alexis P gumbs - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by alexis P gumbs
Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism, Apr 1, 2019
These are songs of oceanic longing taught to me in waking dreams by my grandmothers. Boda, my Ash... more These are songs of oceanic longing taught to me in waking dreams by my grandmothers. Boda, my Ashanti grandmother who survived the Middle Passage and became mother of our Anguillian generations. Nunánuk, my collective Shinnecock grandmothers who witnessed whales beaching themselves on the Long Island shore as a survival offering to their whole community. Augusta Carty/Red Gussie, granddaughter of shipwrecked Irish born in Anguilla, mother out of wedlock to nine children, the last of which wasmy grandfather. My Jamaican grandmothers, Joyce, Eugenia, Rebecca, Georgianna, Sarah. And the unnamed who speak anyway. My process for listening to all of these grandmothers was consistent. I listened daily to the recorded songs of whales underwater. I wrote daily with short phrases written or spoken by the Jamaican theorist Sylvia Wynter. This is part of what happened. These pieces are excerpts my forthcoming book with Duke University Press, Dub: Finding Ceremony.
Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora, Mar 1, 2017
Northwestern University Press eBooks, Apr 15, 2022
Duke University Press eBooks, Nov 9, 2016
McGill-Queen's University Press eBooks, May 15, 2022
Black Scholar, Apr 3, 2022
The Langston Hughes review, Mar 1, 2022
Feminist Formations, 2017
Duke University Press eBooks, Nov 9, 2016
What we know-Sports wagering is not unique in terms of problem gambling.-Setting limits seems to ... more What we know-Sports wagering is not unique in terms of problem gambling.-Setting limits seems to moderate betting patterns.-Responsible Gaming practices can be initiated by companies as well as by individual customers.-In aggregate, the dynamics of "adaption" to new gaming opportunities can be expected to apply. What we don't know-There is a dearth of research on sports betting and responsible gaming.
Ecotone, 2017
CONTEXT 1 a volcano. a mountain in the ocean. hot. connected to the core. emerges and burns into ... more CONTEXT 1 a volcano. a mountain in the ocean. hot. connected to the core. emerges and burns into islands. with coral. that's where they took us. to where breathing underwater meets the fire within. and once there, rocks. bones. shells. everything breaking until it could seem soft and sharp at the same time. until it could get in through pores and poverty and screens and wood. until it could get into the food the air the traveled history. broken. and on the shoreline, nothing. not much. nothing but a patch you clear with burrs and pricks to get baptized. and all the buildings in the middle where the dry dust called for rain. and in the valley, all the money and the sun-scorched myth of safety and the lightskinned people of ten names taking each other again and again. and on the skin, the salt of centuries. and in the spit, the salt of centuries. and in the blood, the salt of centuries, the tears. we require a story not measured in years. begin. alexis pauline gumbs map All footnotes refer to Jamaican theorist Sylvia Wynter's "Ethno or Sociopoetics," published in Alcheringa / Ethnopoetics 2, 1976, and "No Humans Involved: An Open Letter to My Colleagues," published in Voices of the African Diaspora 8.2, 1992, which are the source texts for the titles.
American Book Review, 2010
Soundings, Aug 1, 2021
Those who survived in the underbellies of boats, under each other under unbreathable circumstance... more Those who survived in the underbellies of boats, under each other under unbreathable circumstances, are the undrowned. Their breathing did not make them individual survivors. It made a context of undrowning. Breathing in unbreathable circumstances is what we still do every day in the chokehold of racial gendered ableist capitalism. We are still undrowning. And this 'we' doesn't only mean people whose ancestors survived the middle passage, because the scale of our breathing is planetary. These meditations inspired by encounters with marine mammals are an offering towards the possibility that instead of continuing the trajectory of slavery, entrapment, separation and domination, and making our atmosphere unbreathable, we might instead practise another way to breathe. And because our marine mammal kindred are amazing at not drowning, they are called on as teachers, mentors, guides: the task of a marine mammal apprentice is to open up space for wondering together, and identifying with. The first meditation explores how we can listen across species, across extinction, across the harm that humans have inflicted on other mammals as well as each other. The second explores how we can learn different ways to breathe. The third considers what we remember and what we forget, how we name and categorise what we can barely observe, how we cage, categorise and destroy marine mammals, and what we can learn from the lives of those that have survived.
