Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 46

Most Historical Romance Novels Feature White Characters. But Authors are Bringing Color to the Genre

'When Netflix's Bridgerton Season 2, it swept the internet into the kind of frenzy that only a juicy love story can. The show takes place in an alternate past — an imagined history in which people of color occupy positions of power within English nobility. Bridgerton garnered praise for its inclusive casting and depiction of interracial romance. But in reality, the show's source material features exclusively white main characters, as do the majority of historical romance novels. New fans hoping to pick up a juicy romance novel may find themselves disappointed by the lack of representation within the plotlines. However, some authors of color write historical romance about people of color, centering them and their experiences within the historical context of the story. One of those authors is Beverly Jenkins. Known for her multicultural romance novels, Jenkins has been writing love stories about 19th-century Black Americans since the 1990s.'

We Need to Address Basketball Trafficking | Javier Wallace | TEDxDuke

'In this talk, Dr. Javier Wallace describes what basketball trafficking is and why it is important to center the players' humanity. He explains how an unregulated U.S. high school basketball system can place youth from around the globe in precarious situations. Javier believes North Carolina is the best place to address this issue. Dr. Wallace is the "Master Storyteller" and uses the spaces and places that we engage in our everyday lives to disrupt histories, ideas, and symbols. Dr. Wallace has led guided tours worldwide through Black Austin Tours and AfroLatinx Travel to transform the public space into a classroom. Currently, Dr. Wallace is the inaugural Race and Sport Postdoctoral Associate in the African and African American Studies Department at Duke University. He is completing his first book Sueños del Norte: Black Panamanian Hoop Dreams & the Realities of Basketball Trafficking, detailing human trafficking and the abuse of the F-1 Student Visa in U.S. high school basketball.'

Millennials Are Killing Capitalism: "Everybody Changes In The Process Of Building A Movement" – Ruth Wilson Gilmore on Abolition Geography

'Millennials Are Killing Capitalism welcomes Dr. Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Professor of Earth & Environmental Sciences and Director of the Center for Place, Culture, and Politics at the City University of New York Graduate Center. Co-founder of many grassroots organizations including the California Prison Moratorium Project, Critical Resistance, and the Central California Environmental Justice Network, she is author of the prize-winning Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing California. Wilson Gilmore discusses her latest book Abolition Geography: Essays Toward Liberation.'

Vox Conversations: The Racist Origins of Fat Phobia with Da'Shaun Harrison

'Vox’s Anna North talks with Da'Shaun Harrison, the activist, author, and 2022 Lambda Literary Award recipient for their book Belly of the Beast: The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness. Da'Shaun explains the ways in which society's anti-fatness is structural, and connected —historically and politically — to the structures of anti-Blackness that took root alongside slavery in America. Anna and Da'Shaun discuss common misunderstandings and myths about fatness, how these pathologies insidiously infiltrate the criminal justice system, and why Da'Shaun envisions a liberatory future in the idea of destruction.'

Conversations in Atlantic Theory • Ashley M. Williard on Engendering Islands: Sexuality, Reproduction, and Violence in the Early French Caribbean

'A discussion with Dr. Ashley M. Williard, an assistant professor in the Francophone Studies Program at the University of South Carolina, where her research examines disability, gender, and race in the early modern French-speaking world. Her research has appeared in publications including  Early Modern Black Diaspora Studies ,  Early Modern Women , and Esprit Créateur, among others. Her second book project, currently entitled Disruptive Minds: Madness in the Early French Atlantic, examines the ways mediated voices of the “mad” can expose sites of subjectivity that interrogate colonial power structures and archival silences. She was recently awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Stipend for work on this new project. Our conversation here focuses on her first book, entitled  Engendering Islands: Sexuality, Reproduction, and Violence in the Early French Caribbean published by University of Nebraska Press in 2021 where she argues how reconstructions of masculinity and femininity upheld slavery and nascent ideas of race in the seventeenth-century Antilles.' 

In Her Shoes Podcast: Issa Rae Is Having a ‘Good-ass Summer’

'On this epiosde of the In Her Shoes podcast, the writer, producer, and comedian Issa Rae sat down with the Cut’s editor-in-chief, Lindsay Peoples, to talk about taking breaks and taking care. Known for her bevy of beloved comedy series, Insecure, The Misadventures of an Awkward Black Girl, and, most recently, Rap Sh!t, Rae is being more intentional about resting between her many projects these days. Not least because Rae also runs Hoorae, an umbrella production company that includes ColorCreative, a talent-management company dedicated to supporting diverse creators. For Rae, the company is about allowing creators to tell stories across different spaces. Now in her “mogul era,” Rae is building a multidimensional empire and bringing lots of talented people along with her.'

Into America with Trymaine Lee: To All My Sons – A Conversation with Shaka Senghor

'There’s a prevailing narrative within our society when it comes to Black men, one which was spelled out in detail more than fifty years ago, but which continues to sit right at home in our country’s family of stereotypes about Blackness. The narrative goes that Black men don’t stick around to parent the children we father. Shaka Senghor is out to change that narrative. His most recent book, Letters to the Sons of Society, is written as a collection of letters to his own two sons, born twenty years apart. Shaka’s oldest son grew up without him present – he was born six months after Shaka entered prison for a murder he committed when he was 19. His younger son was born after Shaka was released, and he grew up with a father who was a successful author and constant loving presence in his life. The book traces Shaka’s journey as a Black man in America and aims to unpack the toxic and misguided messages about masculinity, mental health, love, and success that boys learn from an early age.'

Dope Labs with Zakiya Whatley & Titi Shodiya: Mind the Digital Gap - Lab 072 with Dr. Nicol Turner-Lee

'It feels like everyone is online these days, but is that really the case? In this lab, Titi and Zakiya discuss the state of internet access in the US, digital disparities in minoritized communities, and how algorithm bias affects us in real life. Guest: Dr. Nicol Turner-Lee.'

Erroll Garner Uncovered with Robin D.G. Kelley: Jason Moran / One World Concert

'On this episode of Erroll Garner Uncovered,  Jason Moran joins host Robin D.G. Kelley for a journey through Garner’s One World Concert album. From his early days studying with Jaki Byard at the Manhattan School of Music, to his work on Geri Allen’s tribute to Concert By The Sea, there are few artists in the world with a better understanding of Garner’s unique artistry. On this special episode, Moran lays out a path for future Garner scholars to follow and steps behind the piano to unravel the complex harmony in one of Garner’s previously unreleased introductions.'

Warner Music Group Global DEI Institute: Charles Wright, DJ Spinna and Mark Anthony Neal Talk Black Music

'Join WMG's DEI Global Institute faculty member Dr. Mark Anthony Neal, Charles Wright of Charles Wright and the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band, and DJ Spinna as they reflect on the Titans of Soul and their impact on music today.'