<p> The event that scholars and Jamaicans frequently call the &ldquo;Morant Bay Rebellion&rdquo; of 1865 resulted in long-term social and political consequences which profoundly shaped the course of Jamaican history. Yet contestation concerning the name and the naming of this event by Jamaican people on the ground has received scant attention in the historiography. In contrast to previous approaches, this thesis establishes that ordinary, subaltern Jamaicans from 1865 to the present day specifically named and remembered the events in question as a <i> war</i> at the exclusion of names like &ldquo;rebellion,&rdquo; &ldquo;uprising,&rdquo; &ldquo;riot,&rdquo; and &ldquo;insurrection,&rdquo; and that (post)colonial elites, aided by conventional scholars and commentators, have omitted this history in order to (re)produce and legitimize the idea that oppression and exploitation on the basis of race are things of the past. In turn, this thesis demonstrates that perceptions of blackness and whiteness during the events of 1865 were contingent and shifting rather than reducible to racial binaries and essentialisms which corresponded simply with skin color. Paul Bogle and his allies imagined blackness as tied to anti-statist political orientations, while many contemporaries in support of the colonial state used racial identification to represent and differentiate various groupings of black people as (dis)loyal to the governing regime and its racial hierarchies. </p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-06, Section: A, page: . Adviser: Christopher M. Span. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 235-247) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

<p> This dissertation examines the importance of geography, performance, and microscopy in the construction of theories of human difference in Europe in the eighteenth century, with a particular focus on "fringe groups" such as albinos with black parents and individuals with complexion disorders. It joins a growing discussion in history, the history of science and medicine, and critical racial theory about the social and philosophic bases of early-modern human taxonomic schemas. Collectively, the fields analyzed in this study share a common conceptual root in their dependence on transferable physical processes&mdash;techniques&mdash;as much as on the intellectual frameworks investing those gestures with meaning. The necessarily embodied processes of exploration, spectatorship, and microscopic visual analysis produced discrete ways of seeing human difference which influenced the conclusions that natural philosophers reached through those embodied experiences. Marginal groups of individuals with unexpected or "abnormal" complexions drew a disproportionate amount of attention in the eighteenth century, because they were not easily identifiable with pre-existing conceptions of human difference and consequently provided a strong impetus to reconsider those epistemic categories. Overwhelmingly, the perspectives of eighteenth-century natural philosophers were profoundly non-racial in nature; instead, they drew upon ideas as varied as monstrosity, morality, self-analysis, dramatic tragedy, entertainment, and imagination to position experiences of unexpected human diversity in a distinctly valuative and sensational understanding of human difference. Through the interrogation of new and underutilized sources, this dissertation argues for an enrichment of our understanding of the "history of race" by taking into account the diversity of the physical techniques that were used by eighteenth century thinkers to arrive at ideas about human difference, while simultaneously demonstrating the centrality of hitherto understudied groups&mdash;such as albinos with black parents&mdash;in the formulation of systems of human difference. </p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of History, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-09, Section: A, page: 4025. Adviser: Claude Clegg. Title from dissertation home page (viewed May 7, 2008).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of History, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on May 11, 2009). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-08, Section: A, page: 3288. Advisers: Claude A. Clegg; Steven M. Stowe.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of History, 2008. / Title from home page (viewed on Jul 28, 2009). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-12, Section: A, page: 4834. Adviser: Claude A. Clegg.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2008. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-11, Section: A, page: 4462. Adviser: James R. Barrett. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 336-369) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

<p> This project examines African American adolescent males&rsquo; perception of fatherhood by exploring the participants definition, assessing how personal experiences shape this definition and defining the external influencing factors and assess the influence of African American adult males who work with them in an employment or volunteer setting. The study occurred in two phases, the first was in-depth interviews with African American adult males and the second phase was focus groups of African American adolescent males. The definitions of fatherhood and masculinity were different among the study population. The adult males focused on traditional fatherhood and male roles using language that described actions and physical and personal attributes, while the adolescent males found their definitions of fatherhood and masculinity to be nearly the same, as they used traditional language to describe the role but contemporary language for their needs. Black masculinity, expectations of fathers and father figures, and influences were found to be the dominant themes that emerged in their perspectives. These findings indicate: the definitions provided were demanding and one could easily falter; all participants showed awe in the role; African American adolescents can understand and communicate their needs; and this research counters the narrative and negative imagery of Black fathers. </p><p>

Affirming actions, fallacy of American post racial society: Policy analysis and critique of United States Supreme Court effect on Black student access to higher education. Since the inception of the country that is now known as the United States of America, the inquiry of racial equity and inclusion is one that has not been unequivocally and diligently answered. In attempt to remedy these societal burdens, the government leadership has retreated to various affirmative action policy initiatives. The affirmative action policies range from Executive Order from the President of the United States, policies in governmental contractors work sector, to university admissions policies. In turn, these policies, especially the college admissions policies, have been legally scrutinized and attenuated by the United States Supreme Court. As a result, theses policies, that were initially put in place to help Black students get equitable access to higher education, have had meager effects on creating a equitable education society. The meager effects are attributed to continuous restrictive guideline and regulations of the Supreme Court. In that vein, chronological research findings suggests that the Supreme Courts decisions have had injuriously powerful impact on Black students ability to get into an institute of higher education and subsequently find economic success. Furthermore, society’s increasing apprehension and non-understanding of the fundamental goals of affirmative action suggests that the Supreme Courts affirmative action decisions will morph from the restrictive and injurious strict scrutiny to permanent decease of any utilization of race based policy.

<p> This Master&rsquo;s thesis looks at the solidarities of black radicals in the mid-20^th century and traces how they evolved in contact with the Cuban Revolution. I argue that the Cuban Revolution refracted and altered existing threads of black radical solidarity by acting as a discursive site for theorizing and debating the tactics and ideology of black freedom. This resulted in the strengthening of black American Third World identity, the proliferation of a colonial understanding of the black condition, and the development of competing forms of black nationalism. This thesis positions the Cuban Revolution as a definitive moment in black radical intellectual history which did not necessarily originate any of the major threads of black radical solidarity, but which had a profound impact on the ways that the animating ideas of mid-20^th century black radicalism were theorized and expressed from the 1960s through the 1970s and beyond.</p><p>