Journal of Black Studies current issue

The Institutional Vision of Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Abelman, R., Dalessandro, A. — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:59:02 PDT

Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have been subjected to harsh criticism within the higher education community. A common theme is that the shared and archaic mission of these institutions compromises academic standards and keeps individual schools from effective leadership and competing for financial resources and quality students. A content analysis of the mission and vision statements from HBCUs was performed, and key linguistic components found to constitute a well-conceived, viable, and easily diffused institutional vision were isolated. The prevalence of these components in comparison to other types of academic institutions is discussed, and ways in which this information can be used to address the current challenges facing HBCUs are presented.

The Power of Black Magic: The Magical Negro and White Salvation in Film

Glenn, C. L., Cunningham, L. J. — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:59:02 PDT

Movies featuring a "magical" or spiritually gifted Black lead character have been released for many years, and the trend continues to grow in popularity. These Black characters, often referred to as "magical Negroes," generally focus their abilities toward assisting their White lead counterparts. At first glance, casting the Black and White leads in this manner seems to provide examples of Black and White characters relating to each other in a constructive manner; however, a closer examination of these interactions suggests a reinvention of old Black stereotypes rather than authentic racial harmony. Using a textual analysis of eight selected films: the Matrix trilogy—The Matrix (1999), The Matrix Reloaded (2003), and The Matrix Revolutions (2003)— The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000), The Green Mile (1999), Bringing Down the House (2003), Nurse Betty (2000), and Bruce Almighty (2003), this study formalizes a definition of the magical Negro and determines how these characterizations reinvent traditional Black stereotypes of mammy, jezebel, and Uncle Tom. This study reflects on the complex nature of the portrayal and acceptance of Blacks in contemporary times because these roles may commingle limited progress with traditionally racist stereotypes.

Skin Bleachers' Representations of Skin Color in Jamaica

Charles, C. A. D. — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:59:02 PDT

This article deals with skin bleachers’ representations of skin color and the reasons that inform their representations. A content analysis was done of the reasons the participants give for bleaching their skin. The participants bleach their skin to remove facial blemishes, to make their faces "cool," as a result of peer influence, to lighten their complexion, to appear beautiful and to attract a partner, to follow a popular fad, and to have the visual stimulus of the bleached skin because it makes them feel good. In Jamaican society, negative representations of dark skin indicate that dark skin is devalued, whereas light skin is valued. The hegemonic representation that elevates light skin over dark skin and guides the behavior of the skin bleachers has its roots in socializing institutions of the larger cultural milieu. The interaction of the government, the church, the education system, the media, formal culture, and popular culture from the colonial period to the present sends repeated messages that light skin is superior to dark skin.

Gods, Ancestors, and Hermeneutics of Liberation in Ayi Kwei Armah's Two Thousand Seasons

Mtshali, K. — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:59:02 PDT

The objective of this article is to articulate the hermeneutics of liberation in Ayi Kwei Armah’s Two Thousand Seasons. Premised on an assertion that Two Thousand Seasons is divisible into three sections—the realm of the godhead, the realm of the ancestors, and the realm of the living—this article will argue that the protagonists of the novel use land, an abode of the ancestors, as a text through which they form themselves into a healing community. Reinterpreting African belief systems’ claim of connectedness of the ancestors to the gods and the godhead, this article will assert that when the protagonists have authentic relationship with each other and their world, they constitute gods or creative forces and consequently have a glimpse of the godhead. Commencing by articulating African belief systems’ concepts of godhead, gods, and ancestors, this article concludes by describing the hermeneutic project of the novel’s protagonists.

Being in and out of Africa: The Impact of Duality of Ethiopianism

Jalata, A. — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:59:02 PDT

This article critically examines how the duality inherent in the concept of Ethiopianism shifts back and forth between claims of a "Semitic" identity when appealing to the White, Christian, ethnocentric, occidental hegemonic power center and claims of an African identity when cultivating the support of sub-Saharan Africans and the African diaspora while, at the same time, ruthlessly suppressing the history and culture of non-Semitic Africans of the various colonized peoples, such as Oromos. Successive Ethiopian state elites have used their Blackness to mobilize other Africans and the African diaspora for their political projects by confusing original Africa, Ethiopia, or the Black world with contemporary Ethiopia (former Abyssinia) and at the same time have allied with Euro-American powers and practiced racism, state terrorism, genocide, and continued subjugation on the indigenous Africans who are, today, struggling for self-determination and multinational democracy. Exposing the racist discourse of Ethiopianism and liberating the mentality of all Africans and the African diaspora from this "social cancer" must be one of the tasks of a critical paradigm of Afrocentricity. Developing Oromummaa (Oromo culture, identity, and nationalism), the Oromo national movement engages in such a liberation project.

