African Diaspora Research Articles

Uterine fibroids and Black people of African descent globally: a scoping review protocol.

Evidence suggests that when adjusted for age and other factors such as Body Mass Index, age of first pregnancy, years since last pregnancy and alcohol consumption, Black women are three times more likely to suffer from fibroids compared with the general population. When compared with the general population, Black women experience larger uterine fibroids with an earlier onset and more frequent and severe symptoms debilitating symptoms. Reported symptoms include pelvic pain, bladder issues, and heavy and/or abnormal menstrual bleeding. For Black women in perimenopause or menopause, uterine fibroids are more likely to continue growing rather than slow or cease. To design empirical research that addresses the issue of uterine fibroids among Black people of African descent, it is important to understand the current state of literature on this issue. The objectives of this scoping review are to understand and describe the extent and type of literature available regarding Black people of African descent with uterine fibroids globally, to identify the gaps within existing literature, and to provide recommendations for future research. This scoping review will be conducted in accordance with JBI scoping review methodology and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews Checklist. Eligibility criteria for this review include sources that involve Black people of African descent who have uterine fibroids. This review is global in context and does not include jurisdictional, geographical, regional or study setting restrictions. A comprehensive search strategy developed in collaboration with a health sciences librarian will be used to identify and retrieve relevant peer-reviewed and grey literature. Databases including CINAHL (EBSCO), MEDLINE (Ovid), Embase (Elsevier), Gender Studies Database (EBSCO), Scopus (Elsevier) and LILACS (VHL) will be searched from inception to January 2024. Unpublished studies and grey literature searches will include The Society for Women's Health Research, Black Women's Health Imperative, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global (ProQuest), Open Access Theses and Dissertations (OATD.org) and Google search. All relevant sources will be uploaded to Covidence and undergo title and abstract screening by two independent team members. Selected sources will then undergo full-text review by two independent team members. Sources meeting the eligibility criteria will undergo extraction by two independent team members. Thematic analysis will be used to classify the extracted data points into categories according to the purpose or objective of the source, the methods used, the geographical region or jurisdiction of the source, key findings and recommendations. The synthesis of results will align with the review objective and question using charts or tables where necessary. This scoping review does not require ethical approval. Dissemination of the review results includes the publication of a full report in a peer-reviewed journal as well as presenting the review results at local, national and international conferences. The results of the scoping review will also be disseminated through community events and social media using infographics and brochures.

Conceptualizing Professionalization for Black Social Work Students

ABSTRACT This paper presents a conceptual practice model for professionalization to serve Black students who are matriculating through social work programs, especially those who are novice or less experienced in the field. The model is informed by a review of literature that explores professionalization of Black students across disciplines including social work, as well as my empirical research with Black students (across the Black Diaspora) in a related field who were pursuing graduate degrees. It is also contextualized by the Council of Social Work Education’s Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards. I end the paper by making recommendations for utilizing the model in social work education, while uplifting best practices in Black-centered social work programs and practice models. This piece prioritizes Black students as its audience, to help (a) demystify professionalization for them and (b) explicitly identify actions they can take to personalize and pursue their own developmental processes.

Dismantling Colonial Laughter: Tracing Emergent African Diaspora Stand-Up Comedy in French and German

This study redirects attention from English-speaking African diaspora stand-up productions to French and German language expressions of purposively selected comedians with recent immigration history from Africa performing within mainland Europe. Through a socio-historical interrogation of specific colonial histories and joke themes, the paper comparatively explores the French language stage acts of Fary Lopez, Samia Orosemane (France) and Cécile Djunga (Belgium and France) and the German language works of Dave Davis (Germany), Charles Nguela (Switzerland), and Soso Mugiraneza (Austria). The aim is to show how the individuated colonial histories of the nations in which these comics reside and the chronicles of their relations with Africa(ns) and Black peoples feature in joke formulations and satiric jibes of the jokesters. Through these explorations, this essay studies how stand-up comedy’s transformative power challenges societal norms and attitudes using the backdrop of the concurrently heterogeneous and dissimilar colonial histories of the African continent and its diasporas. Moreover, through its focus on non-English expressions, it presents the unique intersections of language, “race,” ethnicity and colonial histories, as well as the geographic and linguistic spread of the African diaspora beyond European nations with direct colonial contact with the continent. Thus, the enquiry posits joke performances as platforms for cultural expression and critique as well as a site within which African peoples negotiate their presence in non-African environments.

