Yolanda Y. Smith
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195167979
- eISBN:
- 9780199784981
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019516797X.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
This chapter introduces four teaching strategies that emerge from the characteristics of a triple-heritage model of Christian education that is grounded in the African American spirituals. The model ...
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This chapter introduces four teaching strategies that emerge from the characteristics of a triple-heritage model of Christian education that is grounded in the African American spirituals. The model consists of the following: communal, creative, critical, and cooperative. The teaching strategies that emerge from these characteristics include communal dialogue, creative engagement, critical reflection, and cooperative action. The chapter then discusses various aspects of a course called “Christian Education in the African American Experience” and details how these strategies have shaped and informed the teaching of the course. The primary purpose of this chapter is to examine the teaching/learning process that emerges throughout the course.Less
This chapter introduces four teaching strategies that emerge from the characteristics of a triple-heritage model of Christian education that is grounded in the African American spirituals. The model consists of the following: communal, creative, critical, and cooperative. The teaching strategies that emerge from these characteristics include communal dialogue, creative engagement, critical reflection, and cooperative action. The chapter then discusses various aspects of a course called “Christian Education in the African American Experience” and details how these strategies have shaped and informed the teaching of the course. The primary purpose of this chapter is to examine the teaching/learning process that emerges throughout the course.
Moses N. Moore, Jr.
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195167979
- eISBN:
- 9780199784981
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019516797X.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
Autobiographical narratives and related materials such as journals and diaries have proved to be valuable, but often problematic, resources for the studying and teaching of African American religious ...
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Autobiographical narratives and related materials such as journals and diaries have proved to be valuable, but often problematic, resources for the studying and teaching of African American religious experiences. This chapter identifies a number of these resources and illustrates some of the historiographical and pedagogical issues related to their use. In this chapter, “testifying” alludes to the confessional tradition within the black religious experience and is used in reference to the “subjective” self-representations, interpretations, and experiences found in autobiographical narratives and related materials. “Testimony”, meanwhile, has more “factual” connotations and refers to resources and interpretations that are ostensibly more “objective” and hence subject to critical historical assessment. Both types of material are presented as valid, valuable, and complementary resources for studying the African American religious experience. This chapter also includes pedagogical reflections on varied classroom experiences that incorporate both types of resources in courses situated in two university departments of religious studies.Less
Autobiographical narratives and related materials such as journals and diaries have proved to be valuable, but often problematic, resources for the studying and teaching of African American religious experiences. This chapter identifies a number of these resources and illustrates some of the historiographical and pedagogical issues related to their use. In this chapter, “testifying” alludes to the confessional tradition within the black religious experience and is used in reference to the “subjective” self-representations, interpretations, and experiences found in autobiographical narratives and related materials. “Testimony”, meanwhile, has more “factual” connotations and refers to resources and interpretations that are ostensibly more “objective” and hence subject to critical historical assessment. Both types of material are presented as valid, valuable, and complementary resources for studying the African American religious experience. This chapter also includes pedagogical reflections on varied classroom experiences that incorporate both types of resources in courses situated in two university departments of religious studies.
Bernadette McNary-Zak
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195167979
- eISBN:
- 9780199784981
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019516797X.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
This chapter focuses on the question of how a course on the history of American Catholicism might be framed for a non-Catholic, Protestant, and Southern context. The author of this book has developed ...
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This chapter focuses on the question of how a course on the history of American Catholicism might be framed for a non-Catholic, Protestant, and Southern context. The author of this book has developed an entirely new course, “Histories of American Catholicism”, which strives to address diversity by problematizing American Catholic identity. This chapter discusses several methodological issues with a particular focus on how they have shaped the author's thinking about how to teach this course. Since the course has not yet been taught in either a Catholic or a non-Catholic context, this chapter is a working proposal that offers a preliminary road map. It will require adjustment as it is tested out.Less
This chapter focuses on the question of how a course on the history of American Catholicism might be framed for a non-Catholic, Protestant, and Southern context. The author of this book has developed an entirely new course, “Histories of American Catholicism”, which strives to address diversity by problematizing American Catholic identity. This chapter discusses several methodological issues with a particular focus on how they have shaped the author's thinking about how to teach this course. Since the course has not yet been taught in either a Catholic or a non-Catholic context, this chapter is a working proposal that offers a preliminary road map. It will require adjustment as it is tested out.
Paul D. Numrich
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195386219
- eISBN:
- 9780199866731
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195386219.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter features African American pastors who work with Minister Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam to address pressing social issues in the African American community, such as voting, ...
