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This dissertation is a fundamental critique of the Western discourse using an Afrocentric critical reading of major Western constructions of knowledge. As such the study examines both the origins and dehumanizing consequences of the European project of Modernity. The study departs from the thesis that Afrocentricity, a philosophical paradigm conceptually rooted in African cultures and values, brings renewed ethical and social significance to a sustained project of human agency, liberation, and equality. Thus the dissertation explores how each major Western idea is understood within the context of the revolutionary philosophical paradigm and epistemological theory of social change. Concepts like individualism, domination, colonialism, race and ethnicity, universalism, progress and supremacy that Molefi Kete Asante calls the “infrastructures of dominance and privilege” are reviewed against the backdrop of agency, community, commonality, cultural centeredness, and ma’at. Indeed, employing critical ideas from the works of Afrocentrists this study highlights the inadequacy of Westernity in overcoming the various forms of oppression. Modernism, Marxism, Existentialism, Feminism, Post-modernism, and Post-colonialism, are addressed in dialogue with Afrocentricity as an exploratory part of a two-way relationship between theoretical understanding and practice which challenges established and hegemonic approaches to knowledge. In fact, the study argues for a rational approach to conceptual “rupture” that would allow the scholar to navigate the shattered ideologies of Western thought, and to contribute to the exposure of the imperialistic ambitions that worked at the backstage of the political and economic philosophies of Europe since the early fifteen century. In effect, the dissertation can be viewed as an intellectual journey moving from an epistemological location in Western epistemology towards an Afrocentric paradigm and theory of knowledge in the quest to defeat the inhuman. Ultimately, the aim is the search for a more humanistic and ideologically less polluted mind and for a more human humanity. / African American Studies

"Materializing Blackness: The Politics and Production of African Diasporic Heritage” examines how intellectual and civic histories collide with the larger trends in the arts and culture sector and the local political economy to produce exhibitions at the African American Museum in Philadelphia (AAMP) and structure the work that museum exhibitions do to produce race visually for various audiences. Black museums are engaged in the social construction of race through their exhibitions and programs: selecting historical facts, objects and practices, and designating them as heritage for and to their audiences. In tracking this work, I am interested in 1) the assemblages of exhibits that are produced, as a function of 2) the internal logics of the producing institutions and 3) larger forces that structure the field as a whole. Looking at exhibits that engage Blackness, I examine how heritage institutions use art and artifacts to visually produce race, how their audiences consume it, and how the industry itself is produced as a viable consumptive market. Undergirded by the ways anthropologists of race and ethnicity have been explored and historicized race as a social construction I focus on an instantiation of the ways race is constructed in real time in the museum. This project engages deeply with inquiries about the social construction of race and Blackness, such as: how is Blackness rendered coherent by the art and artifacts in exhibitions? How are these visual displays of race a function of the museums that produce them and political economy of the field of arts and culture? Attending to the visual, intellectual, and political economic histories of networks of exhibiting institutions and based on ethnographic fieldwork in and on museums and other exhibiting institutions, this dissertation contextualizes and traces the production and circulation of the art and artifacts that produce the exhibitions and the museum itself as a way to provide a contemporary concrete answer. Overall “Materializing Blackness” makes the case for history and political economy as ghosts of production that have an outsized impact on what we see on exhibition walls, and are as important to the visual work as a result. Further it takes the Black museum as a site of anthropological engagement as a way to see the conjuncture of the aesthetic and the political, the historical and the material in one complicated node of institution building and racecraft in the neoliberal city. / Anthropology

In the nineteenth century, Orientalism functioned as a Western tool for dominating and restructuring the perception of the Orient. In France, where Orientalism found favor amongst artists, Orientalist works were produced in the literary and visual arts to inform and control the narrative about the East. Influenced by the Napoleonic imperial conquests and an increased French presence in the East, Orientalism became an integral movement in the French visual arts. The relationship between France and the Orient was one of power and domination, which was mirrored in that between the French and the Blacks. As a part of the Western perception of the Other, the black individual had a unique role in nineteenth-century France. To be black in nineteenth-century French society was to be a second-class citizen. The existence of slavery, the increase in French ethnography, and racism in French society objectified the black individual, turning them into another symbol of French power and conquest. The exploration of this project will focus on the symbolic representation of the black body in nineteenth-century Orientalist visual art. As two separate areas of exploration in Art History, Orientalism and Race Theory have seen growth in scholarship thanks to contemporary interests in race and post-colonial theory. However, the overlap between the two subject areas is limited in research. Through the analysis of black figures in nineteenth-century Orientalism, we can discover more about the role of the Black individual with respect to European society and the Eastern cultures in which they existed. This research project explores depictions of Blacks in nineteenth-century Orientalist art to clarify their societal roles and explore the imbalance of social perception and representation in nineteenth-century French society. This project will reveal the truths hidden within the depictions of the black form.

