369 p., Reconstructs the process of migration, assimilation, and the realization of full sociopolitical participation in the United States in terms of the relationship between peoples of African descent--who were compelled to migrate as slaves across the Middle Passage, and who also voluntarily immigrated from various localities within the Black Atlantic--and select groups of immigrants from other locations around the globe. The author concentrates on novels by William Faulkner, Paule Marshall, James Baldwin, and cartoonist Chris Ware, and examine closely how these authors, in their respective texts, work to restructure, reimagine, and thereby challenge the enshrined American narratives of national belonging and acculturation through literary constructions of the identities and experiences of peoples of African descent, as migrants themselves, in tandem with their social, political, economic, sexual, racial, and cultural engagements with other immigrants to the nation-state.
How do people respond to the news that they are HIV positive? To date, there have been few published qualitative studies of HIV diagnosis experiences, and none focusing on Caribbean people. Twenty-five HIV-positive Caribbean people in London, UK, related their diagnosis experience and its immediate aftermath in semi-structured interviews. Diagnosis with HIV caused profound shock and distress to participants, as they associated the disease with immediate death and stigmatisation. The respondents struggled with "biographical disruption", the radical disjuncture between life before and after diagnosis, which led them into a state of liminality, as they found themselves "betwixt and between" established structural and social identities. Respondents were faced with multifaceted loss: of their known self, their present life, their envisioned future and the partner they had expected to play a role in each of these. A minority of accounts suggest that the way in which healthcare practitioners delivered the diagnosis intensified the participants' distress. This research suggests that healthcare practitioners should educate patients in specific aspects of HIV transmission and treatment, and engage closely with them in order to understand their needs and potential reactions to a positive diagnosis. Adapted from the source document.
59 p., Investigates the demands made in negotiations between white colonists, gens de couleurs, and insurgents in the opening months of the Haitian Revolution. Argues that, at least initially, demands for general emancipation were not made, but instead that insurgents sought the amelioration of working conditions on plantations and gens de couleur asked for political rights.
169 p., Examines entanglements of race, place, gender, and class in Puerto Rican reggaetón. Based on ethnographic and archival research in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and in New York, New York, I argue that Puerto Rican youth engage with an African diasporic space via their participation in the popular music reggaetón. By African diasporic space, the author refers to the process by which local groups incorporate diasporic resources such as cultural practices or icons from other sites in the African diaspora into new expressions of blackness that respond to their localized experiences of racial exclusion. Participation in African diasporic space not only facilitates cultural exchange across different African diasporic sites, but it also exposes local communities in these sites to new understandings and expressions of blackness from other places. As one manifestation of these processes in Puerto Rico, reggaetón refutes the hegemonic construction of Puerto Rican national identity as a "racial democracy."
African Consciences is a Parisian based initiative of artistes from the `Black Atlantic' and Africa. They use music to shape a discourse on their identity in relation to Africa, strongly bound to consciousness. The musical itinerary provided by reggae and hip hop constitutes what they see as a means for action to bring alive a "global African network". In this chapter I will reconsider the practice of repatriation, and the meanings it conveys now. I will try to analyse it through African Consciences' "Door of no Return" where they intend to travel back the road of the trans Atlantic trade in Africans. African Consciences has a mediated relation to Africa through roads that join their musical practice to their understanding of African history and tradition. It also carries an ideological intent to bring forth a global Africa through the articulation of routes and roots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR].
195 p., Paule Marshall's The Chosen Place, The Timeless People (1969), Gayl Jones' Corregidora (1975), and Octavia Butler's Kindred (1979) enhance our conceptualization of black aestheticism and black nationalism as cultural and political movements. The writers use the novel as genre to question the ideological paradigm of a black nationalist aesthetic by providing alternative definitions of community, black women's sexuality, and race relations. Because of the ways in which these writers respond to black aestheticism and black nationalism, they transform our understanding of movements often perceived as sexist, racist, homophobic, and anti-Semitic.
Reads Carnival-related performances in relationship to the colonial and national histories of the circulation of Indian and black women's bodies in Trinidad and Tobago, asking what is at stake in these occupations of genre, form, and performative presence in the latest global scenes of late capitalism (where image and sound, as cultural productions, are always in circulation beyond the scope of the nation, and their own "original" referents).
In 2006, the Peruvian government passed a law that made racial discrimination a crime punishable by incarceration. This law, part of a multicultural reform in Peru, can be seen as an effective recognition of the reality of racism in Peruvian society. Such recognition, however, contrasts with official depictions of Peru as a country without racism, and of Peruvians as people who deny the existence of racism in their society.
This essay analyzes representations and imaginaries of blackness in contemporary Puerto Rico, by focusing on the debates raised by 'Raices'/(Roots) (2001), the Banco Popular video special about traditional Afro-Puerto Rican rhythms of bomba and plena. These debates divided public opinion in Puerto Rico and included members of academia, musicologists, bomba and plena groups, and the San Anton (Ponce) community residents. They refer to the ways Puerto Ricans 'speak the unspoken,' that is, the ways Puerto Ricans talk about race and its intersectionalities on the island and in the diaspora.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
Focuses on cultural manifestations of pan-Americanism through the development of Haitian folkloric dance by the Haitian-born dance director Jean-Léon Destiné and the U.S. African American dance educator Lavinia Williams. As early as the mid-1930s, the Haitian government began to support the advancement and consumption of Haitian cultural arts to increase tourism to the country. In fact, many Caribbean administrations encouraged similar investments in tourism during this time to complement industrialization and to answer the dilemmas of debt, unemployment, and failing economies. The work of Destiné and Williams sought to modernize Haitian dance or, rather, to discipline it, classify it, and theatricalize it so Haiti’s original art form could be exhibited on the world stage and educate audiences about Haitian history and culture. The establishment of cultural institutions and the training of Haitian dancers by a U.S. African American choreographer affirmed not only the spirit of pan-Americanism’s cultural exchange programs, but also the creation of an alternative world by black dancers in which African-based art forms were celebrated and in consistent dialogue with Western culture.
