This thesis explores the symbolic place occupied by a racialized neighbourhood within the Uruguayan national imaginary. I study the conventillos (tenement buildings) of two traditionally Afro-Uruguayan neighbourhoods in Montevideo, Barrio Sur and Palermo. These neighbourhoods are considered the cradle of Afro-Uruguayan culture and identity. The conventillos have been immortalized in paintings, souvenirs, songs, and books. Over the years most of the residents were evicted due to demolitions, which peaked during Uruguay’s military dictatorship (1973-1984). I address the paradox of how a community can be materially marginalized, yet symbolically celebrated, a process that is evident in other American nations (Brazil, Colombia, etc.). I show how race, class, and gender are entangled in folkloric depictions of the conventillo to constitute a limited notion of blackness that naturalizes the relationship between Afro-Uruguayans, music, sexuality, and domestic work. The folklorization of the space and it residents is shown to be a “fetishization” which enhances the whiteness of the national identity, while confining the parameters of black citizenship and belonging. Utilizing a methodology that draws on cultural geography, critical race, postcolonial, and feminist theory, my dissertation analyzes the various ways that the Barrio Sur/Palermo conventillo has been imagined, represented, and experienced. Specifically, I examine 1) autobiographical, literary and popular (media, songs) narratives about these neighbourhoods; 2) the depiction of the conventillo by a prominent artist (Carlos Páez Vilaró); 3) spatial practices; 4) the performance of a dancer who emerged from the conventillo to become a national icon (the Carnival vedette Rosa Luna); and 5) interviews with nine key informants. My analysis focuses on how bodies, subjects, and national belonging are constituted through relations to particular spaces. By foregrounding the “geographies of identity” (Radcliffe and Westwood, 1996, p. 27), I show that the symbolic celebration of black space goes hand in hand with material disavowal. This study thus connects the imagining of a local, racialized space to how national belonging is constituted and experienced.

This thesis explores the symbolic place occupied by a racialized neighbourhood within the Uruguayan national imaginary. I study the conventillos (tenement buildings) of two traditionally Afro-Uruguayan neighbourhoods in Montevideo, Barrio Sur and Palermo. These neighbourhoods are considered the cradle of Afro-Uruguayan culture and identity. The conventillos have been immortalized in paintings, souvenirs, songs, and books. Over the years most of the residents were evicted due to demolitions, which peaked during Uruguay’s military dictatorship (1973-1984). I address the paradox of how a community can be materially marginalized, yet symbolically celebrated, a process that is evident in other American nations (Brazil, Colombia, etc.). I show how race, class, and gender are entangled in folkloric depictions of the conventillo to constitute a limited notion of blackness that naturalizes the relationship between Afro-Uruguayans, music, sexuality, and domestic work. The folklorization of the space and it residents is shown to be a “fetishization” which enhances the whiteness of the national identity, while confining the parameters of black citizenship and belonging. Utilizing a methodology that draws on cultural geography, critical race, postcolonial, and feminist theory, my dissertation analyzes the various ways that the Barrio Sur/Palermo conventillo has been imagined, represented, and experienced. Specifically, I examine 1) autobiographical, literary and popular (media, songs) narratives about these neighbourhoods; 2) the depiction of the conventillo by a prominent artist (Carlos Páez Vilaró); 3) spatial practices; 4) the performance of a dancer who emerged from the conventillo to become a national icon (the Carnival vedette Rosa Luna); and 5) interviews with nine key informants. My analysis focuses on how bodies, subjects, and national belonging are constituted through relations to particular spaces. By foregrounding the “geographies of identity” (Radcliffe and Westwood, 1996, p. 27), I show that the symbolic celebration of black space goes hand in hand with material disavowal. This study thus connects the imagining of a local, racialized space to how national belonging is constituted and experienced.

