Cartographies of Blackness and Black Indigeneities

278 Pages·2020·4.745 MB·English

by  George J. Sefa Dei (editor), Ezinwanne Odozor (editor), Andrea Vásquez Jiménez (editor)

Praise for Cartographies of Blackness and Black Indigeneities
“Our education of Blackness and Africanness for political action and social change
would be incomplete without attention to the perspectives, frameworks, theorizations,
analyses, and visions provided in Cartographies of Blackness and Black Indigeneities.”
—Carl E. James, Jean Augustine Chair in Education,
Community & Diaspora, York University
“Dei, Odozor, and Vasquez Jiminez’ edited book Cartographies of Blackness and Black
Indigeneities brings together a wonderfully wide range of voices on the issue of Blackness
and all its complexities. This text therefore is not only relevant to researchers and grad-
uate students but also community workers, policy makers, and individuals in the wider
society who need to be aware and ready to act on the challenges facing Black peoples
everywhere. Indeed, it is even more important in this political era when to be identified
as Black brings with it a host of difficulties. The multiplicity of spaces and perspectives
addressed in this volume certainly afford the readers the opportunity to come to “a
critical consciousness of our existential and ontological realities as African and Black
peoples” that, according the editors, is one of their objectives. Cartographies of Blackness
and Black Indigeneities provides the evidence for those of us wanting to make the case,
in our own voices, for the importance and significance of Blackness, Africanness and
Indigeneity and is therefore a must read.”
—Janice B. Fournillier, Georgia State University

CARTOGRAPHIES OF BLACKNESS AND
BLACK INDIGENEITIES

Cartographies of
Blackness and Black
Indigeneities
EDITED BY
George J. Sefa Dei, Ezinwanne Odozor
AND
Andrea Vásquez Jiménez

Gorham, Maine
Copyright © 2020 | Myers Education Press, LLC
Published by Myers Education Press, LLC
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Acknowledgments
Our sincere thanks go to Myers Educational Press for believing in our collective
scholarship and publishing this work. We have been moved on this journey by
a desire to mobilize our collective thought and politics to promote educational
and social change and to further explore the nuances, tensions, contentions and
complexities of Blackness and Indigeneity. For all those who have helped us in
our intellectual growth we pay homage.
Thank you to the students in my classes for continuing to challenge “the norm”
through your works of resistance and to the publishers of this book for your con-
tinued support.
— George J. Sefa Dei
To my parents, Ekwutosi & Livinus Odozor, for your example, wisdom, and love.
To my siblings—Uzo, Chioma, and Edo—thank you, thank you, thank you.
— Ezinwanne (Ezi) Odozor
Thank you to my parents, Adriana and Jairo Vásquez, for all of your sacrifices,
endless love, and support. Thank you to my mentor and amazing professor Nana
(Dr. George J. Sefa Dei) for your guidance and for always believing in me. Thank
you as well to my friends and community members for keeping me grounded and
holding transformative spaces together.
— Andrea Vásquez Jiménez

Contents
Introduction
Mapping Blackness: An Introduction xi
George J. Sefa Dei, Ezinwanne Odozor and Andrea Vásquez Jiménez (Editors)
Conceptualizing Blackness:
Theorizing Indigeneity
1. Teaching Race and (African) Indigeneity:
Personal Reflections of a Black Scholar 1
George J. Sefa Dei
2. Black Indigenization as Politics of Transformation:
Implications of the Zimbabwe Experiment 23
Munyaradzi Hwami and Edward Shizha
3. Making Peace with Movement: Dislocation and the Black Diaspora 41
Ezinwanne Toochukwu Odozor
Resisting Anti-Blackness and
Anti-Black Racisms
4. Writing Black Life: Theoretical Underpinnings 51
Marlon Simmons
5. Navigating Being a Tall Black Female in Hostile Environments 63
Carla Rodney
ix