Grassroots Haitian movements for social justice have set themselves a formidable task: not only addressing the ongoing humanitarian crisis, but also challenging the reconstruction effort to include their leadership and avoid reproducing the conditions that helped make the earthquake so disastrous.
Objective: To explore the maternity care experiences and expectations of United Kingdom (UK)-born ethnic minority women. Methods: Qualitative in-depth interviews with 34 UK-born mothers of Black Caribbean, Black African, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Irish descent, recruited mainly from nine National Health Service (NHS) maternity units in England. Results: Overall, women felt that their ethnic background did not matter at all with respect to the care they received. UK-born women's familiarity with the system and the absence of language barriers were felt to be influential in getting treated the same as White women. Women stressed the need for professionals to be 'sensitive' and 'delicate' in their interactions and wanted 'continuity of care'. In general, they were positive about the adequacy of the information given during their antenatal appointments, but some women found it difficult to get access to antenatal classes. Women valued good communication and consistent information, with their views acknowledged and their questions answered consistently. They also expressed the need for better physical environments in maternity units. Conclusions: Our findings contribute to the growing evidence about the need to improve maternity and postnatal care, and to develop more sensitive and women-centred care for all women irrespective of ethnic background.
Focuses on discourses of queer subjectivity, Maroon identity, and their relationship to Caribbean nationalism. A key aspect of the argumentis the idea that both queerness and marronage are marked by complex insider/outsider identity positions that resist and complicate binarist discourses of belonging and unbelonging.
(NNPA) - Brazil has long been the best kept secret of the Black Diaspora. Its population of more than 100 million Blacks (51 percent of the total population) makes it at least the second largest Black population in the world. This nation has been a sleeping giant in the global arena but is taking big steps to enter into the distinction of a First World Nation. Right now it is a leader of the emerging Second World nations and takes the leadership role with India at all global and United Nations conferences and summits. Brazil's President Lula da Silva proudly considers himself the leader of "People of Color". On the other hand, Brazil's bid via Rio de Janeiro was a super winner. It vowed to rebuild the slums of Rio and empower the masses. The infrastructure, job opportunities and contractual bidding would be thoroughly diverse and would make the Olympics Committee proud. It was a slam dunk! In the end it was Rio de Janeiro in first place, Madrid in second, Tokyo is third and the stinky Chicago bid dead last.
The article reviews the book “'New Negroes from Africa': Slave Trade Abolition and Free African Settlement in the Nineteenth-Century Caribbean," by Rosanne Marion Adderley.
Part of a special journal issue dedicated to strategies for societal renewal in Haiti., Fonkoze, "the bank the poor can call their own," is a bank that provides more than just loans. It also sees access to reasonably priced savings, remittance transfer, and currency conversion as a right of even the poorest. This article tells the story of how -- after the devastation of the 2010 earthquake -- Fonkoze found itself positioned to serve Haiti's rural population before other banks were back on their feet.
Part of a special journal issue focusing on the role of the U.S. Foreign Service in Haiti., The work USAID and the State Department have done in Haiti after the January 12 earthquake shows why these organizations should take the lead in disaster relief.
637 p., Utilizes perceptions and attitudes towards the Haitian Revolution as a means to resituate party conflict and the boundaries of American nationalism in the Early Republic. The concept of nationalism is utilized in both the shaping of political culture and in the institutional formation of the state. As a result, the Haitian Revolution generated contradictory factional responses between the Federalists and Democratic-Republicans to the emergence of revolutionary abolitionism in the Atlantic. On a more popular level, the ordeal of Haiti engendered a fear of black militant abolitionism that hardened American attitudes towards the possibility of further slave emancipation in the United States.
John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
Location:
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
14 p., In the months before the January earthquake, Haiti and its criminal justice institutions were the subject of an unprecedented effort by two UN agencies to measure the state of the Rule of Law. Drawing on the results of that pre-quake assessment as well as on post-quake assessments of the justice sector, this paper raises four questions that should guide recovery and further development of the police, courts, and prisons in Haiti -- questions that focus attention on the meaning of justice sector reform for the people of Haiti, especially the poor. Tables.
Batrell,Ricardo (Author) and Sanders,Mark A. (Translator)
Format:
Book, Whole
Publication Date:
2010
Published:
Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press
Location:
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
240 p., In 1896, an illiterate, fifteen-year-old Afro-Cuban field hand joined the rebel army fighting for Cuba's independence. Though poor and uneducated, Ricardo Batrell believed in the promise of Cuba Libre, the vision of a democratic and egalitarian nation that inspired the Cuban War of Independence. After the war ended in 1898, Batrell taught himself to read and write and published a memoir of his wartime experiences,
The article presents an examination into the history and influence of the Black community of Montevideo, Uruguay during the 19th and 20th centuries. Details are given noting how the African community of Montevideo became a powerful cultural and advocacy hub for the African diaspora in Latin America. Description is provided regarding the various racial identity issues which manifested themselves in the Uruguayan community during the period along with analysis of the means by which they were addressed such as African journalism, social institutionalism and other forms of cultural production.
Fortin,Henri (Author), Barros,Ana Cristina Hirata (Author), and Cutler,Kit (Author)
Format:
Book, Whole
Publication Date:
2010
Published:
Washington, DC: World Bank
Location:
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
164 p., Transparent and reliable corporate financial reporting underpins much of the Latin America and Caribbean development agenda, from private-sector-led growth to enhanced financial stability, facilitating access to finance for small and medium enterprises, and furthering economic integration.For nearly 10 years, the World Bank has prepared diagnostic Reports on the Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSCs) on Accounting and Auditing (A and A) at the country level. In Latin America and the Caribbean, ROSC A and A reports have been completed for 17 countries. This book takes a step back and seeks to distill lessons from a regional perspective.
