Introduction Incorporating Black Political Economy Into Black Studies (original) (raw)
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The purpose of this course is to explore what has been called "democratic community economics" (Jessica Gordon-Nembhard) and its relevance for addressing deep, persistent political-economic problems in African American Communities. The focus will be on a set of alternative institutional arrangements including producer and consumer cooperatives, community development credit unions and community land trusts and specifically their deep roots in African American politics, their various current manifestations, and their potential contemporary policy relevance for promoting inclusive sustainable, local, community development. In the nature of the case, this course is somewhat experimental. Why? Because Gordon-Nembhard persuasively complains that democratic community economics generally is neglected in programs in African-American Studies (to say nothing of Political Science or Economics). While her challenge is our inspiration, we will be basically making things up as we go along. Class Format: This is a strange time. It is an anxiety producing time. And a frustrating time. My aim in the class is to support you as you try to navigate the strangeness, anxiety and frustration so you can learn and move toward your degree. If at any time you need to rant or vent or just talk about the strangeness, anxiety and frustration, or anything else, we can arrange to do that. Reach out. Until further notice we will hold all group meetings remotely-via your favorite platform, Zoom. Why? Because the UR President has decreed it so. But also, given my age I am in an especially susceptible population covid-wise. Yes, even as a fully vaxed + boosted person. I hope to have our meetings be largely discussion based rather than lectures. We can talk about how to navigate that via Zoom at our early meetings. Here please note this: On-Line Etiquette: Several things I will insist on. (1) Mute your mic except when speaking. (2) Cameras on!-No Avatars or blacked out screens, please. I will ask you to reveal yourself if you are hiding! (3) Use the chat function to raise questions or get in the queue to speak. (4) Feel free to interrupt me if you need clarification or whatever. (5) As you speak, don't just address me; talk to one another. If you are not in Rochester and have time-shift problems due to being in another time zone, let me know. I will record all the zoom sessions and upload them to Blackboard for your viewing pleasure. The bottom line however is that class attendance is not optional. I also will ask you to each meet me one-on-one four times over the course of the term. We can do these meetings during office hours or can schedule them to accommodate your schedule. At the outset these will be 'virtual' encounters-at least until whenever everything might return to in-person. Each meeting will last 20-30 minutes. I understand that for some of you this will seem like a daunting prospect. I am not trying to terrorize you! Instead, this is an opportunity for me to make contact and check in with you about how you are doing in the course and otherwise. I hope you will think of these meetings more like a conversation than as an interrogation. More on this on day one of the class. READINGS: The required reading for this course is difficult, it is diverse, and there is a lot of it. Moreover, none of the reading is presented in predigested textbook form. In both senses the reading load for this course might seem totally unreasonable! It is. My excuse is that the problems we will be addressing are crucially important and complex. I also respect you students enough to not dumb the material down to the lowest common denominator. It is imperative that you do the reading and that you do so prior to class. I have ordered books (marked *) at the University Bookstore. But because I cannot tell whether any of you will actually be on campus, all also are readily available from your preferred e-purveyor. I've also asked for them to be on reserve at Rush Rhees. I will make the other readings available via a course Blackboard page. A number of the assigned readings are, as is clear from the syllabus, available directly on line-I have indicated where this is the case. A rough (aspirational!) schedule for the semester is at the end of the syllabus. I expect you to do the assigned reading prior to coming to class. https://www.epi.org/blog/the-racial-wealth-gap-how-african-americans-have-been-shortchanged-out-ofthe-materials-to-build-wealth/
Office Phone: 858-822-5118 Office Hours: Wednesdays 10:30-Noon & 1:00-2:30pm and by appointment. " Are American Negroes simply the creation of white men, or have they at least helped to create themselves out of what they found around them? Men have made a way of life in caves and upon cliffs, why cannot Negroes have made a life upon the horns of the white man's dilemma? " —Ralph Ellison (An American1944) Course Description and Overview The aim of this course is to develop a general reading knowledge of the traditions, contexts, and trajectories of Black intellectual discourse during the 20 th Century, particularly from the time of the Great Migration of African Americans from the rural South to the urban North. The emphasis will be placed on foundational texts in the field, yet students can expect to engage a wide range of works representing the diversity of Black thought in the 20th Century. The work of contemporary historians and other scholars (secondary sources) will provide background and context to supplement our reading of the foundational texts (primary sources) in the field. In the course we will trace the continuities and disjunctures in the texts produced by Black intellectuals in the so-called American century. Taking our cue from the questions Ralph Ellison posed back in 1944, we will explore how Black writers and political figures have fashioned unique sets of ideas and arguments aimed at addressing the condition of being Black in an anti-Black society—ideas and arguments that often focused on the question of identity and the meaning of freedom. This course has four specific objectives: 1. To further develop students' critical study of American culture and history through an interdisciplinary examination of such important topics as race and racism, class and economic inequality, gender and sexism, and how what we in the academy say about these topics matters. 