#africana studies

[innocentamusements]

‘Black Antagonism,’ from Scenes of Subjection, by Saidiya Hartman

[shanteparadigm]

This was such a great panel at University of Minnesota in September 2023. Watch us get down, here.

[fishandshesmygills]

i hope the liberal arts education never dies. everyone should get the chance to dabble in classics on their way to their science degree

[thebreakfastgenie]

I have often thought African American history should be a required part of the college curriculum but then I've been like well I don't want to inflict students who don't care on the professors but I do actually think the course I took on African American history in the Civil Rights era should be required for government/political science majors specifically, at least if you're concentrating in American government/politics. It's kind of a crucial part of the history and landscape.

[corvusclearing]

I miss the days when I had time to just go sit in a library and deep dive into my special interests. 📚📖

[rollercoasterwords]

hello! i was just thinking abt thtf (as one does) and i remembered your focus on colonization when dorcas talked abt her heritage and how in ur notes u mentioned that it was something to do with your major or something u were learning about? sorry if i got that wrong it’s been a while since i read it, but that just seems soooo interesting to me and i love the way u write it!! so i was just wondering what ur major is/was? if thats something you’d be willing to share <3 xxx

yeah sure! i studied international studies & history as an undergrad & that’s what my bachelor’s degree is in; my area focus was latin america which is where a lot of the postcolonial stuff was coming from—not sure what it’s like elsewhere but in the u.s. if ur studying like. asia, latin america, or africa in history/i.s. depts learning abt colonization is pretty unavoidable for obvious reasons. my impression is that there is perhaps less of a chance of encountering colonial/postcolonial perspectives if ur focusing on u.s. or european history, but it kinda depends on what ur studying…there’s definitely a bit of a split in more “traditional” veins of scholarship (wwii, medieval history, ancient greece & rome, western civ, etc) vs “area studies” where scholars have kinda fought to recognize the full scope & impact of colonization, which is then slowly incorporated more into “traditional” areas of study—like studying u.s. & european history should, realistically, entail at least some study of colonial histories, but universities tend to be pretty conservative lol & history & poli sci (of which i.s. is a subset) are particularly notorious for hanging onto their notions of traditionalism.

anyway. i’m now in grad school for gender studies broadly but most of the work i do currently is pretty historical & if i do go on to do a phd it’ll likely be in history—i ended up moving away from i.s. bc there was just too much about the field that i disliked & even tho history definitely comes w its own set of problems it ended up being a better fit for me. if ur interested in learning more abt colonialism, postcolonial studies, anti-imperialism, etc then there’s a broad variety of fields u could look into—history, anthropology, international studies, etc. it has less to do with the field & more to do w the specific scholars/professors in that field; i also would definitely not overlook departments like africana studies, gender studies, latin american studies, etc. many universities in the u.s. have these smaller “area studies” depts. that sometimes only offer minors & are made up solely of professors who are cross-listed w other depts, but they tend to be much more interdisciplinary & often have the kind of people doing work that focuses on the impact of colonization etc in their area of research. like the queer theory course i took as an undergrad introduced me to a lot more anti-imperialist writing than like my intro international studies class lmao

[linoguy]

having to choose a major.. eye twitch

[fleshprocessor]

it fucking sucks that uni work prevents me from learning abt my interests that require actual effort to engage with. which is kind of my own fault but i usually play video games as an alternative to doing Literally Nothing and if i actively feel like researching smth i have to be doing reading/assignments ☹️ <- face of world's most tragic faggot

[jewish-vents]

I got so tired of one of Intro to Public Speaking professor constantly implying I'm a colonizer that I did my final speech on my family's genealogy. We are documented in the area that is now Israel/Palestine going back to at least 1702, likely further. How can you "colonize" the only place you've ever lived? How can you "colonize" your own house? I watched my professor's teeth grind and his jaw set as he grew more and more annoyed with me. Other than my mom, who is from Serbia, the only other outside ancestor I have who moved to the area instead of being from it was 1894, and she was from Lebanon.

I used to love this professor. I helped campaign and get signatures so he could start an African American Studies minor at this university. I backed him up when students were racist to him and the Dean of Students needed witnesses to confirm it. I filed a complaint myself when my French professor called him a term I won't repeat here. I have never missed a day of class. I take copious notes. When he would assign essays on films we watched in Intro To Africana Studies, I wouldn't half-ass it, I would easily clear double the word count he asked for, every time. When he mentioned wanting to go camping in an area, I explained to him that there's a Neo Nazi compound in the woods near there and they killed a black Forest Service worker a few years ago, because as someone from out of state, he had no idea what danger he was walking into. I wanted him to be safe and happy and live a good life. He helped me learn so much in such a short span of time and he always had book recommendations and more ideas to share that he hadn't gotten to in class.

I don't recognize the him I see now, gritting his teeth, angry because after a semester of him saying Jewish people aren't indigenous to Israel, I laid out the facts in front of him. A lot of being Jewish is grieving the loss of people to antisemitism. We lose our friends. We lose family. And we lose the person someone was before they let hate into their hearts, the educator who seemed almost like an older brother, the kindhearted person who wanted to fight inequality.

