Black Empowerment Research Articles

Televised Redemption: Black Religious Media and Racial Empowerment

Televised Redemption: Black Religious Media and Racial Empowerment

Integration by Design: Bertrand Goldberg, Stanley Tigerman, and Public Housing Architecture in Postwar Chicago

Public housing in the United States has been a prime site of negotiation and struggle over racial identity. Integration by Design: Bertrand Goldberg, Stanley Tigerman, and Public Housing Architecture in Postwar Chicago examines a critical moment in the history of public housing, evaluating two projects built in Chicago's Black Belt: Bertrand Goldberg's Raymond Hilliard Homes (1966) and Stanley Tigerman's Woodlawn Gardens (1969). Marisa Angell Brown demonstrates how these projects reflect Goldberg's and Tigerman's thoughtful and empathetic responses to race, poverty, and spatial segregation, which resulted in two very different expressions of an architecture of black empowerment. The article contributes to a more nuanced history of public housing architecture and advances our understanding of the role of race in American architecture.

The history of the South African sugar industry illuminates deeply rooted obstacles for sugar reduction anti-obesity interventions

ABSTRACTSouth Africa suffers from a considerable health burden including communicable disease, violence and injury as well as non-communicable diseases. Its formal health system is significantly challenged. Reducing morbidity and mortality for all South Africans requires an approach that transcends health services, where public policy addresses the broader social determinants of health by designing and implementing interventions that improve people’s health more effectively than individual interventions within the health sector. Legislative, regulatory and fiscal policies could substantially and cost-effectively reduce the burden of nutrition-related non-communicable diseases. South Africa has successfully reduced the salt content of foods and there is evidence demonstrating that a 20 per cent tax on sugary beverages will reduce obesity. Facilitators and barriers for such interventions have been covered in a separate article. Some challenges are particularly difficult to overcome. This article focuses on the deep historical roots of the South African sugar industry and its influence on dietary sugar consumption at the population level. The sugar industry is a prime example of a colonial activity shaping the economy, polity, penetration of sugar content into food products, and diets over an extended historical period. In the modern, and specifically the post-apartheid, period the sugar industry has proved resilient. The priority for black empowerment in policy matters since the end of apartheid, and recent economic policy, have facilitated the promotion of products regardless of their known economic, social and health harms. These pressures have led contradictorily to the retention of a large privileged sector in the South African sugar industry, while simultaneously enriching a few select black entrepreneurs on the one hand, and impoverishing the greater number of small and informal producers on the other. Similar developments have characterised the South African experience with other harmful product industries – notably alcohol and tobacco. It is argued that understanding the historical roots and dynamics of the SA sugar industry illuminates the setting of a research agenda on policy processes involving the role of corporates producing harmful products.

Race and State in the Urban Regime

Over the past four decades, cities have experienced greater oversight from state government. Why have states become increasingly involved in local affairs? How has the increasing presence of state government altered how we understand urban politics? Relying on a case study of Newark, New Jersey, this article argues that the increasing presence of state government in local affairs was a response to the growth of Black political empowerment. Furthermore, the Newark case reveals that the changing role of state actors, particularly governors, in urban regimes requires an expansion of urban regime theory as a conceptual framework. Building on the argument that urban regimes should be viewed as intergovernmental regimes, the findings from the case study suggest that local communities are best represented under cohesive state– local regimes, while localities are exposed to less desirable, even hostile, state-led policies, under disjointed state– local regimes.

The Effects of Centralized Government Authority on Black and Latino Political Empowerment

Studies on centralization and its effect on political empowerment among racial minorities suggest that decentralized arrangements are optimal for increasing empowerment. However, this article argues that the “decentralization-as-optimal” perspective ignores the complicated history that racial minorities have had with government. To assess the effects of centralized government on political empowerment among racial minorities, this article examines how state takeovers of local school districts have affected black and Latino descriptive representation on local school boards. Using an original dataset of state takeovers of local school districts from 1989 to 2013, as well as case study analysis of Newark, New Jersey, this article shows that centralization affects communities differently according to the level of political empowerment they have at the time of centralization.