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This chapter features African American pastors who work with Minister Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam to address pressing social issues in the African American community, such as voting, prisons, drugs, mentoring, and businesses. The role of African American Christians in supporting the historic 1995 Million Man March in Washington, D.C., in which Baptists were the largest religious group, is also discussed. Within the African American community, says one pastor, “the issue is not the Nation of Islam versus Christianity but religion versus the lure of the streets. Our common concern has led our congregations to put aside differences in faith and to work together.” For these pastors, doctrinal differences are less important than their shared African American experience.Less
This chapter features African American pastors who work with Minister Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam to address pressing social issues in the African American community, such as voting, prisons, drugs, mentoring, and businesses. The role of African American Christians in supporting the historic 1995 Million Man March in Washington, D.C., in which Baptists were the largest religious group, is also discussed. Within the African American community, says one pastor, “the issue is not the Nation of Islam versus Christianity but religion versus the lure of the streets. Our common concern has led our congregations to put aside differences in faith and to work together.” For these pastors, doctrinal differences are less important than their shared African American experience.
Kwame Gyekye
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195112252
- eISBN:
- 9780199853069
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195112252.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
This book offers philosophical interpretation and critical analysis of the African cultural experience in modern times. In their attempt to evolve ways of life appropriate to our modern world ...
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This book offers philosophical interpretation and critical analysis of the African cultural experience in modern times. In their attempt to evolve ways of life appropriate to our modern world culture, African people and their society face a number of challenges; some stem from the values and practices of their traditions, while others rise from the legacy of European colonialism. Defending the cross-cultural applicability of philosophical concepts developed in Western culture, the book attempts to show the usefulness of such concepts in addressing a wide range of African problems. Among the issues are as follows: economic development, nation-building, evolution of viable and appropriate democratic political institutions, growth of appropriate and credible ideologies, political corruption, and crumbling of traditional moral standards in the wake of rapid social change. Throughout, the notion that modernity must be equated with Western values and institutions is challenged, arguing that modernity must be forged creatively within the furnace of Africa's multifaceted cultural experience.Less
This book offers philosophical interpretation and critical analysis of the African cultural experience in modern times. In their attempt to evolve ways of life appropriate to our modern world culture, African people and their society face a number of challenges; some stem from the values and practices of their traditions, while others rise from the legacy of European colonialism. Defending the cross-cultural applicability of philosophical concepts developed in Western culture, the book attempts to show the usefulness of such concepts in addressing a wide range of African problems. Among the issues are as follows: economic development, nation-building, evolution of viable and appropriate democratic political institutions, growth of appropriate and credible ideologies, political corruption, and crumbling of traditional moral standards in the wake of rapid social change. Throughout, the notion that modernity must be equated with Western values and institutions is challenged, arguing that modernity must be forged creatively within the furnace of Africa's multifaceted cultural experience.
Clarence Bernard Henry
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- March 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781604730821
- eISBN:
- 9781604733341
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781604730821.003.0005
- Subject:
- Music, Ethnomusicology, World Music
This chapter examines Candomblé musical performance, the role of drummers in Candomblé, and the influence of Candomblé musicians as popular music icons in their communities. It explains that the role ...
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This chapter examines Candomblé musical performance, the role of drummers in Candomblé, and the influence of Candomblé musicians as popular music icons in their communities. It explains that the role and significance assigned to the drum in the African and African diasporic experience reflects various types of beliefs, social and cultural practices, and religions within diverse historical contexts. The chapter also suggests that Candomblé musicians have “performative power,” are catalysts for axé music, and can be considered as major players in a dramatization of the spiritual world.Less
This chapter examines Candomblé musical performance, the role of drummers in Candomblé, and the influence of Candomblé musicians as popular music icons in their communities. It explains that the role and significance assigned to the drum in the African and African diasporic experience reflects various types of beliefs, social and cultural practices, and religions within diverse historical contexts. The chapter also suggests that Candomblé musicians have “performative power,” are catalysts for axé music, and can be considered as major players in a dramatization of the spiritual world.
Antonio Lopez
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814765463
- eISBN:
- 9780814765487
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814765463.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Cultural Studies
This book uncovers an important, otherwise unrecognized century-long archive of literature and performance that reveals Cuban America as a space of overlapping Cuban and African diasporic ...