And then we just have to deal with it. Just accept that we've lost someone, again, and again, and again, on repeat, endlessly, and try not to let it impact us because if we do, the goyim assure us it's not that serious. Which is interesting, because when things actually aren't serious? No one needs to tell me. It always feels like a suspicious specific denial, every time.

Losing people because your family's history goes against propaganda's rewriting of history is a surreal experience. But sometimes losses are necessary. I'm not going to lie about our lives to make one man feel comfortable, even if he used to be a friend.

.

[archaic-stranger]

the africana studies students

a multidisciplinary approach, combining politics and ecology, history and economics

learning about everything from precolonial african nations to the roots of the civil rights movement in the americas

tracing the african diaspora across oceans and through continents

reading foundational works by W. E. B. Du Bois and Carter Woodson

examining race and anti-Blackness on a global scale

a strong sense of self, knowing who you are and where you came from

understanding the power of identity

a haphazard pile of textbooks and paperbacks

a passion for activism that transcends and informs your studies

learning sociological methods to examine the world around you

using what you learn in class to inform your view on world events

challenging eurocentric tellings of history

an overflowing bookbag, complete with your favorite pens and highlighters

colorful textiles, skillfully woven

spotting loan words from yoruba or swahili in your own language

imagining humanity's roots in the home of our most ancient ancestors

a stack of bright post-its to color-code your notes

fighting for the restoration of stolen artifacts

deconstructing the colonial past to better understand the present

finding connections through history and across fields

[shanteparadigm]

Click the link above to register for free (both online and in person)

[new-dinosaurs]

Marocortyx Zelenkov, 2024 (new genus)

(Type humerus [upper arm bone] of Marocortyx africana [scale bar = 10 mm], from Zelenkov, 2024)

Meaning of name: Marocortyx = Morocco Ortyx [defunct genus name for the northern bobwhite, now in the genus Colinus]

Species included: M. africana (type species, previously in Plioperdix), M. novaki (previously in Palaeocryptonyx)

Age: Pliocene (Piacenzian)

Where found: Ahl al Oughlam, Casablanca-Settat, Morocco and Las Higueruelas, Castilla–La Mancha, Spain

Notes: Marocortyx was a phasianid, a group that includes chickens, partridges, and turkeys. In particular, it appears to have been closely related to Afro-Eurasian quails and rock partridges. The two named species of Marocortyx were previously assigned to different extinct phasianid genera, but a new study finds that they are more similar to one another, and reclassifies both of them in a new genus. In fact, the two species are so similar to each other that they may actually represent a single species, the main difference being that M. africana was slightly larger than M. novaki.

Reference: Zelenkov, N.V. 2024. The diversity and evolution of quails and allies (Aves: Galliformes: Phasianidae: Coturnicini) in the Miocene–Early Pleistocene of Eurasia. Paleontological Journal 58: 1089–1193.

[thebreakfastgenie]

Seeing James Baldwin as like "the guy from that gay web weave quote" on tumblr is so weird. I was assigned The Fire Next Time in my African-American history class in college. That's how I think of him.

[widefuturesss]

Some advice on facilitating educational spaces

Someone mailed me with this question:  I’ve noticed that many young people in the community of New York feel disengaged and disoriented when it comes to liberating our black minds and improving our communities. This year, I took on the challenge of leading my Africana Studies Club during my final year of high school. I worked tirelessly, making announcements and organizing events, but we only managed to keep three consistent members. I’m curious about why our youth seem so uninterested. I would love to hear from you and learn more about how you captivate your listeners and inspire them.

A summary of my response: My advice is to root your gatherings more within a need for collectivisation beyond any emphasis on intellectual knowledge transactions. I noticed that opening space for people to gather and express themselves is a necessity first. Usually, by centering emotions as the primary source of knowledge within a space, you find people will feel less pressured by intellectual language. The real magic starts here. They need to know the knowledge that is within their intuition, and once that comfort to space sets in, watch this seed expand into roots as each person will draw another person who will draw another person into the space. Understand that size and numbers don't really matter when we acknowledge that there is the unseen collective made up of both our ancestors and those that do not have the privilege or means into the spaces we carry. We have to honor absence within a space, this has also changed everything for me!

[kemetic-dreams]

Historians from Southern Illinois University in the Africana Studies Department documented about 20 title words from the Kikongo language are in the Gullah language. These title words indicate continued African traditions in Hoodoo and conjure. The title words are spiritual in meaning. In Central Africa, spiritual priests and spiritual healers are called Nganga. 

In the South Carolina Lowcountry among Gullah people a male conjurer is called Nganga. Some Kikongo words have a "N" or "M" in the beginning of the word. However, when Bantu-Kongo people were enslaved in South Carolina the letters N and M were dropped from some of the title names. For example, in Central Africa the word to refer to spiritual mothers is Mama Mbondo. In the South Carolina Lowcountry in African American communities the word for a spiritual mother is Mama Bondo. In addition during slavery, it was documented there was a Kikongo speaking slave community in Charleston, South Carolina