Listening with the Body: An Aesthetics of Spirit Possession Outside the Terreiro

Abstract This article discusses how those who experience spirit possession within Bahian Candomblé religion listen to ritual music outside of the ceremonial context. It proposes a theory of aesthetics based on bodily sensations and mythological imagination that initiated dancers develop through experience and socialization. This embodied aesthetics is then linked to discourses of black empowerment, processes of self- fashioning, and issues of secrecy and representation of Candomblé in Bahia

Crucibles of Black Empowerment: Chicago's Neighborhood Politics from the New Deal to Harold Washington

Crucibles of Black Empowerment: Chicago's Neighborhood Politics from the New Deal to Harold Washington

Book Review: Ian Shapiro and Kahreen Tebeau (Eds), After Apartheid: Reinventing South Africa?

Ian Shapiro and Kahreen Tebeau (Eds), After Apartheid: Reinventing South Africa? University of Virginia Press, Charlottesville, 2011, 376 pp., ISBN 9780813930978, ₹ 2,994.

On the Novel and Civic Myth

On the Novel and Civic Myth

Jeffrey Helgeson.Crucibles of Black Empowerment: Chicago’s Neighborhood Politics from the New Deal to Harold Washington.

Jeffrey Helgeson.<i>Crucibles of Black Empowerment: Chicago’s Neighborhood Politics from the New Deal to Harold Washington</i>.

Social Struggle and Faith-Based Activism in ‘Black Empowerment’ times: An agenda for postcolonial mission - sounding the horn on some African perspectives

This paper identifies and outlines certain key issues in the discourse on postcolonial mission, recognizing that half-a-century after decolonization and independence, and after the shift in World Christianity’s centre of gravity from Western Europe to the Global South, the legacies of colonialism are still very much with us. From a Two-Third’s World perspective therefore, colonialism in its multi-faceted manifestations is still very much alive. Notwithstanding significant gains within the era of ‘Black Empowerment’, the struggle against racism, oppression, and exclusion, amongst others things, continues. The Christian faith has supplied its fair share of inspiration for social activism, with particular reference to the particular ‘five marks/five faces’ of mission theology and praxis, namely proclamation; nurture; loving service; social transformation; and care for creation.

Crucibles of Black Empowerment: Chicago's Neighborhood Politics from the New Deal to Harold Washington

Journal Article Crucibles of Black Empowerment: Chicago's Neighborhood Politics from the New Deal to Harold Washington Get access Jeffrey Helgeson. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2014. x, 378 pp. $35.00.) Journal of American History, Volume 101, Issue 4, March 2015, Pages 1332–1333, https://doi.org/10.1093/jahist/jav070 Published: 01 March 2015

The Price of Corporate Social Responsibility: The Case of Black Economic Empowerment Transactions in South Africa

Since the demise of apartheid in South Africa, corporations have been encouraged to participate in the governmental goal of increasing corporate ownership by the black majority population. One vehicle that has arisen to help facilitate an increase in corporate ownership has been black economic empowerment (BEE) transactions. BEE transactions are essentially private placements of equity. Firms that have taken this socially activist position of selling portions of their equity, usually at a substantial discount, to black empowerment groups have received positive media attention in the name of good corporate citizenship. This study investigates the market performance of these BEE transactions, specifically addressing three questions. The first question is whether BEE transactions create or destroy wealth. To address this question we use an event study methodology to calculate the cumulative abnormal returns (CARs) associated with public announcements of BEE transactions. The second question is whether specific types of BEE transactions did better or worse than others. We address this question by analyzing the cross-sectional variation in the CARs associated with public announcements of BEE transactions. The third question is whether firms that engage in BEE transactions experience negative post-announcement price performance. This last question is motivated by popular press accounts of the exploitation of black empowerment groups by white-owned South African corporations. To address this question, we test whether BEE transactions have benefited white corporate South Africa at the expense of the participating black empowerment groups.

