Student Spotlight Roundup

January 15, 2022

Mentoring Others: Kwanbe D. Bullard Jr.

Kwanbe D. Bullard Jr. is a native of Knoxville, Tennessee, and a member of the Austin-East High School Class of 2017. Bullard also graduated from Pellissippi State Community College Class of 2020 with an associates of science in reaching. He’s continuing his education at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville majoring in Africana Studies with a minor in sociology and is expected to graduate May 2022.

As a college student at UT, Bullard is a member of National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Project Grad Knoxville, Tau Sigma National Honors Society, Gamma Beta Phi Society and National Society of Leadership and Success, and Campus Events Board. Bullard is a Project Grad Ambassador for UT. As ambassador, he helps incoming freshmen transition into college life.

Bullard currently works at the Beck Cultural Exchange Center as an executive staff member. In this role, he’s responsible for community outreach and engagement. He also serves as the lead contact for the Knoxville Community Step-Up program that focuses on reducing incarceration and the recidivism rate among Black males that operates out of Beck. Bullard has been working and/or volunteering with Beck since his senior year at Austin-East High School. Beck president, Rev. Reneé Kesler has served as his mentor throughout.

Advocating for Universal Daycare: Isabella Reed

Isabella Reed is a senior majoring in English with a concentration in rhetoric and writing and minoring in Africana Studies and business. 

As part of her minor in Africana Studies, Reed has an opportunity to conduct research with Professor Danielle Procope Bell, who is working on a project about Black women’s early involvement in advocating for universal daycare, starting in the late 19th century. 

Specifically, Bell examines how Black women’s unique relationship to paid labor drove many Black women activists to take a positive view of daycares and kindergartens, while it was still very taboo among white suffragists or considered something only “unfit” mothers should utilize. 

Reed will read sources related to the topic and assist Professor Bell to develop fully the historical breadth of her research. Findings will generate an article or book chapter that will bring awareness to the subject. 

Africana Studies Archives Project

January 15, 2022

Africana Studies Archives Project

Angelica Williams will spend the next semester digging through archival materials to uncover the history of the Africana studies program at UT.

A junior English literature major, Williams has experience with preserving materials. In addition to a previous job with the McClung Museum, Williams works as a student library assistant for rare books in the UT Hodges Library.

DeLisa D. Hawkes, a new assistant professor of Africana studies, chose Williams for the assistantship and will oversee her work of processing and curating an exhibit as part of the 50+ years of Africana studies celebration this spring.

Williams has a unique opportunity to review rare photographs – including one of Nina Simone, presumably on the UT campus. She will go through documents and other items, such as minutes from the East Tennessee Committee Against Racism and Apartheid.

“In the future, I would like to enter the field of rare books librarianship,” Williams said. “This assistantship will help to further equip me with the skills necessary to preserve materials for widespread use, to recognize areas of interest within rare materials that are going unattended to, and to utilize various research methods upon entering my prospective job field.”

Endowment Provides Study Abroad Opportunities for Students

January 15, 2022

In addition to classroom training, Africana Studies offers study abroad opportunities for students. In May 2022, Amadou Sall, lecturer in Africana studies, will resume the study abroad program in Ghana. 

The program takes an interdisciplinary approach to the study of African traditions, cultures, religions, political economies, the impact of colonization, globalization, and the role of Africa in the contemporary world. Participants engage in service learning by working with local communities on issues related to poverty, social justice, race, and gender. Students also learn to speak basic African languages (Wolof and Fulani) and French. Students in any major with a 2.0 GPA or higher are eligible for the study abroad opportunity. 

Funding for study abroad in the Africana studies department is provided by the Dr. Carolyn R. Hodges and Dr. Amadou B. Sall Travel Endowment. In honor of Professor Emerita Carolyn Hodges and Africana Studies Lecturer Amadou Sall, the fund was established in 2019 to support the program within the College of Arts and Sciences and provide student funds for travel so they have the opportunity to participate. 