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This book uncovers an important, otherwise unrecognized century-long archive of literature and performance that reveals Cuban America as a space of overlapping Cuban and African diasporic experiences. It shows how Afro-Cuban writers and performers in the U.S. align Cuban black and mulatto identities, often subsumed in the mixed-race and postracial Cuban national imaginaries, with the material and symbolic blackness of African Americans and other Afro-Latinas/os. In the works of Alberto O'Farrill, Eusebia Cosme, Rómulo Lachatañeré, and others, Afro-Cubanness articulates the African diasporic experience in ways that deprive negro and mulato configurations of an exclusive link with Cuban nationalism. Instead, what is invoked is an “unbecoming” relationship between Afro-Cubans in the United States and their domestic black counterparts. The transformations in Cuban racial identity across the hemisphere, represented powerfully in the literary and performance cultures of Afro-Cubans in the Unuted States, provide the fullest account of a transnational Cuba, one in which the Cuban American emerges as Afro-Cuban-American, and the Latino as Afro-Latino.Less
This book uncovers an important, otherwise unrecognized century-long archive of literature and performance that reveals Cuban America as a space of overlapping Cuban and African diasporic experiences. It shows how Afro-Cuban writers and performers in the U.S. align Cuban black and mulatto identities, often subsumed in the mixed-race and postracial Cuban national imaginaries, with the material and symbolic blackness of African Americans and other Afro-Latinas/os. In the works of Alberto O'Farrill, Eusebia Cosme, Rómulo Lachatañeré, and others, Afro-Cubanness articulates the African diasporic experience in ways that deprive negro and mulato configurations of an exclusive link with Cuban nationalism. Instead, what is invoked is an “unbecoming” relationship between Afro-Cubans in the United States and their domestic black counterparts. The transformations in Cuban racial identity across the hemisphere, represented powerfully in the literary and performance cultures of Afro-Cubans in the Unuted States, provide the fullest account of a transnational Cuba, one in which the Cuban American emerges as Afro-Cuban-American, and the Latino as Afro-Latino.
Courtney R. Baker
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252039485
- eISBN:
- 9780252097591
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252039485.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
In the history of black America, the image of the mortal, wounded, and dead black body has long been looked at by others from a safe distance. This book questions the relationship between the ...
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In the history of black America, the image of the mortal, wounded, and dead black body has long been looked at by others from a safe distance. This book questions the relationship between the spectator and victim and urges viewers to move beyond the safety of the “gaze” to cultivate a capacity for humane insight toward representations of human suffering. Utilizing the visual studies concept termed the “look,” the book interrogates how the notion of black humanity was articulated and recognized in oft-referenced moments within the African American experience: the graphic brutality of the 1834 Lalaurie affair; the photographic exhibition of lynching, Without Sanctuary; Emmett Till's murder and funeral; and the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. Contemplating these and other episodes, the book traces how proponents of black freedom and dignity used the visual display of violence against the black body to galvanize action against racial injustice. An innovative cultural study that connects visual theory to African American history, the book asserts the importance of ethics in our analysis of race and visual culture, and reveals how representations of pain can become the currency of black liberation from injustice.Less
In the history of black America, the image of the mortal, wounded, and dead black body has long been looked at by others from a safe distance. This book questions the relationship between the spectator and victim and urges viewers to move beyond the safety of the “gaze” to cultivate a capacity for humane insight toward representations of human suffering. Utilizing the visual studies concept termed the “look,” the book interrogates how the notion of black humanity was articulated and recognized in oft-referenced moments within the African American experience: the graphic brutality of the 1834 Lalaurie affair; the photographic exhibition of lynching, Without Sanctuary; Emmett Till's murder and funeral; and the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. Contemplating these and other episodes, the book traces how proponents of black freedom and dignity used the visual display of violence against the black body to galvanize action against racial injustice. An innovative cultural study that connects visual theory to African American history, the book asserts the importance of ethics in our analysis of race and visual culture, and reveals how representations of pain can become the currency of black liberation from injustice.
Wendy Cheng
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816679812
- eISBN:
- 9781452948829
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816679812.003.0004
- Subject:
- Sociology, Race and Ethnicity
regional racial formation nonwhite majority multiracial identity Asian American Latinas/os Mexican American Chinese American Suburbs racial formation
regional racial formation nonwhite majority multiracial identity Asian American Latinas/os Mexican American Chinese American Suburbs racial formation
Clapperton Chakanetsa Mavhunga
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780262535021
- eISBN:
- 9780262345859
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262535021.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
The tsetse fly is a pan-African insect that bites an infective forest animal and ingests blood filled with invisible parasites, which it carries and transmits into cattle and people as it bites them, ...