Relying mainly on the manuscript records of the Royal African Company, we explore the factors that contributed to the large gap between slave prices in Africa and the Caribbean. Twenty-two voyages from the mid-1680s are analyzed. These were conducted with hired ships and the payments to the shipowners and captains were recorded. In addition to transport costs, mortality and morbidity had a big effect on slave prices; while the earnings from the trade in gold and ivory had a moderating influence. The effect of mortality and transport costs on slave prices during the eighteenth century is also explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR].
WASHINGTON (NNPA) - As the despair and devastation caused by the 7.0 seismic earthquake that rocked Haiti in January threatens to shift to the periphery of America's consciousness, many of the nation's most respected celebrities, activists and businessmen recently joined forces to secure long-term relief for the ravaged country. Actoractivist Danny Glover and Haitian-born actor Jimmy Jean-Louis were honored at the To Haiti with Love benefit, Sun., March 21, a gathering of Black business leaders and entertainers designed to streamline both strategic and financial relief efforts.
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Location:
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
46 p., In the aftermath of the disastrous earthquake of January 12, 2010, Haiti will receive unprecedented aid for reconstruction and for its promising economic strategy; but given the country's legacy of corruption, massive aid could simply result in another massive Haitian failure. As explored in this paper, success hinges on facing corruption squarely and developing a hard-headed, politically sensitive anticorruption strategy.
This article analyses three examples of contemporary black British fiction that attempt to inscribe into the narrative of Britain the experience of the African diaspora:not only the life of immigrants from the former colonies after World War II, but also the less visible earlier settlement of Africans in the United Kingdom. This is a presence that official history has usually erased or underplayed in the construction of British identity, and these stories complicate the traditional concept of an ethnically homogeneous British past. Andrea Levy's Small Island (2004) serves as a necessary reminder that before Caribbean workers came to rebuild the UK in the late 1940s, they had participated in the war effort; David Dabydeen's A Harlot's Progress (2000) recreates the life of enslaved and free Africans in Britain in the late eighteenth century; Bernardine Evaristo's comic novel-in-verse The Emperor's Babe (2001) imagines the presence of an African family in Roman Britannia.
In this article, I explore the impact of slavery and the Slave trade on the most fundamental relationship in human societies, the bond between mother and child. Firstly, I review European accounts of motherhood and childrearing (pre-enslavement) in the African cultures of origin. Secondly, I address the traumas of dislocation and enslavement during the Middle Passage. This is followed by some insights into the experiences of women and children in Caribbean Slave societies where I argue that, despite the harsh conditions, African-derived conceptualisations of motherhood and parenting endured. I conclude with a brief consideration of the reverberations of slavery into the post slavery era, specifically in relation to European attempts to change African-derived practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR];.
Journal Article, Taking an Afrocentric approach to the study of Africans who were enslaved by the Spanish in Mexico, the author traveled to Mexico on many occasions to study the retention of African cultural forms, concepts, practices, and values. This article provides the reader with a critical literature brief on the issues surrounding the current discourse.
"These talented writers are about to embark on 14 wholly different and fascinating itineraries, from exploring ancient scrolls in Timbuktu, to the Anglican Church in Uganda, to Somaliland's elections, to name a few," says Tom Burke, the Achebe Center program manager. "It is a landmark project, and our partners - large and small - across the continent have lent enthusiasm and support. It's an exciting time to watch these pilgrimages unfold, and it will be quite something to read these books once their pages are written."
Olaniyan,Tejumola (Author) and Sweet,James H. (Author)
Format:
Book, Whole
Publication Date:
2010
Published:
Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press
Location:
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
363 p., "Most of the book's chapters derive from a two-day international symposium held at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in March 2006." Includes Paget Henry's "Caribbean Sociology, Africa, and the African Diaspora" and Carolyn Cooper's "African Diaspora Studies in the Creole-Anglophone Caribbean: A Perspective from the University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica"
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
Catalogue of an exhibition held at Tate Liverpool (Liverpool), 29 Jan. - 25 Apr. 2010., 12 p., Gilroy has argued that racial identities are historically constructed, formed by colonization, slavery, nationalist philosophies, and consumer capitalism.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
432 p., Religion is one of the most important elements of Afro-Caribbean culture linking its people to their African past, from Haitian Vodou and Cuban Santeria—popular religions that have often been demonized in popular culture—to Rastafari in Jamaica and Orisha-Shango of Trinidad and Tobago. In Afro-Caribbean Religions, Nathaniel Samuel Murrell provides a comprehensive study that respectfully traces the social, historical, and political contexts of these religions.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
219 p., This book investigates Kamau Brathwaite's and Derek Walcott's postcolonial debates, reading them against the traditional sites of the Caribbean imaginary.
Explores the experiences of Caribbean women teachers who are recruited to teach in a mid sized Southern city. Narrative methods were used to analyze four Barbadian women teachers' perspectives on their: initial experiences and challenges; teaching philosophies and approaches to teaching American students; and successful transition into Louisville, Kentucky's public schools after five years of teaching. In an age where school districts across the nation seek educators from overseas to address the well-documented teacher shortage, this study has implications for helping future international teacher candidates transition into U.S. public schools.
Gonzalez,Anita, (Author), Jackson,George O. (Photography), and Pellicer,Jose Manuel (Photography)
Format:
Book, Whole
Publication Date:
2010
Published:
Austin: University of Texas Press
Location:
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
163 p, rticulates African ethnicity and artistry within the broader panorama of Mexican culture by featuring dance events that are performed either by Afro-Mexicans or by other ethnic Mexican groups about Afro-Mexicans. She illustrates how dance reflects upon social histories and relationships and documents how residents of some sectors of Mexico construct their histories through performance.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
247 p., A study of the interchange between Cuba and Africa of Yoruban people and culture during the 19th century, with special emphasis on the Aguda community.