In 2020, George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, was murdered by Minneapolis Police. As social media and news outlets reported on Floyd's death, racial justice activists began to organize under the Black Lives Matter movement. The United States was also on lockdown due to the global pandemic – COVID-19. Prior researchers have noted that the lockdown was consequential to the sustained longevity of peaceful protests. Additionally, researchers have concluded that this time saw a heightened number of college students from diverse racial backgrounds. This study examines what explicitly motivated Black and White college students to act on racial justice and engage with these movements. More importantly, this study included 11 participants to inquire about what motivated White racial justice activism and to explore Black students' perceptions of these actions from their White peers. This research used an interpretative phenomenological to analyze interviews and a facilitated Social Justice Dialogue circle on racial justice. Despite the lack of research on racial justice activism amongst White students, understanding theories such as Intersectionality and Critical Race is paramount in being aware of countering anti-Blackness. Ultimately, this study produced five findings explaining how Black and White college participants described their perceptions of White racial justice activism and how race socialization contributed to this interpretation. Findings show that White participants possessing marginalized identities interpreted this as Intersectionality and showed more empathy in engaging with racial justice activism while also expressing uncertainty about self-identifying with this advocacy status. Additionally, participants revealed that social media contributed to inauthentic and performative activism post-Floyd's death by using black squares by White content creators lacking a fundamental understanding of anti-Blackness and the Black Lives Matter movement. Participants looked more profound into how society has socialized Whiteness as the normative identity and manifested guilt, fear, and fragility when discussing racialized topics. Lastly, participants revealed that the divisive socio-political climate during the Trump administration significantly contributed to furthering structural racism. At the same time, the global pandemic provided an environment of racial reckoning within the United States. Broader implications for practice and theory are offered to guide recommendations for future research on racial justice activists. / Educational Leadership

The apparent ‘invisibility’, or lack of representation of black men in contemporary mainstream gay visual cultures is the primary critical issue that the study engages with. The study presupposes that the frequency with which white men appear in popular representations of ‘gayness’ prevails over that of black men. In order to substantiate this assumption, this study analyses selected issues of the South African queer men’s lifestyle magazine Gay Pages. Gay visual cultures appear to simultaneously conflate ‘whiteness’ and normative homosexuality, while marginalising black gay men by means of positioning ‘blackness’ and ‘gayness’ as irreconcilable identity constructs. Images of the gay male ‘community’ disseminated by queer and mainstream media constantly offer stereotypical, distorted and race-biased notions of gay men, which ingrain the exclusive cultural equation of white men and ideal homomasculinity. The disclosure of racist and selectively homophobic ideologies, which seem to inform gay visual representation, is therefore the chief concern of the dissertation. By investigating selected images that ostensibly embody the complex cultural relationship between race and homomasculinity, the study addresses the following forms of visual representation: colonial representations of ‘blackness’; so-called gay ‘colonial’ representations; black self-representation; gay black self-representation; and contemporary representations of homomasculinity in advertisements and queer men’s lifestyle magazines such as Gay Pages. A genealogy of images is explored in order to illustrate the ways in which ‘blackness’ and ‘whiteness’ are respectively positioned as contradictory to and synonymous with dominant visual representations of homomasculinity in gay visual cultures. The hegemony of ‘whiteness’ in images sourced from colonial systems of representation, queer male art and commercial publicity, for example, are thus critiqued in order to address the various race-based prejudices that appear to be symptomatic of contemporary gay visual cultures. Copyright / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Visual Arts / unrestricted

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The democratic elections in 1994 marked the formal end of apartheid. During apartheid 'race' was, for the most part, a somewhat rigid construct which, despite many nuances and complexities, typically seemed to frame whiteness as dominant, normative and largely invisible, and blackness as subordinate and marginalised. The transformations brought about in post-apartheid South Africa have heralded many positive reformations, such as macrolevel institutional changes. However, many of apartheid's racialised patterns of privilege and deprivation persist and 'race' continues to influence the identities of South Africans. Furthermore, an inherent tension exists in South Africa's social fabric, where ‘race’ and racism are often juxtaposed against narratives of the Rainbow Nation and colourblindness. This study, which is framed by critical 'race' theory and social constructionism, aims to explore the extent of the fluidity and rigidity of 'race', racialisation and racialised identities in post-apartheid South Africa by exploring the narratives of black and white first year students. This study collected the narratives of seven black and seven white first year South African university students. It was found that South African youth identities can be seen to be functioning in relation to and reaction against both South Africa’s racialised past as well as its present socio-cultural context. It was found that the racialised patterns which characterised apartheid still impact on black and white youth identity in contemporary South Africa. For instance, despite the many disruptions to whiteness post-1994, it was noted as still being a normative and dominant construct to some extent. Similarly, despite attempts to rectify power imbalances in the new South Africa, blackness is still constructed as being somewhat other and inferior. However, many alternative voices emerged which subverted these narratives, suggesting that identity is in a state of flux. Thus, despite the continued influence of apartheid’s racialised patterns of identity, shifts and schisms are appearing in post-apartheid racialised identity, where issues of racialised dominance and power relations are no longer as clear cut as they once were.

