Left of Black

Left of Black is a weekly video podcast hosted by Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal and produced by the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute at Duke University

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Left of Black S12 · E26 | Discussing The University Plantation System with Bianca C. Williams & Armond Towns

Is it going too far to liken the modern-day university to the plantation system of old regarding academia's exploitation of Black labor and the squelching of student activism by school administrators? Bianca C. Williams, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Critical Psychology, and Women & Gender Studies at CUNY Graduate Center, and Armond R. Towns, Associate Professor of Communication and Media Studies at Carleton University in Ottawa, join Dr. Neal for a robust discussion on the latest publication, "Plantation Politics and Campus Rebellions: Power, Diversity, and the Emancipatory Struggle in Higher Education," released by Suny Press.

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Left of Black S12 · E25 | David A. Varel on the Legacy of Black Scholar Lawrence Reddick

There are many Black scholars whose work in the academy is not well known yet provided the intellectual support and underpinning necessary for deep archival research. Lawrence Reddick was one such man, having been the second curator of the Schomburg Collection at the New York Public Library, among other accomplishments. Left of Black host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Dr. David A. Varel, author of The Scholar and the Struggle: Lawrence Reddick’s Crusade for Black History and Black Power, published by the University of North Carolina Press.

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Left of Black S12 · E24 | Kristen Henning on the Criminalization of Black Adolescence

What happens to our youth if the normal and typical responses of teenage angst are heavily policed with high punitive consequences, even leading to death as we saw with the murder of Tamir Rice and other Black & brown adolescents? What does it mean to have a dominant police presence in our schools that are predominantly African American and Hispanic in a nation with a pervasive history of excessive police violence? Left of Black Host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Kristin Henning, Professor of Law at Georgetown University and author of The Rage of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth, published by Pantheon Books. 

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Left of Black S12 · E23 | Anthony Reed on the Soundworks of Poetry & Music in the Black Arts Era

When you think of Langston Hughes, does Charles Mingus come immediately to mind? What music do you hear when you think of the words of Amiri Baraka? Poetry and music have long commingled to produced provocative and innovative pairings in the Black Arts era. Vanderbilt University Professor Anthony Reed joins Left of Black host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal to discuss his latest book, Soundworks: Race, Sound, and Poetry in Production published by Duke University Press. 

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Left of Black S12 · E22 | David Palumbo-Liu on Speaking Out

It is the tireless voice of protest, activism, and outrage that enacts real change to make society better for all and especially those who are marginalized and oppressed. In this episode of Left of Black, Dr. David Palumbo-Liu, the Louise Hewlett Nixon Professor of Comparative Literature at Stanford University, joins host Professor. Mark Anthony Neal to discuss his latest book, Speaking Out of Place: Getting Our Political Voices Back, published by Haymarket Books.

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Left of Black S12 · E21 | Christopher Freeburg on Black Social Life in the Time of Slavery

Decades of research and scholarship around New World slavery limit the scope of the actions of the enslaved to political resistance while seeking only one goal: freedom. But what if Black life went beyond just the pursuit of liberty in order to encompass broader meaning through creative expression, spirituality, and self-awareness? Dr. Christopher Freeburg joins Left of Black host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal to discuss these ideas through his latest book, Counterlife: Slavery after Resistance and Social Death (Duke University Press, 2021). 

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Left of Black S12 · E20 | Brandon J. Manning on Black Satire

What have Black satirists been able to show and say about the political, cultural, and social landscape through the use of humor? Dr. Brandon J. Manning, Assistant Professor of Gender & Sexuality / Race & Ethnic Studies at Texas Christian University, joins Left of Black host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal to discuss his book, Played Out: The Race Man in 21st Century Satire, published by Rutgers University Press.

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Left of Black S12 · E19 | Haiti and the Hispanic Caribbean with Vanessa K. Valdés

You cannot comprehensively unpack the history of the Western hemisphere without talking about Haiti and its crucial role in how the colonized world was shaped, especially after their victory over the French for their independence. Is there a disconnection, however, in how Latin American Studies deals with the first Black republic in the world? In this episode of Left of Black, host Professor Mark Anthony Neal welcomes guest Dr. Vanessa K. Valdés as they discuss her latest book, Racialized Visions: Haiti and the Hispanic Caribbean, published by SUNY Press.

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Left of Black S12 · E18 | Madam C. J. Walker & Black Philanthropy with Tyrone McKinley Freeman

Madam C.J. Walker is often lauded for the wealth she accumulated as a self-made entrepreneur in the emerging field of beauty care products for Black women, especially being the daughter of former slaves. In this episode of Left of Black, however, guest Dr. Tyrone McKinley Freeman shines a much-needed light on the philanthropic work of Walker throughout her life as he discusses his new book, Madam C. J. Walker's Gospel of Giving: Black Women's Philanthropy during Jim Crow, published by University of Illinois Press.