The Effects of Black Identity on Candidate Evaluations: An Exploratory Study

Sullivan, J. M., Arbuthnot, K. N. — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:59:02 PDT

Although Barack Obama’s entrance into the 2008 presidential campaign has been warmly received by Whites, Blacks have been somewhat ambivalent. Some even have claimed that Obama is not "Black." The case of Barack Obama brings to the forefront the prospect of intragroup identity differences that exist among Blacks and the potential importance of a candidate’s racial background in elections. Consequently, the authors ask the following questions: (a) Does the racial background of a political candidate affect Black voters’ support and evaluation of a candidate’s personal attributes (i.e., trust, concern, strength, and qualification)? and (b) Focusing purely on the treatment groups separately (White, biracial, and Black candidates), does Black identity affect Blacks’ support and evaluation of a candidate’s personal attributes? The experimental results of this exploratory study find race does make a difference on candidate support, and Black identity influences the way in which Black respondents perceive White, biracial, and Black candidates. As a result, these findings suggest that differences in how Blacks feel about a candidate will depend on the candidate’s racial background, their own attitudes and beliefs about being Black, and where they fall on various demographic and political measures.

African American Student Athletes and Sports Media Consumption

Bun Lee, E., Browne, L. A. — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:59:02 PDT

This study measures the use of media for sports information among African American student athletes. Television was indicated as the primary source of sports information by about one third of the target group, whereas newspapers were used much less as a source. About one fourth got their information from multiple sources. A somewhat unexpected finding was the limited use of sports radio as a source. Female respondents used media less frequently for sports information compared to male athletes.

Racial Homogenization and Stereotypes: Black American College Students' Stereotypes About Racial Groups

Nunnally, S. C. — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:59:02 PDT

Using data from an original survey with a localized convenience sample of Black college students, the 2004 Black American Socialization and Trust Survey (BASTS), this article examines whether Black American college students view other racial groups in stereotypic ways. Results of BASTS suggest that, despite some stereotypic views of racial groups, there is limited support for extreme subscription to either positive or negative stereotypes of racial groups. However, certain positive and negative stereotypes are more evident for specific racial groups. Respondents tend to think about Blacks, Asians, and Latinos in more positive ways than Whites and people in general.

Black Students and International Education: An Assessment

Penn, E. B., Tanner, J. — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:59:02 PDT

Black students participate in international education or study abroad experiences far less than other college students. The reasons, as stated in previous literature, include choice of major, attrition rates, lower levels of social economic affluence, and the lack of encouragement and support. These conclusions were tested with a sample of Black high school graduates enrolled in a residential, summer college-preparatory program. Results contradicted previous findings and led to the creation of a model to increase Black students’ participation in international education through a service learning pedagogy using short, intensive study abroad experiences.

When and Where I Enter: Anna Julia Cooper, Afrocentric Theory, and Africana Studies

Hubbard, L. C. — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:59:02 PDT

Anna Julia Cooper provides an important, though often overlooked, Africana intellectual history and philosophy in the field of Africana Studies generally and Black women’s history particularly. Many of the studies on Anna Julia Cooper’s life and philosophy have been done outside of the discipline of Africology, and as a result, her work has primarily been placed in the feminist and literary studies field. While it can be stated that her speeches and writings have greatly contributed to the growth of these philosophies, Cooper’s most fundamental and least recognized intellectual contribution is to the establishment and advancement of the Afrocentric discourse. There is an urgent need to recover and reclaim Anna Julia Cooper, her foremothers, and contemporaries who have not been thoroughly discussed within Africana studies as agents of cultural change in their communities and at large. In this article, Cooper’s intellectual thought is situated at the center and examined for its significance to the discourse and development of Africana studies.