Submitted by YANELYS ABREU BABI null (yanelysabreu83@gmail.com) on 2017-03-17T03:28:43Z No. of bitstreams: 1 A cor da resistência - os sentidos em torno da negritude no discurso do rap cubano e do rap brasileiro.pdf: 1754746 bytes, checksum: 9f71b08ea8a30ceb9290f7703c234337 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Juliano Benedito Ferreira (julianoferreira@reitoria.unesp.br) on 2017-03-21T18:56:30Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 babi_ya_dr_sjrp.pdf: 1754746 bytes, checksum: 9f71b08ea8a30ceb9290f7703c234337 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-03-21T18:56:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 babi_ya_dr_sjrp.pdf: 1754746 bytes, checksum: 9f71b08ea8a30ceb9290f7703c234337 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-02-17 / Asociación Universitaria Iberoamericana de Postgrado (AIUP) / Pró-Reitoria de Pós-Graduação (PROPG UNESP) / O presente trabalho tem como objetivo fundamental analisar e descrever, nos discursos do rap cubano e do rap brasileiro, os mecanismos relacionados com as noções teóricas de condições de produção, formação ideológica e formação discursiva, que são usados na construção de sentidos em torno da negritude. Para tanto, tomou-se como base o universo teórico da Análise do Discurso de Michel Pêcheux, que coloca a importância dessas noções. Para analisar os sentidos atribuídos à negritude no rap cubano e no rap brasileiro definiu-se quem fala e para quem; o objeto do discurso; as forças em confronto no marco das relações étnico-raciais em Cuba e no Brasil; e a noção de pré-construído. A pesquisa tem enfoque comparativo e salienta os pontos em comum entre as relações étnico-raciais em ambos os países, assim como as diferenças entre as formas como se expressa o racismo nesses contextos. Foram analisados vinte raps (dez de cada país), compostos por rappers negros das cidades de Havana e de São Paulo, no período entre 2000 e 2012. Verifica-se, nos discursos estudados, uma atribuição de sentidos positivos para a negritude, como resposta aos sentidos negativos que circulam majoritariamente em ambas as sociedades e são usados para inferiorizar o grupo étnico-racial negro. Esses sentidos são construídos em torno do corpo, da história, da cultura, do comportamento e da inserção social do negro e se relacionam, fundamentalmente, com beleza, coragem, inteligência, orgulho, fortaleza, religiosidade, revolta, humanidade, resistência, honestidade e superação. Os sentidos construídos em torno da imagem da mulher negra, vítima de machismo e racismo em ambas as sociedades, também são relevantes na análise. Este trabalho procura trazer contribuições para os estudos linguísticos e culturais que fazem referência tanto à sociedade cubana como à brasileira. No contexto cubano, em que o discurso do gênero constitui uma das principais plataformas de denúncia contra o racismo, o presente trabalho contribui para ampliar a bibliografia sobre a relação, ainda pouco abordada nos estudos linguísticos e culturais, entre rap e relações étnico-raciais. No caso do Brasil, mesmo havendo um maior número de pesquisas sobre o assunto, a realização de um estudo como o proposto joga luzes sobre a maneira como o racismo opera em realidades sociais com um histórico similar. Em ambos os países, esta tese favorece a visibilidade das formas de resistência desenvolvidas pela população negra. / This work has as fundamental objective to analyze and describe the mechanisms that refer to the theoretical notions of conditions of production, ideological formation and discursive formation and are involved in the construction of meanings about blackness on the discourse of Cuban and Brazilian rap music. In order to do so, this research is situated in the theoretical horizon of Michel Pêcheux’s Discourse Analysis, placing in the construction of the discourse the importance of these notions. To analyze the assigned meanings to the blackness in Cuban and Brazilian rap music discourse, it was defined who speaks and to whom; the objective of the discourse; the confrontational forces within the framework of ethnic-racial relations in Cuba and Brazil and the pre-constructed notion. The research has a comparative approach and points out the commonalities about the