Topia: The Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies, Apr 1, 2023
This essay brings together the writing of Audre Lorde and Dionne Brand and their responses to the... more This essay brings together the writing of Audre Lorde and Dionne Brand and their responses to their visits, decades apart to the dungeons of Elmina. The essay proposes that Elmina Castle and the other forts used for the purposes of trading enslaved Africans can be understood as particle accelerators because of their reduction of key components of communities into individuals for sale. The word “particular” in the writing and speaking of Lorde and Brand offer us a poetics beyond individuality.
Departures in Critical Qualitative Research, 2017
Ladeedah is an audio novella that takes place in a Black utopic space after “the improvised revol... more Ladeedah is an audio novella that takes place in a Black utopic space after “the improvised revolution.” Ladeedah is a tone-deaf, rhythm-lacking Black girl in a world where everyone dances and sings at all times. What is Ladeedah's destiny as a quiet, clumsy genius in a society where movement and sound are the basis of the social structure and the definition of freedom? This excerpt from Ladeedah focuses on Ladeedah's attempts to understand the meaning of revolution from her own perspectives—at home, at school, and in her own mind and body.
Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism, Mar 1, 2017
you cannot carry this in here, a voice said. and she knew it meant her gorgeous leather luggage f... more you cannot carry this in here, a voice said. and she knew it meant her gorgeous leather luggage filled with grief. and her recently polished, frequently restained vanity case of violences received and held like love notes. but this is who I am, she said. offering her matching identification, stamped with lies. this is who I am. she repeated, trusting the documentation that had gotten her through everything so far. and there was no answer except for her blood and her breathing, quick with the beat of how much she had paid already. except for her back stiff with how she could not could not turn back around. and so she stood there, at the border, with not so much as a plastic chair to support her detainment. with only her shiny suitcases as witness. packed completely full with gently rolled up excuses. she stood there at the border. a line drawn in sand. and the desert blew itself around her. she stood there at the border while the tide advanced. she stood there at the border. and then she took a deep breath, pushed both empty hands forward and swam.
Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism, Apr 1, 2019
These are songs of oceanic longing taught to me in waking dreams by my grandmothers. Boda, my Ash... more These are songs of oceanic longing taught to me in waking dreams by my grandmothers. Boda, my Ashanti grandmother who survived the Middle Passage and became mother of our Anguillian generations. Nunánuk, my collective Shinnecock grandmothers who witnessed whales beaching themselves on the Long Island shore as a survival offering to their whole community. Augusta Carty/Red Gussie, granddaughter of shipwrecked Irish born in Anguilla, mother out of wedlock to nine children, the last of which wasmy grandfather. My Jamaican grandmothers, Joyce, Eugenia, Rebecca, Georgianna, Sarah. And the unnamed who speak anyway. My process for listening to all of these grandmothers was consistent. I listened daily to the recorded songs of whales underwater. I wrote daily with short phrases written or spoken by the Jamaican theorist Sylvia Wynter. This is part of what happened. These pieces are excerpts my forthcoming book with Duke University Press, Dub: Finding Ceremony.
Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora, Mar 1, 2017
Northwestern University Press eBooks, Apr 15, 2022
Duke University Press eBooks, Nov 9, 2016
McGill-Queen's University Press eBooks, May 15, 2022
Black Scholar, Apr 3, 2022
The Langston Hughes review, Mar 1, 2022
Feminist Formations, 2017
Duke University Press eBooks, Nov 9, 2016
What we know-Sports wagering is not unique in terms of problem gambling.-Setting limits seems to ... more What we know-Sports wagering is not unique in terms of problem gambling.-Setting limits seems to moderate betting patterns.-Responsible Gaming practices can be initiated by companies as well as by individual customers.-In aggregate, the dynamics of "adaption" to new gaming opportunities can be expected to apply. What we don't know-There is a dearth of research on sports betting and responsible gaming.