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The tsetse fly is a pan-African insect that bites an infective forest animal and ingests blood filled with invisible parasites, which it carries and transmits into cattle and people as it bites them, leading to n'gana (animal trypanosomiasis) and sleeping sickness. This book examines how the presence of the tsetse fly turned the forests of Zimbabwe and southern Africa into an open laboratory where African knowledge formed the basis of colonial tsetse control policies. The book traces the pestiferous work that an indefatigable, mobile insect does through its movements, and the work done by humans to control it. The book restores the central role not just of African labor but of African intellect in the production of knowledge about the tsetse fly. It describes how European colonizers built on and beyond this knowledge toward destructive and toxic methods, including cutting down entire forests, forced “prophylactic” resettlement, massive destruction of wild animals, and extensive spraying of organochlorine pesticides. Throughout, the book uses African terms to describe the African experience, taking vernacular concepts as starting points in writing a narrative of ruzivo (knowledge) rather than viewing Africa through foreign keywords.Less
The tsetse fly is a pan-African insect that bites an infective forest animal and ingests blood filled with invisible parasites, which it carries and transmits into cattle and people as it bites them, leading to n'gana (animal trypanosomiasis) and sleeping sickness. This book examines how the presence of the tsetse fly turned the forests of Zimbabwe and southern Africa into an open laboratory where African knowledge formed the basis of colonial tsetse control policies. The book traces the pestiferous work that an indefatigable, mobile insect does through its movements, and the work done by humans to control it. The book restores the central role not just of African labor but of African intellect in the production of knowledge about the tsetse fly. It describes how European colonizers built on and beyond this knowledge toward destructive and toxic methods, including cutting down entire forests, forced “prophylactic” resettlement, massive destruction of wild animals, and extensive spraying of organochlorine pesticides. Throughout, the book uses African terms to describe the African experience, taking vernacular concepts as starting points in writing a narrative of ruzivo (knowledge) rather than viewing Africa through foreign keywords.
Lester K. Spence
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816669875
- eISBN:
- 9781452947068
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816669875.003.0002
- Subject:
- Music, Popular
This chapter examines the politics of rap production, stressing the politics of rap realism and neoliberalism, as well as citing Imani Perry’s theorization of the role of realism within rap music. ...
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This chapter examines the politics of rap production, stressing the politics of rap realism and neoliberalism, as well as citing Imani Perry’s theorization of the role of realism within rap music. Rap realism is defined as rap that is chiefly concerned with the social conditions of (black) working class (urban) life. As an authenticating device, rappers and consumers use the real to distinguish between those who are true representatives and those who are not; the real becomes a place from which to judge and situate African American experience. The two most important forms of realism Perry identifies are descriptive realism, which creates a world for the listener through the eyes of the rapper, and argumentative realism, which critiques the reality that rappers depict.Less
This chapter examines the politics of rap production, stressing the politics of rap realism and neoliberalism, as well as citing Imani Perry’s theorization of the role of realism within rap music. Rap realism is defined as rap that is chiefly concerned with the social conditions of (black) working class (urban) life. As an authenticating device, rappers and consumers use the real to distinguish between those who are true representatives and those who are not; the real becomes a place from which to judge and situate African American experience. The two most important forms of realism Perry identifies are descriptive realism, which creates a world for the listener through the eyes of the rapper, and argumentative realism, which critiques the reality that rappers depict.
Marcia L. McCormick
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- May 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781501752216
- eISBN:
- 9781501752230
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501752216.003.0012
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This chapter reflects on the commitment of Lin Manuel Miranda's Hamilton: An American Musical to casting actors of color. Choosing a non-Broadway-style musical framework had consequences. Hip-hop, ...
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This chapter reflects on the commitment of Lin Manuel Miranda's Hamilton: An American Musical to casting actors of color. Choosing a non-Broadway-style musical framework had consequences. Hip-hop, R&B, and jazz all have roots in the African American experience in the United States, which meant that the casting for Hamilton was diverse, and that diversity was a feature, not a bug. Rather than portray the Founding Fathers as elite white men, Miranda wanted more people to see the story of the country's Founding as a story of people like them, as a way to validate an inclusive claim to equal citizenship. Critics of the show's casting call seeking nonwhite actors to audition charged that it was racist and would violate Title VII, the federal law that prohibits race discrimination in employment. Defenders argued that the casting call fell into an “authenticity” exception to the usual antidiscrimination rules and could hardly be said to limit equal employment opportunities for white performers, who dominate the field and have for the history of American theater.Less
This chapter reflects on the commitment of Lin Manuel Miranda's Hamilton: An American Musical to casting actors of color. Choosing a non-Broadway-style musical framework had consequences. Hip-hop, R&B, and jazz all have roots in the African American experience in the United States, which meant that the casting for Hamilton was diverse, and that diversity was a feature, not a bug. Rather than portray the Founding Fathers as elite white men, Miranda wanted more people to see the story of the country's Founding as a story of people like them, as a way to validate an inclusive claim to equal citizenship. Critics of the show's casting call seeking nonwhite actors to audition charged that it was racist and would violate Title VII, the federal law that prohibits race discrimination in employment. Defenders argued that the casting call fell into an “authenticity” exception to the usual antidiscrimination rules and could hardly be said to limit equal employment opportunities for white performers, who dominate the field and have for the history of American theater.
