Search

In spring 2021, we taught a course called Honors White Supremacy and Privilege to university honors students at our higher education institution in Florida. Aimed at helping students process intellectually the Black Lives Matter events of the preceding year, the course took place just as a reaction was gathering momentum against anti-racist teaching. We present the materials used in the 1-credit course and contextualize the experience in ongoing Republican legislative efforts, particularly in Florida, to undermine the ability to teach courses like this. Much of the essay addresses the lessons we took away from the reading material and classroom discussions. These include the non-essentialism of race, the benchmark "normality" of whiteness, the material consequences of white supremacy, connections of the Trump presidency to a history of white supremacy, the recurring reactionary responses to challenges to the racial status quo, and the need to teach about white supremacy and privilege. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 1918, the Hollywood film industry has represented Africa on film, portraying the continent and its peoples through long-standing stereotypes. This paper specifically focuses on film representations of urban Africa over time. We analysed 50 films produced in a 100-year time span and present a three-category typology of portrayals of African cityspaces. The categories include "the absent city," in which urban spaces are fully ignored in favour of rural landscape images that represent "Wild Africa" for the West. Most of the films we reviewed, particularly those produced before 1965, occupy this category. A second category is "the exotic colonial city," which introduce urban scenes that emphasise city street markets. These images work to highlight a long-standing civilised/primitive binary that contrasts white protagonists with the "exotic" Africa and Africans they encounter. The third category is "the Afropessimist city." This approach to urban representation has emerged as the primary vehicle for portraying African cities in the twenty-first century, emphasising images of urban poverty, corruption and violence. Looking forward, like African-produced films, the Afrofuturist cityscapes in the 2018 film, Black Panther may indicate a turn from 100 years of Hollywood stereotype, although we have reasons to remain cautious. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

My focus in this paper is on cultural and political mobilization centered on irua ria atumia in the anti-colonial struggles of Kenya's Gĩkũyũ ethnic group. While a currently hegemonic eradication discourse presents female genital practices as proof of these women's oppression and domination, the history presented here conversely demonstrates that irua should be presented as a means of empowerment and resistance. Irua ria atumia instilled a cultural ethic of courage among Gĩkũyũ women, and a rallying cause in struggles against British rule when officials attempted to ban the practice. By presenting this colonial history of political struggle associated with irua ria atumia na anake, I emphasize the importance of avoiding seeing cultural practices in terms of domination and conformity, but rather as site of multiple possibilities where individuals and groups as agents actively invent and reinvent themselves strategically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]