Migration vis-à-vis Philoxenia in South African context

Many scholars in the field of migration and xenophobia have consistently examined various levels and expressions of xenophobic behavior within the South African context. They have contributed significantly to conceptualizing migration as inherently conflict-prone, often citing incidents categorized as xenophobia, Afrophobia, and color-blind xenophobia in both scholarly and public discussions. While ample scholarly evidence exists regarding factors that promote social cohesion between South Africans and African immigrants, as well as their implications for African continental integration, there is a notable dearth of scholarly attention on how Philoxenia, the concept of extending friendship or hospitality to strangers, can contribute to the project of African continental integration. Utilizing qualitative research methods and document analysis as a data collection technique, this paper reveals those certain aspects of the South African migration legislative framework exhibit Philoxenic characteristics. Moreover, the paper provides evidence of multiple economic sectors and communities in the country that demonstrate Philoxenia. The paper concludes that Philoxenia can serve as a catalyst towards achieving a united state of Africa, while "xenophobia", "Afrophobia", "Threats” to social cohesion”, "colour-blind xenophobia” and “sibling fights or sibling bullying” are impediments to this long-term objective of the African Union. The paper recommends that, South Africa as one of Africa’s dominant African immigrants’ host state must come up with legislation that criminalizes the latter actions.

Negritude: A Universal Heritage; from the Quartier Latin in France to the City of Chicago in the United States of America

Black is beautiful! Such words from Martin Luther King are much telling about the inner meaning of movements like that of Negritude. Born out of the wings of racism and exclusion, the Negritude movement voiced out the strong need to step out of any form of inferiority complex. With a vision that africanized the notion of Africanity, the movement crossed borders to find roots in the Western and Caribbean lands before fostering around the world. Thus, in this paper, it is targeted to show up how Léopol Sedar Senghor’s and his likes’ positions that splashed away the negative image stuck on the the Black man for centuries, through a cultural crusade. A re-reading of the Negritude is recoursed to to update the other forms of negritude-oriented expressions the African Diaspora has been experiencing so far. Based on the theory of multiculturalism, our analysis has put forwards the challenging exercise to know oneself before any attempt to merge into the main stream of cultural identities.

Factors Associated with Preventive Behavior toward Covid-19 Infection among African Immigrants in Kuala Lumpur

Factors Associated with Preventive Behavior toward Covid-19 Infection among African Immigrants in Kuala Lumpur

Maternal birthplace and experiences of perinatal healthcare in Belgium: Evidence from a cross-sectional survey

BackgroundPatient experience is an important part of perinatal care quality. Migrant women in high-income countries often report more negative experiences than non-migrants, but evidence in Europe is patchy. In this study, we compared the experiences of two migrant populations with non-migrants, taking into account socioeconomic characteristics. MethodsWe surveyed mothers born in Belgium, North-Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa (n = 877) using an adapted version of the Migrant-Friendly Maternity Care Questionnaire. Two patient experience scores were created using multiple correspondence analyses: a) information and communication with healthcare professionals and overall satisfaction with pregnancy care, and b) patient-centred aspects and satisfaction with delivery care. Through descriptive analyses and multivariable logistic regressions we estimated the associations of maternal characteristics with each score. ResultsOverall, positive experiences were reported in terms of communication (83 %) and patient-centred care (86 %). North African immigrants with low language proficiency had higher odds of negative communication experience (especially problems understanding information) (ORa: 2.30, 95 %CI 1.17–4.50), regardless of socioeconomic position. Among women with language barriers, 88 % were never offered a professional interpreter, relying on family members for translation. Patient-centred care was not associated with maternal birth region but was rated more negatively by older mothers, those with longer residence in Belgium, and higher majority-language proficiency. ConclusionIn Belgium, perinatal care experiences were generally positive, although communication with immigrants was suboptimal. Language barriers, single motherhood, and unstable housing increased communication issues. Our findings underline the necessity to improve information-exchange with immigrants and socioeconomically vulnerable women.

First Detection of Hepatitis B Virus Subgenotype A5, and Characterization of Occult Infection and Hepatocellular Carcinoma-Related Mutations in Latin American and African Immigrants in Brazil.

