In Fall 2021, the Department of Africana Studies at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, supported by a faculty grant from the Institute for the Study of Global Racial Justice, launched a multi-year project titled Insurgent Intersections: Combating Global Anti-Blackness to explore how the discipline informs global, intersectional struggles against anti-Blackness.
In the first year of the project, we studied The Roots of Global Anti-Blackness. This year’s theme is The Mechanisms of Global Anti-Blackness, where we will probe the myriad ways anti-Blackness is operationalized in societies around the globe. Today, anti-Blackness operates in ways that are oftentimes less visible than the blatant violence of slavery and Jim Crow, but nonetheless so pervasive and insidious that it is sometimes even practiced unknowingly by its victims. Therefore, we are interested in how anti-Blackness gets embedded in laws, policies, rules, and practices that shape the lives of African-descended populations and societies at large.
We invite scholars working on any aspect of the theme “The Mechanisms of Global Anti-Blackness” to submit abstracts for the Insurgent Intersections Spring 2023 works-in-progress series. We encourage works that are not yet fully developed. Abstracts should be 200-250 words long and can address potential topics and questions including, but not limited to, the following:
- How is anti-Blackness embedded in the creation and enforcement of laws in, and outside of, the U.S.?
- How do tech companies enact anti-Blackness in their targeting or silencing of Black content and creators? What are other ways that anti-Blackness intersects with technology?
- How do school boards and local governments mobilize anti-Black sentiment in their policies and guidelines? What is the relationship between education and anti-Blackness today?
- How is anti-Blackness enacted through land rights disputes, food injustice, and environmental racism?
- How does anti-Blackness intersect with gender and sexuality in the creation of immigration policies?
- How are Black people used in service of anti-Blackness and white supremacy?
Selected scholars will be expected to participate actively in reading each other’s works and attending 3-4 workshop sessions. Workshops will be held online via Zoom, and are tentatively scheduled for Monday afternoons at 2 pm, pending confirmation with participants’ schedules.
Interested in contributing? Please submit your abstract and an updated CV via email to project leaders, Dr. Kim Butler, Dr. Akissi Britton, and Dr. Shantee Rosado at insurgent@africana.rutgers.edu by Friday, October 21, 2022 at 11:59pm and include “Mechanisms of Global Anti-Blackness” in your subject line.
You can learn more about the Insurgent Intersections project at https://africanastudies.rutgers.edu/insurgent-intersections/