À partir des années 90, parmi les transformations qu’entraine l’effondrement de l’Union soviétique à Cuba et au milieu des redéfinitions de la cubanité, apparaissent des œuvres narratives contre-discursives et actualisées sur la négritude, la race et le racisme. La représentation du Noir dans les romans de cette période prend toute sa signification du fait que se configure alors un champ de discussion dans lequel convergent différentes modalités et perceptions. Notre recherche explore le terrain discursif entourant les définitions de la cubanité et la négritude qui circulent à cette période à Cuba, pour ensuite voir de quelle manière elles se répercutent sur les auteurs et textes littéraires. À travers l’analyse des oeuvres des écrivains Eliseo Altuanga et Marta Rojas, cette thèse reconstruit leurs dialogues avec l’historiographie littéraire cubaine, l’Histoire de l’Ile et les discours plus actualisés quant au débat ethno-racial. Au moyen de visualisations opposées par rapport à l’histoire de Cuba, Altuanga et Rojas élaborent des œuvres et des personnages avec des différences idéoesthétiques marquées. Ainsi, le premier focalisera sur la recherche d’une rupture épistémologique quant à la conception du Noir dans l’imaginaire cubain, soulignant les événements de l’histoire nationale qui considèrent le Noir comme protagoniste, ce qui renforce l’idée d’une continuité dans son état de subalternisation. En ce qui concerne les protagonistes de Rojas, elle fait appel à des mulâtresses pour raconter le processus de transculturation par lequel, à son point de vue, s’est consolidée l’identité culturelle actuelle des Cubains. Suspendue dans un espace d’énonciation intermédiaire entre les premières décennies de la Révolution et la Période spéciale en Temps de Paix, Rojas construit une trilogie romanesque qui s’efforce à signaler la coupure entre les périodes pré- et postrévolutionnaires quant au traitement du Noir. / The collapse and disappearance of the Soviet Union implied many transformations in the Cuban society, which altered the traditional construction of identity within the frame of the nation-state. It is in that context where alternative new discourses on “race”, racism and negritude emerged. The representation of the afro-descendent in the novels of the 1990’s and 2000’s poses enormous interest since the literary text has been one of the spaces where identity markers have been renegotiated. This dissertation explores how social discourses on cubanidad and negritude have an effect on the writers Eliseo Altunaga and Marta Rojas and their literary production. Analyzing the works of Eliseo Altunaga y Marta Rojas, this thesis reconstructs their dialogues with Cuban literary historiography, the history of the island, and the discourses circulating around current ethno-racial debates. Altuanga and Rojas have opposed visualizations of Cuban history, and elaborate works and characters with marked ideo-aesthetic differences. Altuanga focuses on the search for an epistemological rupture in the conception of the Negro in the Cuban imaginary, emphasizing national historic events with black progratonists to reinforce the impression of continuity in their condition of subalternity. Rojas, on the other hand, turns to black and mulata protagonists to narrate the process of transculturation that has contributed, in her view, to the consolidation of contemporary Cuban cultural identity. From an intermediate space of enunciation between the first decades of the Revolution and the Special Period in Times of Peace, Rojas constructs a novelistic trilogy that signals the border separating pre- and post-revolutionary periods with respect to the treatment of the Negro. / A partir de los ’90, entre las transformaciones que se producen en Cuba por el colapso de la Unión Soviética, en medio de redefiniciones de la cubanidad, asoman renovadas y contradiscursivas narrativas sobre la negritud, las razas y el racismo. La representación del negro en las novelas de este período adquiere significancia en la medida en que se configura un campo de discusión en el que convergen diferentes modalidades y percepciones. Nuestra investigación explora el suelo discursivo en torno a las definiciones de cubanidad y negritud que se mueven en este período en Cuba, para luego ver de qué manera refractan en los autores y los textos literarios. A través del análisis de las obras de los escritores Eliseo Altunaga y Marta Rojas, la tesis reconstruye sus diálogos con la historiografía literaria cubana, con la Historia de la Isla y con los discursos más actualizados en cuanto al debate etno-racial. Por medio de opuestas visualizaciones en relación con la historia cubana, Altuanga y Rojas elaboran obras y personajes con marcadas diferencias ideoestéticas. Así, el primero se focalizará en la búsqueda de una ruptura epistemológica en cuanto a la concepción del negro en el imaginario cubano, destacando aquellos acontecimientos de la historia nacional que tuvo al negro como protagonista, con lo cual refuerza la idea de una continuidad en su estado de subalternización. Por su parte, Rojas recurrirá a la figuras protagónicas de mujeres negras y mulatas para narrar el proceso de transculturación por el cual, desde su perspectiva, se fue consolidando la actual identidad cultural cubana. Parada en un espacio de enunciación intermedio entre las primeras décadas de la Revolución y el Período Especial en Tiempos de Paz, Rojas construye una trilogía novelesca que se esfuerza en señalar la frontera que se establece entre los períodos pre y postrevolucionarios con respecto al tratamiento del negro.