Dispatches from the Ebony Tower

by Marable, Manning

• ISBN13: 9780231114776
• ISBN10: 023111477X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-05-01
• Publisher: Columbia Univ Pr

Summary

What constitutes black studies and where does this discipline stand at the end of the twentieth century? In this wide-ranging and original volume, Manning Marable -- one of the leading scholars of African American history -- gathers key materials from contemporary thinkers who interrogate the richly diverse content and multiple meanings of the collective experiences of black folk.Here are numerous voices expressing very different political, cultural, and historical views, from black conservatives, to black separatists, to blacks who advocate radical democratic transformation. Here are topics ranging from race and revolution in Cuba, to the crack epidemic in Harlem, to Afrocentrism and its critics. All of these voices, however, are engaged in some aspect of what Marable sees as the essential triad of the black intellectual tradition: describing the reality of black life and experiences, critiquing racism and stereotypes, or proposing positive steps for the empowerment of black people.Highlights from Dispatches from the Ebony Tower:Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Manning Marable debate the role of activism in black studies.John Hope Franklin reflects on his role as chair of the President's race initiative.Cornel West discusses topics that range from the future of the NAACP through the controversies surrounding Louis Farrakhan and black nationalism to the very question of what "race" means.Amiri Baraka lays out strategies for a radical new curriculum in our schools and universities.Marable's introduction provides a thorough overview of the history and current state of black studies in America.

Author Biography

Manning Marable is professor of history and political science and director of the Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Introduction: Black Studies and the Racial Mountain	1	(30)
Manning Marable
PART ONE Theorizing the Black World: Race in the Postcolonial, Post-Civil Rights Era
Toward an Effective Antiracism	31	(21)
Nikhil Pal Singh
The Political Moment in Jamaica: The Dimensions of Hegemonic Dissolution	52	(23)
Brian Meeks
Sandoms and Other Exotic Women: Prostitution and Race in the Carribean	75	(15)
Kamala Kempadoo
Race and Revolution in Cuba: Africa American Perspectives	90	(18)
Manning Marable
The Fire This Time: Harlem and Its Discontents at the Turn of the Century	108	(13)
Johanna Fernandez
Crack Cocaine and Harlem's Health	121	(20)
Beverly Xaviera Watkins
Mindy Thompson Fullilove
PART TWO Mapping African American Studies
African American Studies and the ``Warring Ideals'': The Color Line Meets the Borderlands	141	(12)
Johnnella E. Butler
The Future of Black Studies: Political Communities and the ``Talented Tenth''	153	(5)
Joy James
Black Studies and the Question of Class	158	(4)
Bill Fletcher Jr
Black Studies: A Critical Reassessment	162	(9)
Maulana Karenga
Black Studies Revisited	171	(6)
Martin Kilson
Theorizing Black Studies: The Continuing Role of Community Service in the Study of Race and Class	177	(9)
James Jennings
A Debate on Activism in Black Studies	186	(9)
Henry Louis Gates Jr
Manning Marable
PART THREE Afrocentricity and Its Critics
Afrocentricity, Race, and Reason	195	(9)
Molefi Kete Asante
Afrocentrics, Afro-elitists, and Afro-eccentrics: The Polarization of Black Studies Since the Student Struggles of the Sixties	204	(6)
Melba Joyce Boyd
Reclaiming Culture: The Dialectics of Identity	210	(6)
Leith Mullings
Afrocentrism, Cultural Nationalism, and the Problem with Essentialist Definitions of Race, Gender, and Sexuality	216	(8)
Barbara Ransby
Afrocentricity and the American Dream	224	(12)
Lee D. Baker
Multinational, Multicultural America Versus White Supremacy	236	(7)
Amiri Baraka
PART FOUR Race and Ethnicity in American Life
The Problematics of Ethnic Studies	243	(22)
Manning Marable
Prophetic Alternatives: A Conversation with Cornel West	265	(15)
Race in American Life: A Conversation with John Hope Franklin	280	(21)
Contributors	301	(8)
About the Editor	309	(2)
Index	311