This study aims to characterize the molecular profile of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) among socially vulnerable immigrants residing in Brazil to investigate the introduction of uncommon HBV strains into the country. Serum samples from 102 immigrants with positive serology for the HBV core antibody (anti-HBc) were tested for the presence of HBV DNA by PCR assays. Among these, 24 were also positive for the HBV surface antigen (HBsAg). The full or partial genome was sequenced to determine genotype by phylogenetic analysis. Participants were from Haiti (79.4%), Guinea-Bissau (11.8%), Venezuela (7.8%), and Colombia (1%). Of the 21 HBV DNA-positive samples, subgenotypes A1 (52.4%), A5 (28.6%), E (9.5%), F2 (4.8%), and F3 (4.8%) were identified. Among the 78 HBsAg-negative participants, four were positive for HBV DNA, resulting in an occult HBV infection rate of 5.1%. Phylogenetic analysis suggested that most strains were likely introduced to Brazil by migration. Importantly, 80% of A5 sequences had the A1762T/G1764A double mutation, linked to an increased risk of hepatocellular carcinoma development. In conclusion, this study is the first report of HBV subgenotype A5 in Brazil, shedding new light on the diversity of HBV strains circulating in the country. Understanding the genetic diversity of HBV in immigrant communities can lead to better prevention and control strategies, benefiting both immigrants and wider society.

Introduction

ABSTRACT Pennsylvania has always had a significant African American presence. From its earliest settlement under Dutch and Swedish colonialists, and later the auspices of William Penn, people of African descent have witnessed the Commonwealth’s growth and development into one of the most significant states in the Union. The eighteenth-century battle of free and unfree and the nineteenth-century quest for freedom and civil rights laid the foundation for twentieth- and twenty-first-century urbanization. Pennsylvania would eventually have African Americans in the highest levels of politics, education, enterprise, medicine, social services, and other endeavors of society. The articles in this special issue of Pennsylvania History illustrate how African American urbanization transformed Pennsylvania into an effective society for African American advancement, freedom, and equality.

Impact of Research and the Power of Data

In this article, I share ways in which my professional journey, from admissions and enrollment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, intersect with my evolution as a scholar-practitioner through CANDEL, the doctorate in educational leadership program at the University of California Davis. I further share how I have leveraged my experience in the EdD program as a scholar-practitioner to challenge systems of higher education through storytelling and counter narratives as a means to reroute narratives that institutions create around the experiences of marginalized communities, including the African diaspora.

The Immigrant Mortality Advantage Among Over-65 Middle Eastern and North African Immigrants to the United States.

Immigrants to the United States often have longer life expectancies than their U.S.-born counterparts, however it is unclear whether a similar "immigrant advantage" exists for immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). This study uses a novel machine-learning name classifier to offer one of the first national-level examinations of MENA mortality patterns by nativity in the United States. A recurrent neural network model was developed to identify MENA individuals based on given name and surname characteristics. The model was trained on more than 2.5 million mortality-linked social security records in the Berkeley Unified Numident Mortality Database (BUNMD). Mortality rates and life expectancy were estimated using a Gompertz distribution and maximum likelihood estimation, focusing on high-coverage years between 1988 and 2005 and deaths over age 65. Foreign-born MENA men over 65 showed a significant immigrant mortality advantage with a hazard ratio (HR) of 0.64 and an estimated 3.13 additional years of life expectancy at age 65 compared to U.S.-born counterparts. Foreign-born MENA women also exhibited an advantage, with a HR of 0.71 and an additional 2.24years of life expectancy at age 65. This study is one of the first national-level analyses of mortality outcomes among the over-65 MENA population in the United States, finding a MENA immigrant mortality advantage. The results suggest further research is needed to identify and disaggregate the MENA population in health research.

Physical Activity Engagement among Black Immigrants and African American Adults in the 2010 to 2018 NHIS Study.