Akhenaten to Origen: Characteristics of Philosophical Thought in Ancient Africa

Asante, M. K., Ismail, S. — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:59:02 PDT

This article examines the context and content of two African philosophers, Akhenaten and Origen, living hundreds of years apart, to establish through reference to texts and records that the memories of the old system found their way into the era of Christian development. The authors contend that the religious ideas that originated in ancient Egypt did not vanish with the arrival of the Christian faith. Indeed, they suggest that there is a connective link, an intellectual chain, a continuity of form and substance that exists from Akhenaten to Origen. The authors argue that although there was a break in the ancient tradition when Christianity entered Africa, it was not an immediate or a clean break, as if one had snapped a twig.

Circles of Freedom and Maturation in Hannah Crafts' The Bondwoman's Narrative

Jua, R. M. — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:59:02 PDT

Posthumously published in 2002 and providentially so according to Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s account, Hannah Crafts’ The Bondwoman’s Narrative, written circa 1855, seems to possess more than one life. It simply refused to die in obscurity or, as Marcia Ann Gillespie has opined, to be "shrouded in silence." Does the narrative simply converge with other slave narratives of the 19th century as it depicts Hannah’s flight from slavery to freedom, or can Crafts’ novel be situated at the very beginnings of Black feminism? Further interrogation of the narrative discloses that Crafts weaves themes of growth and embraces symbols such as houses, sleep, and journeys in the typical 19th-century manner of mainstream writers like Samuel Richardson, Daniel Defoe, and Charles Dickens in England and Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, and Walt Whitman in America to situate her work within the American literary renaissance.

Afrocentricity and the Western Paradigm

Monteiro-Ferreira, A. — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:59:02 PDT

This article explores the similarities between Afrocentricity and postmodernism with an eye toward defining their responses to hegemony. The author argues that these ideas share similar platforms, although they may have been derived from different experiences. Clearly, the assault on all forms of prejudice, bigotry, hierarchical arrangements, and class discriminations are at the base of both ideas. By examining the intellectual history and details of the postmodern movement the author seeks to provide its characteristics that relate to the Afrocentric idea.

Superior Self-Regulatory Skills in African American College Students: Evidence From Alcohol and Tobacco Use

Ernst, F. A., Hogan, B., Vallas, M. A., Cook, M., Fuller, D. — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:59:02 PDT

Excessive drinking is more common among Whites (W) than African Americans (AA) on college campuses, but the reasons for this are not clear. The authors investigated demographic and personality factors in a group of 369 W and 202 AA college students, finding that alcohol consumption was significantly less prevalent among AA students (69%) than W students (78%) (p = .02) and that binge drinking was significantly less frequent in AA drinkers (42% past month, 60% past year) than W drinkers (56%, 79%) (p < .00001). Cigarette smoking was also dramatically less frequent in AA students (5%) than W students (28%) (p < .00001). AA students also scored significantly higher on Overcontrolled Hostility (M = 18.2, SEM = 0.40) than did W students (M = 15.7, SEM = 0.19) (p < .00001). The authors conclude that AA college students are a more self-selected group of high achievers who reveal evidence of superior self-regulatory skills.

Something Wicked This Way Comes: A Historical Account of Black Gangsterism Offers Wisdom and Warning for African American Leadership

Cureton, S. R. — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:59:02 PDT

Black Americans who exist outside of the American Dream have historically had a direct relationship with street revolutionaries and ghetto superstars more than the appointed Black leadership. Hence, it continues to be an unfair criticism for any "integrated" Black leader to suggest that another Black leader is not authentic enough to have universal appeal, particularly when there is a noticeable social distance between the majority of Black leaders (past and present) who emerge from the middle class and the Black underclass. The gang has traditionally been a significant socialization agent in gangland areas; thus, Black leadership should access the wisdom of the gang when looking for answers to the tough life course conditions of the urban underclass resident. This article provides a brief history about Black gangs in an attempt to provide some insight relative to just how significant the Black gang has been to the Black experience in America.

Book Review: Baker, H. A., Jr. (2008). Betrayal: How Black Intellectuals Have Abandoned the Ideals of the Civil Rights Era. New York: Columbia University Press

Shondell Miller, D. — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:59:02 PDT