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-08T16:52:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Adriana.pdf: 3104026 bytes, checksum: 10980b22b618855e8ffb40a56abc6903 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-05-09 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This research proposes a study of circumstances, principles, training and specificity in the work of black actors and actresses in collective theatrical troupes from the history of brazilian theater (BT) to group practices in contemporary Brazil. Were raised to the presence and experiences of black actors from the beginning of BT, the leading companies, as well as the experience of Black actors and actresses in the context of today's Group Theater. An axis of reflection in this study was to wonder whether the stereotype about blacks in the brazilian scene remains and how is the look that creates the black stereotype. The purpose was to raise questions about identity aspects of blackness conveyed from the theatrical practices and, therefore, propose a discussion about the brazilian theatrical practice as an art with references mainly european and north american. For this, this study sought an understanding of the boundaries between cultural identity and processes/procedures for the creation of the actor, trying to understand how is the relationship of the principles of the actor's work in confrontation with the culture and identity / Esta pesquisa propõe um estudo sobre circunstâncias, princípios, formação e a especificidade no trabalho de atores negros e atrizes negras nos coletivos teatrais desde as companhias teatrais da história do teatro brasileiro (TB) até práticas grupais no Brasil contemporâneo. Foram levantadas a presença e experiências de atores negros desde os primórdios do TB, primeiras companhias, bem como a experiência de atores e atrizes negros no contexto do Teatro de Grupo da atualidade. Um dos eixos de reflexão neste estudo foi pensar se o estereótipo sobre o negro na cena brasileira ainda persiste e como se dá o olhar que estereotipia o negro. O propósito foi levantar questionamentos sobre aspectos identitários da negritude veiculados a partir das práticas teatrais e, onseqüentemente, propor uma discussão sobre a prática teatral brasileira enquanto uma arte com referências fundamentalmente européias e norteamericanas. Para isso este estudo buscou uma compreensão das fronteiras entre identidade cultural e processos/procedimentos de criação do ator; procurando perceber como se dá a relação princípios do trabalho do ator em confronto com a cultura e identidade

This thesis explores the role and positionality of three Black public intellectuals in post-94 South Africa, namely, Simphiwe Dana, Ntsiki Mazwai and Sisonke Msimang. For the purpose of this study, I analysed the twitter postings shared by these intellectuals on various social matters that concern the condition of the Black in post-94 South Africa. Using Fanon’s Native Intellectual Consciousness as a lens, the study seeks to capture and evaluate an emergent form of ‘cyber’ activism in the country. The main argument of this thesis is that, the concept and function of intellectualism must undergo a complete overhaul, beginning with the accommodation of more voices, particularly those of oppressed Black women. For this reason, the study is based on three Black women and seeks to dismantle the colonial lens through which Black women are studied This study not only historicises Black women as producers, users and custodians of knowledge but it also situates their lived experiences as relevant ‘knowledges’ albeit ignored in discourse. Moreover, the study is not only a form of epistemic protest against epistemic racism, but it is also a form of Black positioning in communication studies. I therefore posit that, Black Twitter is the communicative plane on which blackness performs and articulates itself, for itself. For this purpose, I conceptualise Black Solidarity within Communication studies; a field that often pretends to be only marginally affected by issues of race. This study contributes to Communication Studies, a new, raw and altruistic way of studying blackness by allowing it to think, and speak through its pain as opposed to the usual pathologising white gaze. Using the decolonial concept of a traditional Imbadu as the methodological aspect in conducting this study, I observe that even in the face of debilitating colonial hangover, blackness persists through those intellectuals whose intergenerational trauma forces them to think and speak from Blackness. The chosen intellectuals who are feminists by choice, think and speak from Blackness albeit being silenced by oppression. As such, the study itself is a pedagogical contradiction to the orthodox axiology of a detached scholar and hence written in the autobiographical form. / Communication Science / D. Phil. (Communication)

This study is an attempt to contribute to the discussion on theology and land restitution. The researcher approaches it from a theological background and acknowledges the many contributions on this subject in other fields. Since this is a theological contribution, this research has the Bible as its point of departure. Black people are deeply rooted in the land. Land dispossession destroyed the God-ordained and created bond between black people and their black selves. Land dispossession also had a terrible economic impact upon black people. As result of land dispossession Bantustans were established. These black areas were economically disadvantaged and black people were forced to live in impoverished conditions. Land, which was a primary source of life for black people, was brutally taken away from them. Consequently, black people were forced to leave the Bantustans in search for employment in “white” South Africa. Because of this, they were made slaves and labourers in the country of their birth. The Bantustans were not considered to be part of South Africa; hence black people were aliens in their ancestral motherland. The black communal economic system was destroyed as a result of land dispossession. (The black communal economic system refers to an economic system where everyone works the land and thus benefits economically from the land.) The results of this are still seen