Hodges joined UT in 1982 as an assistant professor of German. Her 37-year-career at UT included several leadership positions. She rose from assistant to full professor and served as head of the Department of Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures from 1999 to 2004. She was associate dean for faculty personnel and, in 2007, became the university’s first African American vice provost and dean of the Graduate School. She served in that position until 2016 when she rejoined the faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences as a professor of German and chair of the Africana Studies program. She retired from UT in 2019, but left a legacy of leadership and in November 2019, was inducted into the UT African-American Hall of Fame, housed in the Frieson Black Cultural Center on campus. She has written a number of articles and books, including the most recent book, Truth Without Tears: African American Women Deans Share Lessons in Leadership (Harvard Education Press, 2018), which she co-authored with Olga M. Welch. 

Sall has been part of the Volunteer community for more than 30 years and an advocate of internationalism and interculturalism on campus. As a lecturer of Africana Studies, Sall has been a leader in promoting diversity and multicultural understanding both within and outside the classroom. He regularly organizes events to broaden peoples’ understanding. Since the 1980s he has worked with the African Student Association on their annual production of Africa Week. He has been honored for his dedication with the University Citation for Excellence in Teaching, the Outstanding Adult Educator–East Tennessee College Alliance Award, and the Black Graduate and Professional Student Association’s Outstanding and Dedicated Service Award, to name a few. 

Both Hodges and Sall received the Hardy Liston Jr. Symbol of Hope award, which goes to a faculty member, staff member, or friend of the university who demonstrates a commitment to diversity, multiculturalism, and appreciation of the differences in people and cultures on our campus. Liston – the first African American member of the UT Knoxville central administration – came to UT in 1970 as the assistant vice chancellor for academic affairs and professor of mechanical engineering. He retired in 1990 and passed away in 2021 at the age of 91. Sall received the award in 2014 and Hodges received the award in 2017. The award is presented by the UT Commission for Blacks each year during the Chancellor’s Honors Banquet. 

Thanks to their generosity, UT students will have the opportunity to travel to Africa and experience the cultural richness of the area, as well as learn about issues impacting the local communities. If you are interested in supporting this opportunity for our students, please visit africana.utk.edu to donate to the endowment.

New Year & New Beginning: The Department of Africana Studies

January 15, 2022

We began celebrating the “50+ Year Anniversary” of the Africana studies program in spring 2021 and featured past directors and former and current students. We highlighted the history, strength, and visions of the past directors and their contributions to our program. We also welcomed presentations and discussions with renowned, mixed-media artist, Joe Sam and Oscar-award-winning costume designer, Ruth E. Carter, who is known for her most recent work in Coming 2 America. The UT Department of Theatre and the Clarence Brown Theatre co-sponsored these events.

We also hosted Ron McCurdy from the University of Southern California, who performed Langston Hughes’ “Ask Your Mama: 12 Moods of Jazz,” with the Langston Hughes Project. Jessica Johnson discussed the book, Wicked Flesh: Black Women, Intimacy, and Freedom in the Atlantic World.

We co-sponsored programs in honor of Frederick Douglass Day with colleagues in the Department of English; lectures featuring Abou-Bakar Mamah’s discussion of post-democracy in sub-Saharan Africa with colleagues in the Department of Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures. Koritha Mitchell conducted a workshop on responsible teaching in violent times. With our colleagues in the Department of Religious Studies, we featured the civil rights activism and journey of John Hodges, past chair of Africana Studies. We hosted panel discussions featuring several activists and scholars, who centered social justice issues, activism, and scholarship on the “carceral state” and criminalization in the Appalachian South, with other co-sponsors from the UT Departments of History and Sociology, and the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Program. Finally, we participated in the Critical Race Collective’s Symposium on the impact of systemic racism and COVID-19 on higher education.

The celebration will continue as a two-year, commemoration in a virtual and in-person fête. We hope you will be able to join us for events this spring.