251 p., Analysis of characteristic traits of Afrodescendants in the Atabaque and the Conférence Haïtienne des Religieux et Religieuses research work. These publications are used to bring to light the Afro-Brazilian and Haitian theological reflection as an expression of their commitment to multicultural and mestizo Brazil as well as black Haiti. Based on the comparative study of the content of these theologies developed in Brazil and in Haiti, highlights two separate currents from 1986 to 2004 in theological databases. This delimitation corresponds to the phase of publication of results of three consultations about black theologies in Brazil in 1986, in 1995 and 2004. The CHR's works date from 1991 to 1999. This study aims to trace their practice of the Christian faith, as well as their development and their evolution.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
263 p., A study of the poetics of experimental writing, focusing on the work of W. E. B. Du Bois, Nathaniel Mackey, Suzan-Lori Parks and Kamau Brathwaite. Arguing that conceptions of time tend to be at the heart of political concerns throughout the sites of the African diaspora, this project challenges those notions of black writing that rest on the binary or oppression/resistance. Specifically concerned with poetry, Kamau Brathwaite and Nathaniel Mackey specifically confront and contravene the legacy of the lyric voice in both the presentation and topics of their work. Brathwaite invents a shifting system of fonts, margins and a capacious first-person singular/plural to articulate a time and a "we" of the Caribbean and the diaspora.
38 p., Analyzes total factor productivity growth in agriculture in Latin America and the Caribbean between 1961 and 2007. The results show that among developing regions, Latin America and the Caribbean shows the highest agricultural productivity growth. The highest growth within the region has occurred in the last two decades, especially due to improvements in efficiency and the introduction of new technologies. Within the region, land-abundant countries consistently outperform land-constrained countries.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
307 p, Contents: On diaspora and the Akan in the Americas -- Quest for the river, creation of the path: Akan cultural development to the sixteenth century -- History and meaning in Akan societies, 1500-1800 -- The most unruly: the Akan in Danish and Dutch America -- The antelope (adowa) and the elephant (esono): the Akan in the British Caribbean -- All of the Coromantee country: the Akan diaspora in North America -- Diaspora discourses : Akan spiritual praxis and the claims of cultural idenitity
The use and abuse of alcohol is prevalent in many nations across the globe, but few studies have examined within-group differences found in people of African descent in the United States, in Africa, and in the Caribbean. A review of current research about alcohol use, abuse, and treatment in people of African descent is presented, including information about risk factors and contributors to alcohol use.
Figueiredo,Maria Aparecida A. (Author), Rodrigues,Laura C. (Author), Barreto,Mauricio L. (Author), Lima,Jose Wellington O. (Author), Costa,Maria C. N. (Author), Morato,Vanessa (Author), Blanton,Ronald (Author), Vasconcelos,Pedro F. C. (Author), Nunes,Marcio R. T. (Author), and Teixeira,Maria Gloria (Author)
Format:
Journal Article
Publication Date:
2010
Location:
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Background: The physiopathology of dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF), a severe form of Dengue Fever, is poorly understood. We are unable to identify patients likely to progress to DHF for closer monitoring and early intervention during epidemics, so most cases are sent home. This study explored whether patients with selected co-morbidities are at higher risk of developing DHF. Methods: A matched case-control study was conducted in a dengue sero-positive population in two Brazilian cities. For each case of DHF, 7 sero-positive controls were selected. Cases and controls were interviewed and information collected on demographic and socio-economic status, reported co-morbidities (diabetes, hypertension, allergy) and use of medication. Conditional logistic regression was used to calculate the strength of the association between the co-morbidities and occurrence of DHF. Results: 170 cases of DHF and 1,175 controls were included. Significant associations were found between DHF and white ethnicity (OR = 4.70; 2.17-10.20), high income (OR = 6.84; 4.09-11.43), high education (OR = 4.67; 2.35-9.27), reported diabetes (OR = 2.75; 1.12-6.73) and reported allergy treated with steroids (OR = 2.94; 1.01-8.54). Black individuals who reported being treated for hypertension had 13 times higher risk of DHF then black individuals reporting no hypertension. Conclusions: This is the first study to find an association between DHF and diabetes, allergy and hypertension. Given the high case fatality rate of DHF (1-5%), we believe that the evidence produced in this study, when confirmed in other studies, suggests that screening criteria might be used to identify adult patients at a greater risk of developing DHF with a recommendation that they remain under observation and monitoring in hospital.
Preidis,Geoffrey A. (Author), Shapiro,Conor D. (Author), Pierre,Inobert (Author), Dyer,Monica J. (Author), Kozinetz,Claudia A. (Author), and Grimes,Richard M. (Author)
Format:
Journal Article
Publication Date:
May 2010
Published:
Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press
Location:
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The HIV/ AIDS pandemic disproportionately afflicts regions of the world that have minimal access to formal schooling and low literacy rates. Health educational interventions are difficult to evaluate efficiently in these settings because standard approaches such as written questionnaires cannot easily be employed. Describes a method of rapidly assessing health interventions among large groups that does not require the ability to read or write. This evaluation tool was tested within the context of a community-based HIV/AIDS drama education program in a low-literate region of rural Haiti.
Reports on an empirical investigation into how small, family-owned businesses in Jamaica raise financing for business start-up and business growth. Access to finance has been one of the most critical issues affecting the growth and survival of these firms in the Jamaican economy but very little empirical work has been done in this area. This study uses survey data collected from over 250 family-owned enterprises from all the industrial sectors in the economy and analyzed, using multivariate statistical techniques. The results revealed that internal sources of financing are usually used to finance business start-up while external sources are used to finance business growth.
Research on Caribbean dance has revealed consistent ongoing contredanse-related practices since the 17th c. in the Spanish islands and since the 18th c. in the French, British, Dutch, and former Danish islands. The Caribbean forms that emerged do not stand together in an obvious manner because of diverse names for similar configurations and different forms. The discussion, based on comparative fieldwork and a survey of Caribbean dance practices, attempts to overcome some of these difficulties and to show pointedly that Caribbean quadrilles by many names express the ongoing but submerged agency of African-descended performers, that Caribbean dance history and categorization are lacking, and that the royal pageantry that is associated with quadrille performance is significant.