“Much Learning Makes Men Mad”: Classical Education and Black Empowerment in Martin R. Delany's Philosophy of Education

Introduction For me, it seems strange to begin a discussion of a Deweyan theory of experience devoid of ... well, experience. Consequently, I begin this discussion of my understanding of Dewey's theory of experience as it has emerged from my own narrative as a teacher and scholar. In this discussion, I will address Dewey's theory of experience directly, and then turn to the Deweyan ontological and epistemological assumptions about experience which undergird and manifest within my own story and in narrative inquiry, the research approach I employ, conceptualized as both phenomenon and methodology (Connelly & Clandinin, 1990; Clandinin & Connelly, 2000; etc.). Beginning with Experience Having just returned from lunch, I instructed my students to work on their innovation day proposals. Innovation day was a school-wide project which allowed each student the opportunity to develop a research plan to explore any subject of their choosing for an entire day of school. With only one month left of the school year, I felt like I had come to know Lee (1) fairly well. I was surprised and excited to see Lee eagerly working on his project. Lee had struggled with his schoolwork throughout the year. This seemed consistent with his previous teachers' reports. Rather than focus on his work, much of his time at school had been spent teasing, being teased, or arguing with his peers. It seemed to me that Lee had very little self-confidence in his learning and thinking abilities. Rather than focus on school academics, Lee often chose to distract himself with social concerns, but that strategy didn't seem to work well for him. Lee did not generally relate well with his peers. He would often antagonize other students by making disparaging remarks or distracting them during work time. When his classmates would respond negatively, Lee tended to escalate his efforts. There were other tensions that emerged for Lee that school year. At the time, I just viewed them as distractions from learning. Only a month prior, I noticed that Lee looked a bit different than how he had normally presented himself. There were protrusions from his chest area and he continually seemed to be adjusting straps on his shoulders. I was unsure, but I suspected that Lee was wearing a bra. I did not address the issue with him for many reasons. Primarily, I did not want to make assumptions about the situation. Secondly, if this were the case, I did not want to embarrass Lee. Finally, I was not sure that it was any of my concern. However, later that day, my suspicions were confirmed when another student announced to me during recess that Lee had indeed worn his mother's bra to school. For me, at this time, Lee's life had become a distraction from the carefully planned lessons I had prepared. I hadn't yet come to understand or value the ways Lee was making meaning for himself, learning about the world and who he might be in it. This event had begun to fade in my mind as I tried to re-focus Lee's and my attention on the learning I had planned. I was pleased to see Lee's interest in his innovation day proposal, perhaps because I felt like he was finally getting down to the business of school. I believed that if Lee could find something that interested him, he would be motivated to put forth the effort needed for him to engage in the required school work. I failed to see the ways my beliefs and actions made Lee irrelevant in the learning process. Lee, like every other student in my mind, needed to learn what I considered to be important. I based my instruction, in this case, on what those who created standards considered important. These were people, I was sure, who were well learned. I realized, though, that they knew nothing of Lee, his life, or his needs. As I sat at the worktable in the front of the classroom, I invited students to share the ideas they were developing in their proposals. I could tell that Lee was working intently. …

Board size, corporate regulations and firm valuation in an emerging market: a simultaneous equation approach

We investigate the association between board size and firm valuation for a sample of 169 firms from 2002 to 2011 in South Africa (SA). The SA corporate context is interestingly and uniquely characterised by an urgency to meet affirmative action regulations, such as black empowerment in board appointments, limited qualified and experienced directors, especially black directors, concentrated ownership, weak enforcement of corporate regulations and greater government ownership. These features make SA corporate boards perform a weaker agency (advisory, monitoring and disciplining) role than Western European and US boards, but a stronger resource dependence role, by providing access to resources, such as business contacts and contracts. This suggests that any positive impact of board size on firm valuation is likely to depend on the effective execution of the resource dependence role more than the agency role. Our results suggest that board size has a positive association with firm valuation, consistent with larger boards providing better access to resources. Overall, our results support the resource dependence role of boards more than their agency role. The results are robust across a raft of econometric models that control for different types of endogeneity, as well as different types of accounting and market-based firm valuation measures.

Crucibles of black empowerment: Chicago's neighborhood politics from the New Deal to Harold Washington

Crucibles of black empowerment: Chicago's neighborhood politics from the New Deal to Harold Washington

Weakening Strong Black Political Empowerment: Implications from Atlanta’s 2009 Mayoral Election

ABSTRACT:Atlanta is perhaps the city with the greatest degree of black political empowerment (BPE) in the United States. Yet in 2009 a relatively weak white mayoral candidate nearly won the general and runoff elections over a field of stronger black candidates. Why? Treating Atlanta as a prototypical case, the article examines factors that undermine the capacity of blacks to retain control of mayoralties in strong BPE cities, with an emphasis on disruptions to black electorates, discontent among black citizens, and reinvestment in electoral politics by whites at the local level.