2. To introduce students to the key terms of debate in the study of African American thought and culture(s) and to chart the significant impact of Black intellectual discourses on U.S. institutions, communities, and individuals. 3. To expose students to a wide range of writers and speakers in the Black intellectual tradition in order to aid you in developing well-grounded approaches to the study of the history of ideas and the social role of intellectuals in modern American society 4. To guide students in strengthening their skills at " reading " American society and history, with the aim of being able to write well-formed essays based on their " readings. "
2010
Front cover illustration: Covers of books about African American Studies. For full citations see references, page 14. 1. Black intellectual history, including ongoing research on the current state of Black Studies through surveys, case studies, comparative studies of other ethnic studies units, and so on 2. Interdisciplinary study of the Black American Experience 3. Global connections and diaspora dialogues 4. Application, that is, putting theory into practice, particularly through 5. Creative use of new technologies. Led by Professor Abdul Alkalimat, the production of this report has been an interesting and instructive collaboration among faculty members and students at the University of Illinois based in African American Studies, the Graduate School of Library and Information Sciences, and the Department of Education Policy, Organization and Leadership in the College of Education. It represents a model not i only for collective research but how the intellectual resources of faculty and students in African American Studies-both graduate students and advanced undergraduates-could be rallied to produce more information that is valuable to the field as a whole. In 1968, the year before Black Studies was first established at the University of Illinois, W. E. B. Du Bois wrote about the research task of higher education in supporting the development of Black America. Referencing his own words from 1935, he said: "Instead of the occasional snapshots of [African American] social conditions which was the social study of yesterday, we must aim at a continuously moving picture of ever increasing range and accuracy" (Du Bois 1968, page 312). This report is just one response to his call.
C19 Bi-Annual Conference Presentation: In Search of the Black University
Students of color and conscience across the country wonder today if higher education is able to meet their demands for black knowledge produced by black people. For anyone familiar with the nineteenth century history of universities and twentieth century movements to radicalize them, this is an alternately thrilling and sobering fact. For we can and should recognize that student movements for diversity, inclusion, and curricular change are taking us not only back to the 1960s but to America's 19 th century racial history. They are making that history real and necessary and indispensable, bringing it home to roost within the very infrastructure that produces knowledge about the nineteenth century: the twenty first century academy. " Abolition, " increasingly used an antiracist trope on college campuses, and institutional structures of racial inequality are with us again today within the university because they unfolded within the university and it structure of knowledge creation their 19 th century forms. Abolition, I now believe, should be understood not so much as a public sphere that happened to employ contemporary national and local markets of print media but an insurgent, improvisional attempt to create an alternative educational space—a para-university-that employed mass media and community forums because and when formalized curricula and degrees fails racial justice. In the 1960s, activists like Nikki Giovanni would be called a " black
The gift of Chaos: An opportunity for the Nation’s Black Economists
The Review of Black Political Economy, 1996
This address presents a strategy for black economists, who can serve as catalysts for thoughtful discussions about future directions for our nation. The strategy is posed for two areas: health care and affirmative action policy.
Excavating for economics in africana studies
2008
For 30 years, Africana Studies has developed as an interdisciplinary field. Although much attention has been paid within the field to the humanities and arts, much less has been paid to the social sciences, particularly economics. This analysis documents the presence of economists and economics course content among Africana Studies programs. The authors also discuss the presence of economists and economic content among leading general interest journals in Africana Studies and of economics content in several influential Africana Studies texts. Only 1.72% of the faculty members in leading Africana Studies departments are economists, and economics course content among Africana Studies programs is anemic. Also, there is little economics content in Africana journals, particularly peer-reviewed journals. Recommendations include incorporating accessible economics texts into course reading lists; encouraging African American students to take economics, calculus, and statistics; teaching statistics and economic theory in the context of course content; and adding economists to the editorial boards of Black Studies journals.