Wintersteen,Benjamin (Author) and Browne,Katherine E. (Author)
Format:
Book, Whole
Publication Date:
2010
Published:
Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press
Location:
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
136 p., Examines the religious, mythological and performance elements of the Afro-Caribbean street festival. Using the theories of performance, political economy and symbolic analysis, this work shows how elements of African, European and South American cultures interact to produce a unique understanding of the colonial and post-colonial experience.
Archaeologists are studying changes in slaves' lives in the Caribbean and the United States. Some 57,000 artifacts have been recovered from Papine, ranging from tools to ceramics to glass bottles to beads. A number of ackee trees grow on the site, and oral tradition has it that ackee and other fruit trees are good indicators of historic habitation sites.
151 p., Black ethnic groups are often grouped together under global headings, ignoring the variations that may lead to different manifestations and expressions of depressive symptoms. Identifying intrapersonal, cultural and environmental pathways to successful mental health functioning among Black ethnic minority groups and subgroups is pivotal to the provision of culturally relevant mental health services. Methods. The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of variables that have been previously mentioned in the literature, such as cultural resources, psychosocial variables, neighborhood characteristics and perceived discrimination, on the levels of depression among Afro-Caribbean and African American and between Afro-Caribbean Blacks.
Background-Eligibility for rosuvastatin treatment for cardiovascular disease prevention includes a C-reactive protein (CRP) concentration >2 mg/L. Most observational studies of CRP and cardiovascular disease have been in Europeans. We evaluated the influence of ancestry on population CRP concentration to assess the implications for statin targeting in non-Europeans. Methods and Results-In a systematic review and meta-analysis among 221 287 people from 89 studies, geometric mean CRP was 2.6 mg/L (95% credible interval, 2.27 to 2.96) in blacks resident in the United States (n=18 585); 2.51 mg/L (95% CI, 1.18 to 2.86) in Hispanics (n=5049); 2.34 mg/L (95% CI, 1.99 to 2.8) in South Asians (n=1053); 2.03 mg/L (95% CI, 1.77 to 2.3) in whites (n=104 949); and 1.01 mg/L (95% CI, 0.88 to 1.18) in East Asians (n=39 521). Differences were not explained by study design or CRP assay and were preserved after adjustment for age and body mass index. At age 60 years, fewer than half of East Asians but more than two thirds of Hispanics were estimated to have CRP values exceeding 2 mg/L. HapMap frequencies of CRP polymorphisms known to associate with CRP concentration but not coronary heart disease events differed by ancestry. In participant data from the Wandsworth Heart and Stroke Study including European, South Asian and African, and Caribbean-descent subjects, body mass index, systolic blood pressure, and smoking contributed to between-group differences in CRP, but the majority of the difference in CRP was unexplained. Conclusions-Differences in CRP concentration in populations of diverse ancestry are sufficiently large to affect statin eligibility, based on a single CRP threshold of 2 mg/L, and only partially influenced by differences in variables related to cardiovascular risk. A single threshold value of CRP for cardiovascular risk prediction could lead to inequalities in statin eligibility that may not accurately reflect underlying levels of cardiovascular risk. (Circ Cardiovasc Genet. 2010;3:436-444.)
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
409 p., Contents: 1. pt. La comunidad afroporteña -- 2. pt. Disciplinamiento y mundo popular --
3. pt. Una comunidad en conflicto (tirando de las hilachas del folleto de Rolón).
Background: Ethnic differences in the prevalence of asthma among children in the UK are under-researched. We aimed to determine the ethnic differences in the prevalence of asthma and atopic asthma in children from the main UK ethnic groups, and whether differences are associated with differential distributions in social and psychosocial risk factors. Methods: 6,643 pupils aged 11-13 years, 80% ethnic minorities. Outcomes were asthma/wheeze with (atopic) and without hay fever/eczema. Risk factors examined were family history of asthma, length of residence in the UK, socioeconomic disadvantage, tobacco exposure, psychological well-being, and body mass index (BMI). Results: There was a pattern of lower prevalence of asthma in Black African boys and girls, and Indian and Bangladeshi girls compared to White UK. The overall prevalence was higher in Mixed Black Caribbean/White boys, with more atopic asthma in Black Caribbean boys and Mixed Black Caribbean/White boys due to more hayfever. Poor psychological well-being and family history of asthma were associated with an increased risk of asthma within each ethnic group. UK residence for <= 5 years was protective for Black Caribbeans and Black Africans. Increased BMI was associated with an increased reporting of asthma for Black Africans. Adjustments for all variables did not remove the excess asthma reported by Black Caribbean boys (atopic) or Mixed Black Caribbean/White boys. Conclusion: The protective effect of being born abroad accounted for ethnic differences in some groups, signalling a role for socio-environmental factors in patterning ethnic differences in asthma in adolescence.
Explores ethno-political identity in the English-speaking Caribbean & its Diasporas. Although being black was non-problematic in the early days of decolonization when most of the population was black, immigrants to European & North American cities where whites were the majority often suffered discrimination, a decline in social status, & a life filled with resentment. Following independence, ex-dentured East Indians, Chinese, Syrians, & light-skinned creoles in the Caribbean began to reassess their "blackness" & lighter skinned people were granted privileges not available to darker-skinned citizens. Meanwhile, black leaders who accepted the logic of capitalism ignored class critiques of capitalist structures of exploitation.