Blinded by the whites: why race still matters in 21st-century America

Acknowledgments Introduction: Hidden In Plain Sight: What Does Black Empowerment in the Twenty-First Century Look Like? 1. White Supremacy Under Fire: The Unrewarded Perspective in Edward P. Jones's The Known World 2. Easier Said than Done: Making Black Feminism Transformative for Black Men 3. All Joking Aside: Black Men, Sexual Assault, and Displaced Racial Angst in Paul Beatty's The White Boy Shuffle 4. Boys to Men: Getting Personal about Black Manhood, Sexuality, and Empowerment 5. Rejecting Goldilocks: The Crisis of Normative White Beauty for Black Girls 6. Stop Making the Rest of Us Look Bad: How Class Matters in the Attacks against the Movie Precious Epilogue: So What Does It All Mean? Notes Bibliography Index

Book Review: Black Power TV, by Devorah Heitner

Black Power TV. Devorah Heitner. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2013. 190 pp. $22.95 pbk.This engaging study examines the emergence of black public-affairs television programs during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Devorah Heitner, a media scholar based in Chicago, argues that the emergence of a radical black identity during the black power era-a period she defines here as between 1965 and 1974, alongside attempts to mediate black reaction to the assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968-led to a proliferation of black public-affairs television programs that offered viewers an alternative to mainstream television representations of African Americans. She suggests that the genesis of programs such as For Blacks Only in the aftermath of King's death illustrated a desire to redirect collective black anger and activist potential from the streets to the television screen, but in doing so opened up a new space for Black television representation.Focusing on local programs Inside Bedford-Stuyvesant in New York and Say Brother in Boston alongside the national shows Black Journal and Soul!, Heitner illustrates how programs initially conceived from a desire to limit urban uprising and racial conflict were re-articulated by black producers and editors to become key sites for expressing black empowerment and critiquing mainstream racial and media discourses.In the case of Inside-Bedford Stuyvesant and Say Brother, Heitner illustrates how shows that were chronically underfunded and broadcast at anti-social times were nonetheless able to generate a substantial and loyal ratings base within the black community. On a larger scale, programs such as Black Journal and Soul! played a major role in the rise of the Black Arts Movement and helped to frame a national and distinctly African American consciousness.Despite limitations with her source base, Heitner does an admirable job of resituating black public-affairs programs as a key site for the representation and dissemination of black identities in the period following King's death, and demonstrates how the array of programs she engages with intervened in both the history of television and in the project of rearticulating racial formations during the black power era.To counteract gaps in archival tapes of the programs she examines, Heitner uses scripts, press releases, oral histories and photographs alongside newspaper and magazine archives. This makes for a rich and diverse narrative, and her nuanced coverage weaves together the interconnected regulatory, activist and textual histories of the programs she covers. As Heitner notes, it would be practically impossible for a single book to negotiate the entire spectrum of black public-affairs programs from this period, so she concentrates on a handful of well-selected case studies that allow her to present her thesis both persuasively and concisely.With regard to structure, Heitner gradually broadens her gaze from focusing on local shows toward a more expansive analysis of black public-affairs television as the book progresses, although the decision to structure each chapter chronologically as opposed to the text as a whole lends itself to a somewhat cyclical analysis. …

The “Dangerous” Chicago Defender

The Chicago Defender is one of the largest and most influential African American newspapers in the U.S. Some called it radical and dangerous. That's because as early as 1920 it demanded racial equality, particularly in the South, in jobs, housing and transportation and preached black empowerment and black self-reliance. The paper published incendiary editorials with messages such as, “When the white fiends come to the door to kill you, shoot them down. When the white mob comes, take at least one with you.” But did the Defender maintain this aggressive stance some forty years later, in 1968, for instance, at a time when the civil rights movement was spreading across the country? To gain a true sense of history one must study the lion in winter as well as in spring. Thus this research examines what editorial positions the Defender took in 1968 and how readers responded through letters to the editor.