This paper seeks to examine the ancient Kemetic science known today as astrology and discern its usefulness in benefiting people of African descent in the contemporary era. Based upon documented historical evidence, research material, and theorization apprehended from an Afrocentric standpoint the author is attempting to succinctly present a body of scientific knowledge that can develop and advance the idea of astrology as a wholistic human endeavor conceived in ancient Africa which can be and has been useful to Africa and her people. Astrology has helped humanity to make sense of life, nature, seasons, movements of times, powers and is included within the discipline of astronomy, one the seven liberal arts, including, grammar, rhetoric, philosophy, logic, geometry, mathematics and the arts. These ancient disciplines are a necessary part of each other and are studied holistically, even today. However, Europeanization has created a problem in translating these ancient African ideas, castigating its intrinsic feminine elements, separating its mythological aspects from its astronomical parts, and despiritualizing the science. Using Cheikh Anta Diop’s Two Cradle Theory, that cultures distinguish humans and behavior, it will be argued that cultural orientation is a fundamental reason why Europeans have struggled from antiquity to the present to understand astrology, a science birthed from African culture. Moreover, it is argued that owing to the deep structure of culture, people of African descent can study ancient African episteme to awaken cultural memory to understand values and beliefs and potentially (re)turn (Sankofa) to the past and comprehend and appreciate a science culturally grounded in African episteme. Ultimately, it is hoped that in this translation of astrology, which embraces the significance of Ma’at in all life and existence, it is possible through viewing astrology in its ancient light, to restore Ma’at or balance, harmony, order, righteousness, and truth in the lives of people of African descent. The ultimate goal would be to foster peace, Ma’at among humanity. / African American Studies

Populism in Europe has heightened racial tensions in many countries, including the Netherlands. Since the early 2010s, the Dutch have been debating whether the traditional blackface character Black Pete is a racist remnant of colonialism and should be changed for modern society. Though many politicians consider Black Pete a “matter for the people”, different agents in meaning-making provide different perspectives and influences. This dissertation explores the Black Pete debate holistically and considers how he is interpreted and changed through multiple entry points. By tracing the historical changes of the image and critically examining the discourses created by politicians, the media, and activists, the analysis shows how Black Pete comes the stand in for Dutch identity and how this gives him political utility. The process of resignifying Black Pete highlights the difficulty of addressing racial inequalities in a postcolonial nation. Each agent uses Black Pete to either maintain or challenge the existing racial hierarchy, but lone agents can neither make change nor stop the demand for it. These agents often only tangentially interact, but each action affects what the others do. Throughout the analysis of each entry point, the connecting role of the news media is shown, as it interprets these actions for the public at large. Colonialism created boundaries around the Dutch identity through violence, capital, and racial classifications, the Black Pete is about moving those boundaries to include those who least benefit from the colonial legacy. / Communication Sciences

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My dissertation examines post-civil rights novels by Toni Morrison, Ann Allen Shockley, and Alice Walker, and investigates their subversion of myopic representations of black women in the American literary and cultural imagination. More precisely, this study examines these writers' characterizations of black women who not only diverge from stereotypical images imposed by ideologies of “whiteness,” but who also rebel unapologetically against constructions of female identity imposed by nationalist discourse generally and black nationalism particularly. Drawing upon black feminist theoretical frameworks, performance theory, and postmodernist notions, this study analyzes these characters' transgressive behavior, specifically with regards to their sexuality, as, in part, a means to create a modern identity. While these notions have been engaged in non-literary texts that explicate how race and nationalism construct gender roles, they have been largely understudied in black women's fiction. This dissertation seeks to establish, then, a nexus in which literary texts, movement ideologies, and politics of identity and representation meet to provide an interdisciplinary and broad discursive framework. Organized conceptually, this study explores the aesthetics of transgression in an introduction, four representative chapters, and a conclusion. Chapter One introduces and situates transgressive black women characters within both the African American literary tradition and particular socio-cultural, historical, and political contexts. Chapter Two analyzes Toni Morrison's Sula (1973), and examines the protagonist Sula, who emblematizes transgressive behavior, as subverting the “classical black female script.” Foregrounding politics of sexuality, Chapter Three employs Shockley's Loving Her (1974) and investigates the ways Shockley's black female protagonist Renay, via her interracial same-gender loving relationship, transgresses essentialist binaries regarding blackness, same-sex desire, and homosexuality. Exploring the dialectics of transgression and belonging, Chapter Four examines Alice Walker's Meridian and analyzes the ways Meridian Hill transgresses circumscriptions for women, while concomitantly playing a participatory activist role in various communities. And, reemphasizing the potential of this study, the concluding chapter illustrates this project's centrality to African American and American literature, African American and American Studies, and Women's and Gender Studies.