Atrial septal aneurysm (ASA) and patent foramen ovale (PFO) are not uncommon during routine echocardiographic scanning and were reported to be associated with stroke, transient ischemic attacks, and migrainous headache. To assess the prevalence of ASA and PFO according to ethnicity, we retrospectively studied 887 consecutive referrals to a General Cardiology and Hypertension clinics. All participants underwent transthoracic echocardiography (TTE). In some patients, the TTE was repeated using bubble contrast. Results: Atrial septal aneurysm was detected in 70 participants (7.9%) and PFO in 18 (2%). Atrial septal aneurysm, PFO, or their combination was detected in 12% of the Caucasian patients, 15% of the Afro-Caribbean, and 3.7% of the Indo-Asian patients. Conclusions: There was a lower prevalence of ASA and PFO and their combination in Indo-Asians and a higher rate in Afro-Caribbeans than in Caucasians. The higher prevalence in the Afro-Caribbean participants may contribute to the high incidence of stroke in black participants.
251 p., Argues that there is a difference between biological essentialism and racial authenticity. Essentialism is reactionary, whereas racial authenticity is thoughtful, constructed and aimed at countering common beliefs. Once authenticity is positioned as a means to an end and not an end itself, authenticity can be used as a way of reading social situations, questioning how authentic arguments are used in culture, and understanding why their use is sometimes necessary. Also, using authenticity as a way of reading social situations takes the focus off of the authentic representation of race and places attention on American society by examining how the authentic representation works in dialogue with other arguments about race. This study uses the Harlem Renaissance as a backdrop to view how Afro-Caribbeans inserted themselves into African American discourses on race. The dark skinned immigrants blended in visually, but were far removed from many of the formative racial experiences of their American peers. These people may have come to align with African Americans and fight white racism, but they were in fact taking up new identity positions and learning to perform forms of blackness on the fly. The works that are examined in the various chapters of this dissertation show Black writers as critical agents of change who work hard to balance their own personal needs with the needs of their race and position themselves within a racist society.
Background A growing number of European studies, particularly from Nordic countries, suggest an increased frequency of autism in children of immigrant parents. In contrast, North American studies tend to conclude that neither maternal ethnicity nor immigrant status are related to the rate of autism-spectrum disorders. Aims To examine the hypotheses that maternal ethnicity and/or immigration are linked to the rate of childhood autism-spectrum disorders. Method Retrospective case-note analysis of all 428 children diagnosed with autism-spectrum disorders presenting to the child development services in two centres during a 6-year period. Results Mothers born outside Europe had a significantly higher risk of having a child with an autism-spectrum disorder compared with those born in the UK, with the highest risk observed for the Caribbean group (relative risks (RRs) in the two centres: RR = 10.01, 95% CI 5.53-18.1 and RR = 8.89, 95% CI 5.08-15.5). Mothers of Black ethnicity had a significantly higher risk compared with White mothers (RR = 8.28, 95% CI 5.41-12.7 and RR = 3.84, 95% CI 2.93-5.02). Analysis of ethnicity and immigration factors together suggests the increased risk is predominately related to immigration. Conclusions Maternal immigration is associated with substantial increased risk of autism-spectrum disorders with differential risk according to different region of birth and possibly ethnicity.
With the rainy season creating additional strife in earthquake-ravaged Haiti, BET founder and business mogul Bob Johnson is bringing new hope to the Caribbean nation. Johnson's investment company, RLJ Companies, partnered with Global Building Solutions following the January natural disaster to develop mass housing and now has new plans to bring work and financial assistance to Haiti.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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204 p., International adoptions are both high-profile and controversial, with the celebrity adoptions and critically acclaimed movies such as Casa de los babys of recent years increasing media coverage and influencing public opinion. Neither celebrating nor condemning cross-cultural adoption, the author considers the political symbolism of children in an examination of adoption and migration controversies in North America, Cuba, and Guatemala. The book tells the interrelated stories of Cuban children caught in Operation Peter Pan, adopted Black and Native American children who became icons in the Sixties, and Guatemalan children whose 'disappearance' today in transnational adoption networks echoes their fate during the country's brutal civil war. Drawing from extensive research as well as from her critical observations as an adoptive parent, the author aims to move adoption debates beyond the current dichotomy of 'imperialist kidnap' versus 'humanitarian rescue.'.
[Mireille Durocher Bertin], 24, was crowned Miss Haiti after Magali Febles, former director of Miss Puerto Rico, organized a modest Miss Haiti contest as a way to promote the beauty of the Haitian people. Bertin, who speaks four languages, lost her luggage on the way to Las Vegas, along with all her pageant gowns, shoes, accessories, but fellow contestants and supporters have loaned her replacement items.
Argues that the bedrock of U.S. policy is an ideology of benevolent domination. Created at the time of the Spanish-American War, President Theodore Roosevelt captured this ideology perfectly in 1907 when he explained, "I am seeking the very minimum of interference necessary to make them good," and it is seen today in the 2004 report of the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba. Adapted from the source document.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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486 p., This encyclopedia set explores, in 760 articles and 3.6 million words, the dressed and adorned body across cultures and throughout history. Lavishly illustrated with over 2,000 images, it is essential for all students, scholars and practitioners of fashion and textiles, across disciplines.
Examines the impact of the Universal Negro Improvement League (UNIA) on the British colony of Bermuda where the majority black population was segregated and disenfranchised while white elites enjoyed total political and economic power. The efforts of UNIA leaders like Marcus Garvey made UNIA a global organization and strongly influenced Caribbean regional politics. Attention is given to the impact of tourism which became Bermuda's primary industry in the 1920s when blacks were evicted from their homes to make room for white resorts.
335 p., A central premise of this project is that individuals and communities perceive the significance of history differently depending on their historical conditions. Indeed, much of the emphasis on memory studies in the last two decades has been informed by an awareness of changing perspectives on the past. Thus, given its focus on black peoples in the United States and the Caribbean, this dissertation aims to illuminate an emergent historical consciousness in the African Diaspora in the late 20th century. This dissertation is divided into two sections. In Part I, "Ancestors: Exploring Historical Inheritances," I analyze Maryse Conde's Les derniers rois mages (1993) and Patrick Chamoiseau's Texaco (1993) as they interrogate the concept of familial lineage and query the significance of the past imagined as an inheritance. Whereas Chamoiseau questions the ability of written history to represent memory and experience, Conde empties the idea of heritage of all significance as new relationships to the past come to the fore. In Part II, "New Birth: Exploring Discourses of Reproduction," I focus on Gayl Jones' Corregidora (1975) and Audre Lorde's Zami: A New Spelling of My Name (1982) as they reveal the limitations of genealogical discourse. By creating their pasts and imagining their heritage, the characters in these texts challenge the primacy of lineage as they point toward other, more viable networks of community and belonging.