in present-day South Africa. The majority of black people are still living at the margins of society because in the past, they were made subservient and dependent on white people to survive economically. Since apartheid was a system that was sustained on cheap black labour, this dependency on the white economy was systemic and generational. It is for this very reason that we see the very disproportionate face of the economy today. In an attempt to arrest the imbalance, the restoration of land to black people is inevitable. It is only then that black people will be liberated from being overly dependent on white people for their 3 survival. Land dispossession also had a terrible impact upon the identity and “blackness” of black people; black people internalised oppression as a result of the apartheid system, which was affirmed by the Dutch Reformed Church as a God-ordained system. This system officially paved the way and was used as the vehicle for land dispossession in South Africa; it destroyed black people and it is therefore not by chance that black people have become the greatest consumers. The identity of black people is deeply rooted in their ancestral motherland and land dispossession had a brutal impact upon the blackness of black people. Black people, as a result of land dispossession, started to doubt their humanness. Land dispossession also had a dreadful impact upon the relationships of black people with themselves and the relationships between white people and black people. These relationships were immorally and officially damaged by the apartheid system, which was deeply structural. Thus, when dealing with the land question in South Africa, the fact that it is deeply structural should be kept in mind. The church is entrusted with the task of reconciling the damaged relationships in a transformational manner. This can only be done when black people and white people engage and embrace each other on an equal basis. But black people and white people in South Africa cannot be on an equal basis as long as structural divisions which still advantage some and disadvantage others are not dealt with in a transformational manner. Therefore the need for land restitution in South Africa is necessary today because it does not only relate to the issues of faith and identity, but it is also economic. The consequences of the dispossession of land in the past are still evident in present-day South Africa. Land dispossession has had a terrible impact upon the faith of black people, whose faith is strongly linked to land (place). Faith and belonging are interrelated. The restoration of land to black people is necessary to reconcile black people with their faith and consequently with themselves. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / D. Th. (Theological Ethics)

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In The Souls of Black Folk (1903), W.E.B. Du Bois theorized that black peoples were viewed behind a metaphorical “veil” that consisted of three interrelated aspects: the skin as an indication of African Americans’ difference from their white counterparts, white people’s lack of capacity to see African Americans as Americans, and African Americans’ lack of capacity to see themselves outside of the labels white America has given them. This, according to Du Bois, resulted in the gift and curse of “double consciousness,” the feeling that one’s identity is divided. As African Americans fought for socio-political equality, the reconciliation of these halves became essential in creating a new identity in America by creating a distinct voice in the age of modernity. Intellectuals and artists of the Harlem Renaissance began to create new art forms with progressive messages that strove to uplift the race and ultimately lift the veil. William Grant Still (1895–1978), an American composer of African descent, accomplished this goal in his opera Blue Steel (1934) by changing how blackness—defined here as characteristics attributed to and intended to indicate the otherness of people of African or African-American descent—was portrayed on the operatic stage. Still exemplifies what Houston A. Baker called “mastery of form” by presenting double consciousness in the interactions of three characters, Blue Steel, Venable, and Neola, in order to offer a new and complex reading of blackness.

<p>  </p> <p>Mentorship has served as an effective strategy in helping African American college students persist at predominantly White institutions of higher education (Sinanan, 2016). African American students have reported finding these campus environments to be unwelcoming, even racist. These environmental challenges along with the challenges of unfamiliar academic terrain merge to form frequently formidable barriers to their satisfaction and success. The presence of African American mentors has helped African American students overcome the wide range of challenges they face on such campuses. This qualitative study analyzed the perceptions of African American mentors and mentees about the impact of mentorship on the college persistence of the mentees. The target mentorship community was situated at a private school in the Midwest. Semi-structured interviews were used to solicit the experiential knowledge of participants about their lived experiences. The data was codified and thematically analyzed. Six themes emerged from participant responses including (1) targeted mentorship and modeling, (2) belonging, (3) connections (4) advocacy, (5) racism and anti-Blackness, and (6) persistence. These themes fortify the existing research affirming mentorship as an invaluable tool in helping African American undergraduates persist through degree completion. The assertions and recommendations at the conclusion of the study are purposed to assist scholar-activists, university staff, and students with improving the conditions in which African American students’ study and push toward persistence.</p>