ethnic-racial issues in both countries, as long as the differences among the ways to express the racism in those contexts. Twenty raps were analyzed (10 from each country), composed by black rappers from Havana and Sao Paulo, between the years 2000 and 2012. It is possible to observe in the studied discourses the attribution of positive meanings to blackness, as an answer against the negative meanings that are mostly present in both societies and are used to abash the ethnic-racial black group. Those senses are constructed about the body, the history, the culture, the behavior and social insertion of the black people and it relates, mostly, to the beauty, courage, intelligence, proud, strength, religiosity, rage, humanity, endurance, honesty and overcoming. Senses constructed around black woman’s image, victim of male chauvinism and racism in both societies, are also relevant to the analysis. This work aims to bring contributions to the linguistic and cultural studies that refer to both societies, Cuban and Brazilian. In the Cuban context, where the gender discourse constitutes one of the main complaint platforms against racism, the following work contributes to expand the bibliography about this relation, still not too much addressed in the linguistic and cultural studies, between rap music and ethnic-racial relations. In Brazilian context, where is a greater number of researches about the subject, the production of a study as the proposed one brings more information about the way that racism operates in social realities with a close background. In both countries, this thesis contributes to the visibility of the resistance developed by the black people. / El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo fundamental analizar y describir, en los discursos de rap cubano y de rap brasileño, los mecanismos relacionados con las nociones teóricas de condiciones de producción, formación ideológica y formación discursiva, que son usados en la construcción de sentidos en torno de la negritud. Se tomó como base el universo teórico del Análisis del Discurso de Michel Pêcheux, que coloca a importancia de esas nociones. Para analizar los sentidos atribuidos a la negritud en el rap cubano y en el rap brasileño se definió quien habla y para quien; el objeto del discurso; las fuerzas en confronto en el marco de las relaciones étnico-raciales en Cuba y Brasil; y la noción de preconstruido. Esta investigación tiene un enfoque comparativo y resalta los puntos en común en las relaciones étnico-raciales de ambos países, así como las diferencias en las formas como el racismo se expresa en esos contextos. Fueron analizados veinte raps (diez de cada país), compuestos por raperos negros de las ciudades de La Habana y São Paulo, en el período comprendido entre 2000 y 2012. Se comprueba, en los discursos estudiados, una atribución de sentidos positivos a la negritud, como respuesta a los sentidos negativos que circulan mayormente en ambas sociedades y son usados para inferiorizar al grupo étnico-racial negro. Esos sentidos se construyen en torno del cuerpo, de la historia, de la cultura, del comportamiento y de la inserción social del negro y se relacionan, fundamentalmente, con belleza, coraje, inteligencia, orgullo, fortaleza, religiosidad, rabia, humanidad, resistencia, honestidad y superación. Los sentidos construidos en torno de la imagen de la mujer negra, víctima de machismo y racismo en ambas sociedades, también son relevantes para el análisis. Este trabajo pretende traer contribuciones para los estudios lingüísticos y culturales referentes a las sociedades cubana y brasileña. En el contexto cubano, donde el género constituye una de las principales plataformas de denuncia contra el racismo, el presente trabajo contribuye para ampliar la bibliografía sobre la relación, todavía poco estudiada en los estudios lingüísticos y culturales, entre rap y relaciones étnico-raciales. En el caso de Brasil, a pesar de haber un mayor número de investigaciones sobre el asunto, la realización de un estudio como este arroja luces sobre la manera como el racismo opera en realidades sociales con un histórico similar. En ambos países, esta tesis favorece la visibilidad de las formas de resistencia desarrolladas por la población negra.