High rates of physical inactivity persist in the United States, with higher rates among non-Hispanic Black adults than among their White peers. However, a comparison of physical activity engagement across nativity among Black adults in the United States has yet to be fully documented. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to examine physical activity engagement rates among African immigrant and Afro-Caribbean immigrant adults compared with native-born African American adults using data from the 2010 to 2018 National Health Interview Survey. Using data from the 2010 to 2018 National Health Interview Survey, we used generalized linear models to compare levels of physical activity (meeting the moderate-to-vigorous physical activity [MVPA] recommendations) by ethnic subgroups of Black adults, sequentially adjusting for sociodemographic and health-related risk factors. Data from 38,037 adults (58.8% female, 21% college/graduate degree, and 41.4% with obesity) were included. Only 41.9% of all participants met the MVPA recommendations. In the fully adjusted models across the 9 years, higher levels of MVPA were seen among African Americans (42%) than among African immigrants (38%) and Afro-Caribbean immigrants (41%). Compared with African Americans, African immigrants were less likely to engage in physical activity that met the MVPA guidelines (prevalence ratio: 0.90; 95% confidence interval: 0.85, 0.96), whereas there were no differences in meeting the guidelines between Afro-Caribbean immigrants (prevalence ratio: 0.96; 95% confidence interval:0.90, 1.02) and African Americans. Culturally tailored interventions addressing socioenvironmental barriers and facilitators of physical activity may have important impacts on physical activity promotion and long-term disease burden among Black adults across nativity.

Exalting Blackness in Wynetta Willis Martin's: Black Mormon Tells Her Story

ABSTRACT: Black and Mormon were seemingly irreconcilable identities during the priesthood/temple ban against people of African descent (c. 1852–1978). But in 1966, Wynetta Willis Martin converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And in 1972, Martin published Black Mormon Tells Her Story . In this book, Martin interwove her African American and LDS identities in a powerful way. Challenging anti-Black racism in the LDS community, Martin produced a new story about Black Mormon identity: past, present, and future. Previously underestimated as a problematic book, this article retheorizes Black Mormon Tells Her Story , emphasizing Martin's agency in race-making. This article extends Judith Weisenfeld's theory of Black new religious movements to analyze a "religio-racial narrative" authored by a Black member of the predominantly white LDS Church. Demonstrating how Martin positively reconstructed the meaning of Blackness, this article fills a gap in the scholarship on Mormon racial construction.

The African Diaspora as a Cosmopolitan Experience in the Poetry of Nikki Giovanni, Rita Dove and Elizabeth Alexander

The African Diaspora as a Cosmopolitan Experience in the Poetry of Nikki Giovanni, Rita Dove and Elizabeth Alexander

“Anything Too Black Nuh Good:” Contouring the Everyday and Extraordinary Anti-Black Racism of Contemporary Jamaica

If asked, many Jamaicans will adamantly state that the country does not have a race problem; rather, it (openly) has a class problem. This series of "meditations on race" explore the tensions of living, loving, and dying in a "paradise" tenebrously held together by the country's motto "Out of Many One People." The excursion starts at the feet of an Indian grandmother, the counterpoint against which the writer’s earliest understandings of her own Blackness were formed. Along the way, it onboards and unpacks the experiences of the BlackPoor, the BlackQueer, the BlackWoman, the BlackChild, and Jamaica’s mostly Black diaspora, to grapple with the complex and far-reaching anti-Black reality of colonial and contemporary Jamaica. What does it mean when Black death is so normalized that it redefines grief and an entire genre of music? What decisions must be taken by people living in the chokehold of racism and cultural imperialism, as a matter of survival? And how do even the most intimate aspects of human existence deflate and reform under the pressure of persistent poverty, supported and exploited by the “Global North”? Through prose-like and poetic explorations of the every-day and extraordinary experiences of Black Jamaicans, this piece unsettles the easy equivocation of a majority Black population with a Black-accepting nation. It shifts the façade of "paradise" to explore the depth of its colonial roots. And it amplifies the breathless, relentless question of "should I stay or should I go?" that has haunted the writer and many like her for decades.

African Diaspora Dynamics: A Study of Somali-Norway Migration Patttern

African Diaspora Dynamics: A Study of Somali-Norway Migration Patttern

Breast Cancer Screening among African Immigrants in the United States: An Integrative Review of Barriers, Facilitators, and Interventions.