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Left of Black S12 · E17 | The Black Arts Movement of the South with James Smethurst

How did artistic expression originating from the South, particularly during the Civil Rights Era, influence and impact the broader Black arts movement across the country? Left of Black host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Dr. James Smethurst, professor of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, to discuss his latest book release, Behold the Land: The Black Arts Movement in the South, published by the University of North Carolina Press.

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Left of Black S12 · E16 | Boyz n the Void: a mixtape to my brother with G'Ra Asim

What does it mean to be Black and punk? How does this intersection impact how African American youth express themselves while confronted with the expectations of society and community? G'Ra Asim, assistant professor of creative writing at Washington University in St. Louis and a punk rocker, joins Left of Black host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal to discuss his book, Boyz n the Void: a mixtape to my brother, tackling traditional notions of Blackness, masculinity, and young adulthood. Published by Beacon Press.

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Left of Black S12 · E15 | The Intellectual Life of Black Feminist Sound with Daphne A. Brooks

What is the deep cultural and intellectual work taking place in the sounds of Black feminist musical icons from Bessie Smith to Zora Neale Hurston to Beyoncé? For his episode of Left of Black, host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Dr. Daphne A. Brooks who is the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of African American Studies, American Studies, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, and Music at Yale University. She discusses her latest book, Liner Notes for the Revolution The Intellectual Life of Black Feminist Sound, published by Harvard University Press.

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Left of Black S12 · E14 | Black Utopias and the Mystical with Jayna J. Brown

Can the utopian model that is a common theme in science and speculative fiction also be a new way for Black people to rethink how to exist in a world where their humanity is always called into question? What do such historic figures like Sojourner Truth reveal to us through their own mystical practices? Dr. Jayna J. Brown, Professor of Humanities & Media Studies at the Pratt Institute, dissects other ways of being found in the life and legacies of Rebecca Cox Jackson, musicians Alice Coltrane and Sun Ra, and Sojourner Truth through her new book, Black Utopias: Speculative Life and the Music of Other Worlds published by Duke University Press.

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Left of Black S12 · E13 | Black Women of the Southhampton Slave Revolt with Vanessa M. Holden

Nat Turner, a preacher and slave in Southhampton County, VA, organized a small group of loyal followers and mounted a terrific and terrorizing rebellion against the plantation system, killing around 60 white people as they plowed their way to a nearby armory. The insurrection was quelled by the state militia, eventually leading to Turner's trial and execution. But his capture was prolonged for six long weeks. How was the slave leader sustained during that time? And where are the enslaved women of Southhampton County in the narrative of this historical event? Dr. Vanessa M. Holden joins Left of Black host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal to discuss her latest book, Surviving Southampton: African American Women and Resistance in Nat Turner's Community, published by University of Illinois Press. Dr. Holden is an Associate Professor of History and African American & Africana Studies and the Director of the Central Kentucky Slavery Initiative at the University of Kentucky.

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Left of Black S12 · E12 | Coloniality in the Financial Systems of the U.S. Virgin Islands with Tami Navarro

When you look at the U.S. Virgin Islands, you may think of it as a getaway destination. However, this largely impoverished Black island U.S. territory has fallen prey to financial services companies like the Economic Development Commission (EDC) that reinforce a near-identical hierarchy to that of the colonial past where race, gender, and class effectuate familiar modes of marginalization. Dr. Tami Navarro, Assistant Professor of Pan-African Studies at Drew University, joins Left of Black host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal to discuss her book, Virgin Capital: Race, Gender, and Financialization in the US Virgin Islands, published by SUNY Press.

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Left of Black S12 · E11 | How the Transatlantic Slave Trade Changed Black Age with Dr. Habiba Ibrahim

How are African Americans socialized in this society that redefines age, and by extension childhood, for those of enslaved descent? Black children are brutalized by a criminal justice system that does not see them as "children," while fully-grown mature Black men were historically called "boy" by their Caucasian counterparts. Are the attempts at un-aging, and re-aging, Black bodies yet another means of dehumanization? This week, Left of Black creator and long-time host Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Dr. Habiba Ibrahim, Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University of Washington and author of Black Age: Oceanic Lifespans and the Time of Black Life, published  by New York University Press.

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Left of Black S12 · E10 | Confronting Misogynoir in Digital Spaces with Dr. Moya Bailey

Dr. Moya Bailey, Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Northwestern University, was the first to pen the term "misogynoir" in 2010 as a means of giving a name to the anti-Black misogyny that she observed on the web and in broader society. Yet Black women have always found ways to push back against harmful stereotypes to demonstrate, and celebrate, their full humanity. In this episode of Left of Black, Dr. Bailey joins host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal to discuss her book, Misogynoir Transformed: Black Women’s Digital Resistance, which highlights the creativity and resilience of queer and trans Black women in building community online.