In other good news, Carolyn R. Hodges, former chair of Africana studies (2016-2019) and vice provost and dean emerita of the UT Graduate School, has committed to establishing the Dr. Carolyn R. Hodges and Dr. Amadou B. Sall Travel Endowment to support students participating in the Africana studies study abroad program. Hodges established the endowment to help support and enhance Africana studies, as well as honor the dedicated work of Amadou Sall, who initiated study abroad programs in Africana studies and who has led numerous study trips to Ghana, Senegal, and South Africa, since 2005. Sall’s excursive programs engage students in language learning, classes on African history and culture, and service learning. For more information or ways to donate to the Hodges-Sall Travel Endowment, visit us at africana.utk.edu.

We also have been closing the end of the 2021-2022 academic year, with the excitement of preparing for departmental status by hiring new faculty and planning for an inaugural leadership and civic engagement summer academy for rising high school students in the Knoxville area, in collaboration with the Office of Diversity and Engagement and Project Grad Knoxville.

Most importantly, with May being an exhilarating time of graduation, we invite all to join us in celebrating and recognizing our outstanding graduates. We congratulate our Class of 2021 Africana Studies major and minors and honor the achievement of Africana Studies major, Adanze Nwokochah, who is our 2021 Outstanding Graduate in Africana Studies with the College of Arts and Sciences.

Thank you for your support of our department.

Sincerely,

Shayla C. Nunnally Violette
Professor and Head
UT Department of Africana Studies

Faculty Accolades, Spring 2022

January 10, 2022

Congratulations to Dawn Duke, past chair of the Africana Studies program and current chair of the Portuguese program, on her promotion to full professor. She was awarded the Lindsay Young Professorship (2021—2023) and has received a book contract with Bucknell University Press.

Robert Bland, assistant professor of history and Africana Studies, attended the Center for Urban Renewal and Education (CURE), conference held September 27-29, 2021. The topic of the conference was on the State of Black America.  He was also a speaker and spoke about his paper on a larger panel about the policy report. This policy report will also be a published article scheduled for release in May 2022.

Shayla C. Nunnally, head of Africana Studies and professor of political science, will be serving as a co-chair with Prof. William Jennings (University of Southampton, UK) for a bilateral, virtual research workshop among a diverse group of invited scholars, who will be jointly-convened by the US-based, Social Science Research Council (SSRC), and the United Kingdom-based, Economic and Social Research Council  (ESRC), on the topic of “Trust in Democratic Institutions.”

Larry Perry II, assistant professor of religious studies and Africana studies, recently presented his research to the Board of Visitors, and he is celebrating a new publication in the journal, The Acorn, “Beyond Black Churches: Toward an Understanding of the Black Spiritual Left, featuring Du Bois, Bethune, Thurman, and Black Lives Matter.”

Researching Memory and National Identity Formation

January 10, 2022

DeLisa D. Hawkes joined the UT faculty in 2021 as an assistant professor of English and Africana Studies. Hawkes received her PhD from the University of Maryland-College Park. Her research and teaching focus are in 19th to 21st-century African American and Black diaspora literature, Southern Black feminism, Afro-Indigenous Studies, and historical and speculative fiction. Theories concerning memory and national identity formation, particularly regarding archives and family histories, inform her research. 

In her current book project, tentatively titled Separate Yet Intertwined: African-Native American Lives in African American Literature, Hawkes examines representations of African American and Native American relationships in nineteenth- to early-twentieth-century African American literature. More specifically, she analyzes how these literary depictions impact narratives of racial identity, kinship, and cross-racial coalitions against white supremacy in the United States. 

