacy?
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What is the significance of the Enlightenment era in the context of White supremacy?
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What is a commonality between Mills, West, and African-centered scholars?
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What is implied about the role of hate groups in Western societies?
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What is the significance of citing African-centered scholars in the essay?
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What is a consequence of White supremacy, according to the authors?
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What is the tone of the authors' discussion of Western liberal democracies?
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What is the relationship between the Enlightenment era and Western thought?
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Who wrote the book 'Black Athena'?
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What is the title of the book written by William Wells Brown, an American slave?
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Which historian wrote about the rise of American civilization in a two-volume work?
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What is the title of the journal that published an article by A. Bekerie?
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Who wrote the book 'From Slavery to Freedom'?
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What is the title of the book written by Olaudah Equiano?
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Who edited the book 'Slave Testimony'?
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What is the title of the book written by C. Blockson?
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Who wrote the book 'Caste, Class and Race'?
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Which historian wrote 'How Did American Slavery Begin?'
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What is a key challenge for antiracism in relation to racial categories and designations?
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How do colonial/colonizing relationships maintain power hierarchies in society?
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What is a key aspect of critical antiracist practice?
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What is the significance of exposing power hierarchies in social relations structured along race and difference?
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What is implied about the relationship between race and social power?
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What is the goal of antiracism in relation to racial designations?
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How does antiracism approach the intersections of race and other forms of difference?
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What is implied about the nature of social power imbalances?
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What is the significance of understanding race-based power dynamics?
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What is the relationship between antiracism and the globalization of racism?
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Study Notes
Intellectual Analysis of Black Culture
- There are three schools of thought in intellectual analysis of Black culture: neoconservative, social democratic radical, and liberal-elite-cultural theorist
- Social democratic radicals draw from European intellectual leftist tradition, including Marx, Marcuse, Foucault, and others
- Scholars like Cornel West, Angela Davis, and Manning Marable adopt a universal "race," class, and gender analysis
- Liberal-elite-cultural theorists, such as Henry Louis Gates and K. Anthony Appiah, produce postmodernist literary theory
Afrocentric/African-centered School of Thought
- Focuses on classical African culture with an emphasis on ancient Egypt/Kemet
- Scholars like Cheikh Anta Diop, Theophile Obenga, Maulana Karenga, and Molefi Asante focus on wresting ancient African civilizations from Eurocentric scholarship
- Molefi Asante is a key African-centered theorist who promotes independence from European epistemology
- Asante responds to Cornel West's criticism, arguing that Black scholars should not fear their own truth and should overcome fear of White cultural domination
Critique of Eurocentric Canon
- African-centered scholars argue that adopting Eurocentric discourse prevents true freedom for Black thinkers
- White supremacy is seen as ingrained in Western thought and society, denying human potential to people of color globally
- It is not confined to outwardly racist societies or "hate group" activity, but is a systemic issue in Western societies since the Enlightenment era
Challenges in Researching Enslaved Africans
- Researching enslaved Africans is challenging due to the lack of records from their perspective, as they were not allowed to possess or use skills for recording their lives.
- Most historical documents are from the perspective of slave owners and those who benefited economically or socially from slave labor.
Bias in Historical Records
- Historical records are inherently biased, reflecting the subjugation of human beings.
- In the post-enslavement period, research focused on the perceived differences between African people and the Anglo population.
Early Attempts to Counter Scholarship
- Early attempts to counter scholarship that defined Africans as "problematic" in White society focused on how Africans in America were similar to persons of European descent.
- This thrust focused on how African people could "fit in" to White society.
Development of African Studies
- The discipline of African Studies was developed to counter the biased scholarship that defined Africans as "problematic".
- Key figures in the development of African Studies include William Leo Hansberry, Molefi Asante, and others.
Important Works in African Studies
- Important works in African Studies include "Afrocentricity: The Theory of Social Change" by Molefi Asante, "Yurugu: An African-Centered Critique of European Cultural Thought and Behavior" by Marimba Ani, and others.
- These works aim to provide an African-centered perspective on history, culture, and society.
Rejecting Fixed Meaning of Racial Designations
- Racial designations do not have fixed meanings and are related to social power imbalances.
- We should acknowledge the relationship between racial designations and social power imbalances without feeling the need to use quotation marks.
Critical Antiracist Work
- Critical antiracist work does not reproduce race and racism but accounts for and opposes race-based power dynamics.
- Antiracist practice is aware of the limits of subjecting the concept of race to neat theoretical discussions that serve to reify racist preconceptions.
- Antiracism works with the complexities of difference and challenges the totalizing pretensions of racial and racist discourses.
Intersectionality
- Antiracism must touch on the intersections of race, gender, class, sexuality, and other forms of difference.
- Black feminist theorists have articulated the importance of exploring intersections of difference.
Saliency of Race
- The concept of saliency of race acknowledges that race is often plainly marked on the body and assumes a stubborn saliency.
- Saliency is not about privileging one form of identity over another, but rather acknowledges skin color as a significant form of difference with respect to societal power distributions.
- Saliency affirms the necessity of a politics of recognition in antiracist practice.
Operationalizing Antiracism
- Antiracism makes local, regional, national, and international connections to create an awareness of the globalization of racism.
- The experiences of racism, colonialism, and imperialism have been manifested on local, regional, and international scales.
Complicating and Naming Race
- Antiracist practice must both "name" and "complicate" race.
- Fixed categories must be troubled as a necessary part of any intellectual exercise purporting to be antiracist.
- Theoretical tools and concepts for the study of race must enable us to expose power hierarchies in social relations structured along race and difference.
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Description
Chapter 6: Philosophy and Practice for Black Studies: The Case of Researching White Supremacy Chapter 7: Researching the Lives of the Enslaved: The State of the Scholarship Chapter 8: Antiracism: Theorizing in the Context of Perils and Desires