The purpose of this review was to synthesize the available literature on breast cancer-screening barriers, facilitators, and interventions among U.S. African immigrants. Following the integrative review framework and PRISMA guidelines for reporting systemic reviews, five electronic databases were searched: PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Medline, and Google Scholar. Studies were included if they were published in English language journals after 1 January 2000 and reported data on breast cancer-screening barriers, facilitators, or interventions among U.S. African immigrants. Barriers and facilitators reported by studies were descriptively examined and synthesized by two authors and classified as aligning with one of the three levels of influences based on the social-ecological model (intrapersonal, interpersonal, and community). Interventions promoting breast cancer screening were narratively summarized. Search procedures retrieved 1011 articles, with 12 meeting the criteria for inclusion in the review (6 qualitative and 6 quantitative). Intrapersonal barriers included limited awareness, fear of pain, language barriers, health concerns, transportation issues, costs, and negative past experiences. Interpersonal barriers involved modesty, spiritual beliefs, and lack of support, while community-level barriers included provider and healthcare-system challenges. Regarding facilitators, past screening experiences and health insurance were the most commonly reported intrapersonal facilitators. The only interpersonal facilitator identified was observing other women experience a breast cancer diagnosis and undergo treatment. Community-level facilitators included appointment reminders, scheduling assistance, culturally congruent interpreters, transportation to screening facilities, and patient navigators. Three articles reported outcomes of breast cancer-screening interventions. All three were pilot studies and reported increased knowledge and attitudes regarding breast cancer screening following the respective interventions. One study examined the uptake of breast cancer screening following the intervention, with results indicating an increase in screening. Findings provide a comprehensive synthesis of factors influencing breast cancer screening among African immigrants and highlight the need for future research on the topic. This review was registered with Prospero (CRD42024502826) before the initiation of search procedures.

Revolutionary Art and the Creation of the Future: The Afrofuturist Texts of José Antonio Aponte and Martin R. Delany

Afrofuturism (an artistic perspective in which Black voices tell alternative narratives of culture, technology, and the future) and the Dark Fantastic (interrupting negative depictions of Black people through emancipatory interpretations of art) are two interrelated concepts used by Black artists in the Atlantic World to counter negative images and emphasize a story from a Black perspective. Likewise, these concepts have been used to recreate and re-narrate history with an eye towards subverting white supremacist historical narratives. By using Afrofuturism and the Dark Fantastic as lenses through which texts by authors from the African Diaspora in the Atlantic World are examined, an alternative narrative of Black histories and futures concerned with revolution, liberation, and justice can be seen. The two texts that are the subject of this research include José Antonio Aponte’s descriptions of his book of paintings under interrogation in 1812–1813, and Martin Delany’s novel Blake; or the Huts of America (1859–1862), providing images of enslavement that run counter to a white supremacist telling of history. They both imagine alternative pasts and futures for Africa and the Afro-Diaspora involving revolution and magic. These works, though produced at different times and locations in the nineteenth century, offer new ways in which to discuss liberation and freedom in the context of the artistic production of the Atlantic World.

Content Analysis of Textbooks via Natural Language Processing

Purpose: Advanced methods from the field of data science have the potential to shed fresh light on basic concerns in the field of educational research. Natural language processing tools, such as lexicons, word embeddings, and topic models, are used in 15 United States history textbooks that were extensively used in Texas between the years 2015 and 2017. Material and Methods: This study aims to analyze these textbooks for their portrayal of historically oppressed populations. Latinx individuals are rarely mentioned, but renowned white men are almost always mentioned. People of African descent are characterized as behaving in ways that imply helplessness and lack of control, according to lexical methods. Women are most often addressed in the contexts of the home and the workplace, according to the word embeddings. Issues of a political rather than a social nature are highlighted by subject modeling. Findings: We also found that textbooks with a smaller representation of women and people of African heritage are more often purchased by conservative nations. Implications to Theory, Practice and Policy: Our computational toolkit has a rich history of textbook analysis and has recently been distributed as part of our efforts to support new fields of study.

“¡¡¡SOY NEGRA!!!”/“i found god in myself”: Shange, Santa Cruz, and Self-Love as Savior

In this article, I assert that Ntozake Shange and Victoria Santa Cruz engage in a “diasporic dialogue” through their dramatic poetry—a dialogue that transcends genre, language, form, and geographies. I believe they do so not through the actual exchange of words, but rather through the Afro-diasporic aesthetics and Black Feminist messaging at the heart of their respective works: for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf and “Me Gritaron Negra.” I am invested in the conversation between their pieces—and the consciousness transformation such a conversation allows. By placing these works in conference for the first time and investigating the ways they “talk” to each other, I seek to demonstrate the unique vitality of theatre pieces—especially those led by Black women from across the African Diaspora—as embodied practices of liberatory politics and the transforming (and transformational) Black Feminist thought of the 1970s. Furthermore, by honing in on and getting up close to praxes and articulations of self-acceptance, self-definition, and self-determination in both Shange’s and Santa Cruz’s works, I will demonstrate the usefulness of this kind of embodied performance to something we might think of as the radical political potential of self-love.