Ecotone, 2017
CONTEXT 1 a volcano. a mountain in the ocean. hot. connected to the core. emerges and burns into ... more CONTEXT 1 a volcano. a mountain in the ocean. hot. connected to the core. emerges and burns into islands. with coral. that's where they took us. to where breathing underwater meets the fire within. and once there, rocks. bones. shells. everything breaking until it could seem soft and sharp at the same time. until it could get in through pores and poverty and screens and wood. until it could get into the food the air the traveled history. broken. and on the shoreline, nothing. not much. nothing but a patch you clear with burrs and pricks to get baptized. and all the buildings in the middle where the dry dust called for rain. and in the valley, all the money and the sun-scorched myth of safety and the lightskinned people of ten names taking each other again and again. and on the skin, the salt of centuries. and in the spit, the salt of centuries. and in the blood, the salt of centuries, the tears. we require a story not measured in years. begin. alexis pauline gumbs map All footnotes refer to Jamaican theorist Sylvia Wynter's "Ethno or Sociopoetics," published in Alcheringa / Ethnopoetics 2, 1976, and "No Humans Involved: An Open Letter to My Colleagues," published in Voices of the African Diaspora 8.2, 1992, which are the source texts for the titles.
American Book Review, 2010
Soundings, Aug 1, 2021
Those who survived in the underbellies of boats, under each other under unbreathable circumstance... more Those who survived in the underbellies of boats, under each other under unbreathable circumstances, are the undrowned. Their breathing did not make them individual survivors. It made a context of undrowning. Breathing in unbreathable circumstances is what we still do every day in the chokehold of racial gendered ableist capitalism. We are still undrowning. And this 'we' doesn't only mean people whose ancestors survived the middle passage, because the scale of our breathing is planetary. These meditations inspired by encounters with marine mammals are an offering towards the possibility that instead of continuing the trajectory of slavery, entrapment, separation and domination, and making our atmosphere unbreathable, we might instead practise another way to breathe. And because our marine mammal kindred are amazing at not drowning, they are called on as teachers, mentors, guides: the task of a marine mammal apprentice is to open up space for wondering together, and identifying with. The first meditation explores how we can listen across species, across extinction, across the harm that humans have inflicted on other mammals as well as each other. The second explores how we can learn different ways to breathe. The third considers what we remember and what we forget, how we name and categorise what we can barely observe, how we cage, categorise and destroy marine mammals, and what we can learn from the lives of those that have survived.
Topia: The Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies, Apr 1, 2023
This essay brings together the writing of Audre Lorde and Dionne Brand and their responses to the... more This essay brings together the writing of Audre Lorde and Dionne Brand and their responses to their visits, decades apart to the dungeons of Elmina. The essay proposes that Elmina Castle and the other forts used for the purposes of trading enslaved Africans can be understood as particle accelerators because of their reduction of key components of communities into individuals for sale. The word “particular” in the writing and speaking of Lorde and Brand offer us a poetics beyond individuality.
Departures in Critical Qualitative Research, 2017
Ladeedah is an audio novella that takes place in a Black utopic space after “the improvised revol... more Ladeedah is an audio novella that takes place in a Black utopic space after “the improvised revolution.” Ladeedah is a tone-deaf, rhythm-lacking Black girl in a world where everyone dances and sings at all times. What is Ladeedah's destiny as a quiet, clumsy genius in a society where movement and sound are the basis of the social structure and the definition of freedom? This excerpt from Ladeedah focuses on Ladeedah's attempts to understand the meaning of revolution from her own perspectives—at home, at school, and in her own mind and body.
Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism, Mar 1, 2017
you cannot carry this in here, a voice said. and she knew it meant her gorgeous leather luggage f... more you cannot carry this in here, a voice said. and she knew it meant her gorgeous leather luggage filled with grief. and her recently polished, frequently restained vanity case of violences received and held like love notes. but this is who I am, she said. offering her matching identification, stamped with lies. this is who I am. she repeated, trusting the documentation that had gotten her through everything so far. and there was no answer except for her blood and her breathing, quick with the beat of how much she had paid already. except for her back stiff with how she could not could not turn back around. and so she stood there, at the border, with not so much as a plastic chair to support her detainment. with only her shiny suitcases as witness. packed completely full with gently rolled up excuses. she stood there at the border. a line drawn in sand. and the desert blew itself around her. she stood there at the border while the tide advanced. she stood there at the border. and then she took a deep breath, pushed both empty hands forward and swam.