Hawkes participated in the Community Engagement Academy (CEA) facilitated by the UT Office of Community Engagement and Outreach, which is an interdisciplinary professional development program that trains participants in the foundations of community engagement and engaged scholarship. To mark her completion of the program, Hawkes presented her community-engaged project-in-progress titled, “Bridging Generations: The Black Knoxville Oral History Project.” In November 2021, she presented “Intersectionality: A Framework to See and Address Inequity” as a part of the Office of Multicultural Student Life’s Diversity Dialogues Symposium, which brings together members of the UT community to participate in interactive discussions focused on fostering diversity and inclusivity. 

In January 2022, Hawkes began her tenure as a co-producer for the “C19: The Society of Nineteenth Century Americanists” podcast. Hawkes will assist leading and emerging scholars of the 19th century in developing episodes to discuss their recent literary and historical discoveries, nuanced approaches to understanding key texts and historical moments, and innovative pedagogy. Additionally, she is teaching two new courses in Africana Studies – AFST 435: North America and the Diaspora and AFST 450: Issues and Topics in African American Studies, which will focus on race in horror, sci-fi, and horror across a variety of mediums.

Bell Brings Black Feminist Theory to African Studies Courses

January 10, 2022

Danielle Procope Bell joined UT in 2021 as an assistant professor of English and Africana Studies. Bell, who received her PhD from Vanderbilt University, teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on African American literature and Black feminist theory, with a focus on literary criticism and effective writing. Her research areas are mid-to-late 19th and early 20th-century African American literature and contemporary Black feminist criticism. 

Her book project, tentatively titled Respectable Radicalism: The Rhetoric of Black Women’s Intellectualism, examines how so-called “respectable” rhetoric coheres with radical thought in Black women’s writing in the 19th century. Respectable Radicalism focuses on Black women’s strategies to be heard, traces Black women’s intellectual thought, and considers the multivalent ways that Black women make plain their inherent humanity through a strategic use of respectable rhetoric. At the core, her work examines strategies of Black resistance and the makings of Black subjectivity in a world bent on refusing citizenship, and even personhood, to Black people.   

In addition to her scholarship, Bell is helping us develop innovative, student-centered courses and programming through a collaboration with the Frieson Black Cultural Center. The goal is to reach more UT students and welcome new majors and minors to Africana Studies. In spring 2022, Bell is teaching AFST 450: Black Feminist Theory and AFST 233: Major Black Writers.

Faculty Research Spotlight: Shaneda Destine

January 10, 2022

Shaneda Destine is an assistant professor of sociology and Africana Studies. Her research focus is race, gender, sexuality, and contemporary social movements. She investigates forms of resistance of Black women and Black queer people as they create spaces of Black joy and respite, while struggling for liberation.

In 2020, Destine published “From a Hashtag to a Movement:  Black Women Movement Actors’ Challenges to Leading a Radical Movement” in Postracial America. In the article, she addresses a gap in the literature on the connections of local political organizations affiliated with the movement for Black Lives Matter that are led and facilitated by Black women movement actors. Destine conducted five focus groups in Maryland and the District of Columbia in 2016 to identify the challenges facing Black women leaders, organizers, and protestors in local organizations connected to the Black Lives Matter movement. Drawing from intersectionality and Black radical social movement theories, Destine found emerging themes that helped identify a deep racial capital in the focus groups and provided a nuanced discussion of the struggle to build a global working-class movement in local anti-racist organizations and future research opportunities.

Destine and colleagues Jazzmine Brooks and Christopher Rogers published “Black Maternal Health Crisis, COVID-19, and the Crisis of Care” in a special COVID-19 edition of Feminist Studies, published in late 2020. In the essay, they outline the crisis of care for Black mothers and Black birthing parents during the pandemic – an issue the United Nations Populations Fund identified as part of the women’s health crisis related to COVID-19. Using a critical intersectional feminist lens, Destine and her co-authors identify the crisis as embedded in an ongoing capitalist dynamic in which the medical industry harms countless Black birthing parents and offer an activist-centered approach for improving their conditions, such as disproportionate infection and death rates. Read the entire study in Feminist Studies, volume 46, number 3, available online at feministstudies.org.