Brazil was discovered and, claimed by the Portuguese in 1500. By 1525, the first slave ships started to arrive. It was the first Western Hemisphere nation with slavery and it was the last (ending in 1888) to have this vile practice cease. The memories are bitter and hang over the head of this nation's history. This nation has been a sleeping giant in the global arena but is taking big steps to enter into the distinction of a First World Nation. Brazil's President Lula da Silva proudly considers himself the leader of "People of Color". He has even chastised President Barack Obama for not having enough concentration in this area. On the other hand, Brazil's bid via Rio de Janeiro was a super winner. It vowed to rebuild the slums of Rio and empower the masses. The infrastructure, job opportunities and contractual bidding would be thoroughly diverse and would make the Olympics Committee proud.
"I know he's looking down now on [President Obama] saying, 'Good job Barack, but you've got a lot more to do,'" said [Joseph Biden], who was introduced by the university's interim president, Sandra T. Thompson. "It's not merely the news reel, this is zeal," he said of the earthquake's impact on Haitian-Americans. "It's about their brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers." Of his visit to Miami's Haitian community, the vice president said his attempt to participate in an "off-the-record" visit to a church so that he could attend a Catholic Mass in Little Haiti resulted in Haitian-Americans demonstrating tremendous generosity, "even in the midst of their grief."
"I don't want to look arrogant, especially with [Cornel West]. But I believe he sat on the side of something he doesn't actually know," [Nancy Morejon] said of the open letter West and 59 other African Americans sent to Cuban President Raul Castro late last year. In it, they accused his government of mistreating civil rights activists and a "callous disregard" for its Black population. "Yes, there is racism in Cuba," Tomas Fernandez Robaina, a prolific writer about the social condition of Black Cubans, told me. The country "engaged in romanticism" when Castro ordered an end to racial discrimination nearly a half-century ago, Fernandez said. "Now we understand it will take more than goodwill to get rid of it, something Americans should know better than Cubans."
In this context, the achievements of yesterday and of today are intimately linked. Sojourner Truth thundered against slavery so that Frederick Douglass could agitate. Douglass agitated so that Thurgood Marshall could argue the law. Marshall argued so that Rosa Parks could sit. Parks sat so that Martin Luther King Jr. could stand. King stood so that young people could march. Young people marched so that Shirley Chisholm could dare to aim for Congress. Rep. Chisholm dared so that Jesse Jackson could run. Jackson ran so Barack Obama could win. And Obama won because a majority of voting Americans - red, yellow, brown, black and white - were ready to finally say: Yes, we can!
The community of Caribbean people in Panama represents the presence of another identity within Hispanic space, one contrasting with the mestizo national identity of that space. Over time these Caribbean migrants built their own entities and structures to ensure their livelihood and wellbeing. This article examines on the one major Caribbean Panamanian organization that is most prominent today, the Sociedad de Amigos del Museo Afroantillano de Panama (Society of Friends of the Afro-Antillean Museum of Panama) or SAMAAP.
"This is just the first step. We need to put Haiti on our agenda," said Fred Logon, a member of Black Voices. "In terms of the policy, we need a movement that will force the Obama administration to take a progressive approach to Haiti. I hope we can increase the importance of Haiti to the world at large. " "Haitians are very conscious for the need of education," [Leon Pamphile, Ph.D.] said. "The country is pretty much divided between city dwellers and countryside. If parents don't have money to pay for their children's school, there is no public school for them." "Americans have looked at Haiti as an example of what happens when Black men lead government," Pamphile said. "Haiti is always under the burden of having foreign loans, but now this is being forgiven."
96 p., Recent research indicates that among the different ethnic groups in the United States, African Americans report the highest level of self-esteem (Twenge & Crocker, 2002). However, the literature offers a monolithic categorization of African Americans. Black individuals from countries where Blacks are the majority are socialized to think differently about matters of race compared with the thinking of African Americans. Likewise, membership in the minority group will have different implications for Black Caribbeans. The current study examined the effects of racial socialization and resilience on the self-esteem of two groups of Black girls: African Americans and Black Caribbeans. Because of the theorized difference in racial socialization, it was hypothesized that the two groups would differ in their levels of self-esteem and that resilience would moderate the relationship between racial socialization and self-esteem. Participants consisted of 25 African American and 26 Black Caribbean high school students.
The claim to include the "color issue" in the Health Information Systems and the construction of the idea of "black population's health" was followed by many basic quantitative findings on racial inequalities in this field. The principle of fairness appears in the scientific-technical scenario and the necessary mechanism for the elaboration of policies to overcome racism in the field of health. The study presented here has a qualitative character, uses endorsed approaches in language field studies in the analysis of documents collected from 1992 to 2001, a period before introducing public policies by Brazilian Government on a federal amplitude. It was noted that the growth of the fight for human rights and its internationalization enabled the construction of policies against the various forms of violence, social inequality and obstacles that prevent the full exercise of citizenship.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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241 p, In Blackness in the White Nation, George Reid Andrews offers a comprehensive history of Afro-Uruguayans from the colonial period to the present. Showing how social and political mobilization is intertwined with candombe, he traces the development of Afro-Uruguayan racial discourse and argues that candombe's evolution as a central part of the nation's culture has not fundamentally helped the cause of racial equality. Incorporating lively descriptions of his own experiences as a member of a candombe drumming and performance group, Andrews consistently connects the struggles of Afro-Uruguayans to the broader issues of race, culture, gender, and politics throughout Latin America and the African diaspora generally.
