No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

This dissertation examines one of the most significant theological shifts in the Rastafari movement: the transformation of the Rastafari deity, His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I, from Jah in the flesh to the spirit that dwells within the body of each Rasta. Although the belief that Rastas are participants in the divinity of Jah emerged early in Rastafari, it was not until Selassie’s death in 1975 that the theological assertion of Jah dwelling within their bodies as the spirit emerged. Despite the initial claim made by some of the early Rastas that their bodies are the dwelling place of Jah, the notion of Jah as indwelling the spirit remains undertheorized, thus leading to an inadequate view that Rastafari is tenuously an African-derived religion. The aim of this dissertation, therefore, is to make visible the notion of Jah as spirit by focusing on how Rastas conceptualize and ritualize the process of Jah becoming a part of their bodies. The dissertation proposes divine envesselment as a central theoretical and conceptual framework to understand the Rastafari belief that their deity Jah becomes a permanent part of their bodies, thereby imbuing them with divine power, authority, and identity to resist the oppressive state Babylon. By formulating a theory of divine envesselment to account for the indwelling of Jah within the body, this study highlights the social, cultural, and theological factors that enabled Rastas to deify Selassie, continue to proclaim him as God after his death, and distinguish themselves from the oppressive neocolonial state through their ritualization of Jah spirit and power. The study uses an African-centered epistemological approach to argue that the Rastafari belief that Jah dwells within them is not only an embrace of the spirit but an ethos rooted in the history of contestation and creative friction within the Afro-Caribbean religious field. Furthermore, an African-centered epistemology locates the process of divine envesselment (Jah becoming the spirit that dwells in flesh) within the social, material, intellectual, and symbolic world of African people on the continent and in the diaspora. The study asserts that the logic, structure, and nature of Rastafari as an African-derived religion with a conception of spirit become evident when examined through an African-centered epistemological lens. / Religion

This dissertation examines the work of two African-American female choreographers, namely Joan Miller and Carole Johnson, and their engagement with the Black Aesthetic during the height of the Black Arts movement in America. The work seeks to examine how these subjects articulated, shaped, responded to, extended, critiqued or otherwise engaged with the notion of the Black aesthetic primarily through the mediums of concert dance and choreography. In consideration of the above, I conducted two, single subject case studies with Joan Miller and Carole Johnson in order to better understand the complexity of the experience of these African-American female dance makers during the selected period and gain a richer understanding of the ways in which they did or did not engage with the notion of the Black Aesthetic through the medium of dance. The subjects for the single case studies were selected because they fit the criteria to answer the research question: each woman is an African-American dance maker who was generating choreography and working actively in the dance field during the identified historical period (1960-1975.). The study employs content analysis of individual semi-structured interviews, cultural documents (including but not limited to playbills, photographs, newspaper clippings, video documentation, and choreographers' notes) and related literature (both revisionist and of the period) to generate a robust portrait of the experiences of the subjects under study. Taken simultaneously, critical race theory and Black feminist thought supply an analytical framework for this project that has allowed me to study the intersecting and mutually constitutive aspects of race, class, gender and economic location from a unique standpoint--that of African-American female choreographers during the Black Power/Black Arts Movement era--in an effort the answer the research question and sub-questions central to this project. The dissertation ultimately posits that both Johnson and Miller did, in fact engage meaningfully with key concepts articulated under the banner of the Black Aesthetic during the height of the U.S.-based Black Arts Movement. Moreover, the project asserts that both women extended their understandings of the Black Aesthetic in order to embrace additional issues of interest; namely, gender and class (on Miller's part) and international human rights (on Johnson's part.) As such, this project ultimately discusses the implications of the inclusion of Miller and Johnson's work within the canon of dance history/studies as a radical shift from the dominant narratives concerning the work of Black female choreographers during the period. Additionally, the dissertation asserts that the inclusion of these narratives in the context of literature and scholarship on the Black Power/Black Arts Movement supports moves in contemporary revisionist scholarship interested in broadening the research on the work of women in the creative arts during the period of interest. Lastly, the project suggests new research trajectories and areas of inquiry but explicating Patricia Hill Collins's work on Black Feminist Thought. By looking at the defining characteristics of Collins scholarship, the project extends the discussion on African-American women's epistemology to include dance performance and creation and complicates the role of who is empowered to make meaning through the lens of Black Feminist Thought and in what form. / Dance

This study highlights the salience of race, cultural match between student and teacher, students' cultural conformity and perceptions of opportunity, and teachers' pedagogical perspectives in students' academic achievement, with particular attention to the perpetual achievement gap between African American and European American students. This analysis of a multi-ethnic group of 308 high school students and 23 teachers examines the inter-relatedness of students' and teachers' cultural values, view, and practices and school-based environmental factors that are often absent or dichotomized in explorations of academic achievement across racial/cultural groups. Mann-Whitney U Test and Kruskal-Wallis Test results revealed statistically significantly higher achievement scores among (1) students who shared the same race/ethnicity or shared the same race/ethnicity and culture with their teachers; (2) students who reported cultural perspectives consistent with mainstream cultural views and experiences regarding race, social issues, school-related coping strategies, and school opportunity; and (3) students whose teachers reported pluralistic and multicultural/pluralistic pedagogical styles when compared to their peers. Exploratory analyses of variance supported multiple regression analyses which found each variable to explain from 15% to 23% of the variance in students' academic achievement. This African-centered investigation places the interests of African Americans central to its exploration. It posits the cultural heritage and social-political experiences of its subjects as the driving force of inquiry into the continual lack of "equal" opportunity for and "equal" legitimacy of African American people and culture in public education in America. Therefore, this study is informed by a comprehensive review of the history, culture, and social politics within which America's academic achievement levels and gaps are inextricably rooted. Given the pervasiveness of socially-reconstructed inequality through institutions in America, the roles of race, culture, and cultural conformity are analyzed in a "successful," multi-ethnic high school in the southwest. This analysis helps determine whether dynamics that involve culture and cultural conformity are active in America's classrooms and how they impact students' achievement. It is hoped that this clarification of racial and cultural dynamics within educational institutions will spur stakeholders' motivations and inform policies and strategies to provide equitable educational opportunities for African American students and to improve all students' academic achievement. / African American Studies

Faced with a unique oppression due to their racial and gender identity, a great disservice has been done to Black female athletes (BFAs) within the sporting literature as they have historically been silenced and rendered invisible, either in failure to include them in research, or in fragmenting their identities along racial or gender lines, thus presenting incomplete and inaccurate representations of their experiences. Employing a theoretical framework grounded in Black feminist standpoint theory, this study explored BFAs’ conceptualizations of femininity and microaggressions, as well as how their racial, gender, class, and athletic identities affect them within and outside of sporting environments. This study sought BFAs at 83 Division I institutions, asking them to complete a survey including the Bem Sex Role Inventory-Short (BSRI-S), the Racial and Ethnic Microaggressions Scale (REMS), and the Black Racial Identity Attitude Scale (BRIAS). Six BFAs opted-in to a qualitative interview. These BFAs presented multiple interpretations of femininity, discussed experiences with microaggressions, and spoke to how they navigated various contexts given their racial, gender, and athletic identities. While identifying hardships of being BFAs on college campuses and Black women in the United States, interview participants also discussed how their ability to withstand the unique mistreatment of BFAs and Black women left them feeling empowered and resilient. Implications for practitioners and researchers are also included. / Kinesiology