A “one-size fits all” approach often characterizes discussions of conservatism amongst African-Americans. The purpose of this study is twofold: first, to provide a more nuanced account of black conservatism in the United States by examining how it is articulated within three distinct contexts, the intellectual, the political and the social. Second, this study focuses on challenges African-American conservatives face in each of the three spheres as they operate within a larger white conservative movement that purports to adhere to the principle of “colorblindness.” The dissertation not only makes clear the fallacy of that principle, but also, demonstrates how conservatism falls prey to what is termed here, the “inescapability of race.

This dissertation investigates the role of familial racial socialization and formal education in black college students' racial ideologies. I argue that the ascendance of claims that America has become a colorblind, post-racial society necessitates a scholarly consideration of the sources that promote and sustain these empirically unsubstantiated notions. The mass media, through its coverage of highly visible examples of successful people of color, accomplishes some of this work. However, I contend that familial racial socialization and the high school U.S. history course, through its coverage of African American history, are two additional sources of racial messages that assist in promoting colorblindness and post-racialism. While researchers have identified parents as an important source of racial socialization, my interviews revealed that other family members, such as grandparents, siblings, and aunts, also played a significant role in students' racial socialization. Further, while students' racial socialization existed along a continuum of acknowledgment of contemporary racial oppression, the substance of what their parents and family members conveyed to them was generally of one of two types, critical or colorblind. Approximately half of the students in my sample received colorblind racial socialization, an important finding that contrasts with much of the literature on racial socialization. Additionally, high school U.S. history, through its coverage of African American history, interacted with students' familial racial socialization to help shape their racial ideologies beyond high school. Once these students matriculated at college they did not necessarily reproduce the racial ideologies into which they were socialized. Rather, depending on the nature of their racial socialization from family and the high school U.S. history course, I found that students were more or less likely to diverge ideologically from the racial interpretive framework developed prior to and during high school. The primary factor that motivated this process was whether students chose to take college coursework that exposed them to more critical interpretations of race and racism. A secondary factor was the substance of the racial ideologies of those in their peer group.

Strides at the federal and state levels are being made to improve the overall climate for gay rights and relationships across the country. However, despite greater acceptance, legislative victories and visibility of gay rights and relationships, homophobia is still widespread in American society (Fone, 2000; Jenkins, Lambert, & Baker, 2009; Schroeder, 2004). No matter the environment, homophobic attitudes permeate all aspects of the US culture, leading to prejudicial attitudes and inequalities that affect everyone in society. Unfortunately, some of these prejudicial attitudes lead to instituting laws that are inherently homophobic (HRC, n.d.). Trends illustrate that more people are coming out at a younger age in society, creating a larger number of 'out' students on college campuses. However, the increase in 'out' students has also led to an increase of prejudice and discrimination based on sexual orientation more visible on college campuses (Cannick, 2007; D'Augelli & Rose, 1990; Jenkins et al., 2009). Current research indicates Black college students are more likely than other college students to hold negative attitudes toward LGB students. The purpose of this research was to explore and describe perceptions and feelings of Black college students toward LGB students. A qualitative online survey using open and close-ended questions was sent out nationally to a number of college campuses to solicit responses. Major findings include the following: (1) participants have the potential to be allies for and hold positive perceptions of LGB identified students, (2) contact with LGB individuals affects the participants' ability to have more positive perceptions, and (3) participants are receptive to engage in conversations about LGB related issues. Implications of this study suggest collaboration among multicultural offices and other campus constituents for social and academic related programming. In addition, there is a need to provide a space for potential student allies to feel supported and engage in their own self-reflection and learning on how to create community among individuals that hold multiple social identities.

African American students have been suffering from academic failure for years. Various politicians, educators, legislators and government officials have been plagued with finding ways to solve this growing concern. Currently, there is limited research that gives African American high school students the opportunity to converse about the kinds of practices and strategies that will promote their academic progress. Despite past historical devastations like racism, inferior treatment and segregation as well as the dismal statistics that may imply (may be interpreted by some) that Blacks are not as intelligent and as their White counterparts, there are some African American students who are able to articulate their feelings and beliefs about what strategies and practices that help them to maintain success in the classroom. The findings of this study add to the current literature by providing African American high school students the opportunities to communicate their perceptions about the academic process and ways that will promote their achievement. This study utilized a qualitative approach from the perspective of Critical Race Theory; this study took place at one high school in California. Ten participants were interviewed over a period of three months at Rawlings High School (identified by pseudonym). Those interviews were then transcribed, analyzed and categorized by themes. Study findings suggest (1) African American students who are successful in school take full ownership and responsibility for their education; they do not place blame on their teachers or the educational system, (2) Black students want their teachers to have high expectations of them, want teachers to be accessible and available to them, want teachers to be friendly and communicable with them, (3) the research participants know what quality teachers are and note them to be patient, enthusiastic, supportive and who make learning applicable to the real-world, and (4) that most students have never been mistreated by a teacher nor have any bad experiences to share with regard to their race; the few that have encountered acts of discrimination use those experiences to motivate them to be successful.