220 p., Employs a black feminist diaspora literary lens to identify, define, trace, and speak to the African Diaspora as it functions in black women's diaspora fiction and informs our understanding of black women's diaspora identity. Considers three authors and novels by women of, in, and across the African Diaspora. The study centers on Sandra Jackson-Opoku's The River Where Blood Is Born as a primary site of analysis of diaspora formation and theorization, Dionne Brand's At the Full and Change of the Moon and Maryse Condé's Desirada as comparative textual and theoretical sites.
"Mother's Day is celebrated in so many ways throughout the world, the most popular to be sure is the brunch where the entire family can come together and celebrate mom together. It is interesting to note, however , that Mother's Day was first celebrated as a holiday - a holiday to commemorate women's public activism, women taking a stance to protect their families. And today in expressing our love and honouring mothers, is the least we can do", she said.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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221 p., Chronicling the period from the abolition of slavery in 1888 to the start of Brazil's military regime in 1964, Romo uncovers how the state's nonwhite majority moved from being a source of embarrassment to being a critical component of Bahia's identity.
Reiter,Bernd (Editor) and Mitchell,Gladys L. (Editor)
Format:
Book, Edited
Publication Date:
2010
Published:
Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers
Location:
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
251 p., Tackles issues ranging from white privilege to black power, from government policy to popular advocacy, and from historical injustices to recent victories. Includes Gladys L. Mitchell's "Politicizing blackness : Afro-Brazilian color identification and candidate preference," Angela Figueiredo's "Out of place : the experience of the black middle class," Mónica Treviño González's "Opportunities and challenges for the Afro-Brazilian movement," Keisha-Khan Y. Perry's "Racialized history and urban politics : black women's wisdom in grassroots struggles," Sales Augusto dos Santos' "Black NGOs and 'conscious' rap : new agents of the antiracism struggle in Brazil," Fernando Conceição's "Power and black organizing in Brazil," and Renato Emerson dos Santos' "New social activism : university entry courses for black and poor students."
Explanations of the Abolitionist movement's success in Brazil (1888) have, since the 1960s and 1970s, emphasized the movement's material context, its class nature, and the agency of the captives. These analyzzes have misunderstood and gradually ignored the movement's formal political history. Even the central role of urban political mobilisation is generally neglected; when it is addressed, it is crippled by lack of informed analysis of its articulation with formal politics and political history. It is time to recover the relationship between Afro-Brazilian agency and the politics of the elite. In this article this is illustrated by analysing two conjunctures critical to the Abolitionist movement: the rise and fall of the reformist Dantas cabinet in 1884-85, and the relationship between the reactionary Cotegipe cabinet (1885-88), the radicalisation of the movement, and the desperate reformism that led to the Golden Law of 13 May 1888.
In Message from the Grassroots, perhaps his most powerful speech, Malcolm X reminded us that "you don't catch hell because you're a Methodist or Baptist, you don't catch hell because you're a Democrat or a Republican, you don't catch hell because you're a Mason or an Elk... You catch hell because you're a black man.... All of us catch hell for the same reason." Malcolm could just as easily have said that we don't catch hell because we're Haitian or African American. A white supremacist system sees us as Black people. Abner Louima was not tortured because he was Haitian, nor was Amadou Diallo gunned down by the police because he was from Guinea. The offending officers saw no difference. In their eyes they were inferior, scorned Black men. Malcolm saw Black unity/ solidarity as the counter and corrective of racism and white supremacy.
Part of a special journal issue dedicated to strategies for societal renewal in Haiti., It's not the earthquake that kills people, it's the collapse of buildings that were poorly designed and built. This case narrative describes a building model that will work for Haiti and why it is critical to use a homeowner-driven model rather than a donor-driven one.
Part of a special journal issue dedicated to strategies for societal renewal in Haiti., The Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group is one of the few small- and medium-sized enterprise financing organizations currently operating in Haiti. It hopes to incubate independent, locally owned Haitian enterprises that can serve the needs of local communities using appropriate technology. More capital is needed in the country to help establish opportunities for future private-sector investment.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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179 p., This report supports the development of a Haitian state-building strategy by identifying the main challenges to more capable governance, evaluating existing plans for strengthening government institutions and improving the delivery of public services, and proposing a realistic and carefully limited set of critical actions. The recommended priorities, in the areas of public administration, justice, security, economic policy, infrastructure, education, and health care, merit the greatest degree of Haiti's and international donors' policy attention and financial commitment.
As President of the Institute of the Black World 21st Century (IBW) and Founder of the Haiti Support Project (HSP), I have just returned from leading a team to Haiti to allocate the first contributions from the IBW/HSP Haiti Relief Fund. A total of $56,000 was distributed to nine community-based/grassroots organizations including women's, youth and peasant groups for relief and capacity-building. Deeply concerned about the plight of Haitian children orphaned by the disastrous earthquake, our team also visited orphanages and assessed the progress of the Oasis Institute, an ambitious Initiative which is designed to relocate orphans and extended family members from tent communities to an interim camp with safe/secure environment, post-traumatic stress counseling and a world class education.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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48 p., Examines black history from 1968 until 2008, discussing race relations around the world, apartheid in South Africa, genocide in Rwanda, the assassination of Martin Luther King, affirmative action programs, Hurricane Katrina, artists and important figures of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Includes sections on "Black and British" and "Caribbean independence."
Hall,Kenneth O. (Author), Chuck-A-Sang,Myrtle (Author), and Hunte,Kenrick (Author)
Format:
Book, Whole
Publication Date:
2010
Published:
Kingston; Miami: Ian Randle Publishers
Location:
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
503 p, pt. 1. Globalisation and CARICOM external policy options -- pt. 2. South-South cooperation -- pt. 3. External trade negotiations: concerns and convergence -- pt. 4. Caribbean imperatives and concluding reflections.
