Cartographies of Blackness and Black Indigeneities

“Our education of Blackness and Africanness for political action and social change would be incomplete without attention to the perspectives, frameworks, theorizations, analyses, and visions provided in Cartographies of Blackness and Black Indigeneities.”

“Dei, Odozor, and Vasquez Jiminez’ edited book Cartographies of Blackness and Black Indigeneities brings together a wonderfully wide range of voices on the issue of Blackness and all its complexities. This text therefore is not only relevant to researchers and graduate students but also community workers, policy makers, and individuals in the wider society who need to be aware and ready to act on the challenges facing Black peoples everywhere. Indeed, it is even more important in this political era when to be identified as Black brings with it a host of difficulties. The multiplicity of spaces and perspectives addressed in this volume certainly afford the readers the opportunity to come to “a critical consciousness of our existential and ontological realities as African and Black peoples” that, according the editors, is one of their objectives. Cartographies of Blackness and Black Indigeneities provides the evidence for those of us wanting to make the case, in our own voices, for the importance and significance of Blackness, Africanness and Indigeneity and is therefore a must read.”

Janice B. Fournillier, Georgia State University

Mapping Blackness: An Introduction
George J. Sefa Dei, Ezinwanne Odozor and Andrea Vásquez Jiménez (Editors)

Conceptualizing Blackness: Theorizing Indigeneity
1. Teaching Race and (African) Indigeneity: Personal Reflections of a Black Scholar
George J. Sefa Dei

2. Black Indigenization as Politics of Transformation: Implications of the Zimbabwe Experiment
Munyaradzi Hwami and Edward Shizha

3. Making Peace with Movement: Dislocation and the Black Diaspora
Ezinwanne Toochukwu Odozor

Resisting Anti-Blackness and Anti-Black Racisms
4. Writing Black Life: Theoretical Underpinnings
Marlon Simmons

5. Navigating Being a Tall Black Female in Hostile Environments
Carla Rodney

6. In Search of Dark Stars: Addressing Anti-Blackness in Schools through Critical Racial Embodiment in Educational Leadership
Michelle Forde

7. Unlearning Our Blackness
John Castillo

8. The Black Woman Who Has Learned to Fear Herself: An Inquiry of the Myth of the Angry Black Woman
Ke’Shana Danvers

9. Special Education: When and Where Does Blackness Fit in?
Shaniqwa Thomas

10. Prisoners of a Skin Color: The Criminalization and the Social Construction of Blackness in Risk Assessment of Black Youth
Paul Banahene Adjei and Harriet Akanmor

Black Futurity and Educational Praxis
11. The Complexities of Race, Racialization, Blackness, and Africanness: Working to Decolonize My Teacher Education Program
Andrew Allen

12. Black Theorizing in Academia: Toward an Anti-Colonial Reading, a Response to Professor George J. Sefa Dei
Jennifer Mills

13. Black Graduation at the University of Toronto: A Case for Placemaking as Liberation Praxis
Jessica P. Kirk

14. A Spiritual Call for Afrocentric Learning Spaces and A Reflection on the Current State of Afrocentric Education in Toronto
Kimbra Yohannes Iket

15. The Intersection of Afrofuturism and African Indigenous Knowledge Systems: The Implications for Black Studies
Gloria Emeagwali

George J. Sefa Dei

Ghanaian-born George J. Sefa Dei is Professor of Social Justice Education and Director of the Centre for Integrative Anti-Racism Studies at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto (OISE/UT). He has written extensively on anti-racism education, minority youth and schooling, Indigenous knowledge, Blackness and Black Indigeneity.

Ezinwanne Odozor

Ezinwanne (Ezi) Odozor is a Nigerian-born writer and scholar based in Toronto. Her work, whether fiction or non-fiction, focuses on themes of identity, culture, gender, race, health, and intimacy. Ezinwanne is currently completing a master’s in education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.

Andrea Vásquez Jiménez

Andrea Vásquez Jiménez is an Afro-Latina born to Colombian parents in Toronto, Canada. She is a community organizer, community educator, previous 2018 Ontario NDP Candidate, and a scholar-warrior. Andrea is Co-Director and Co-Founder of the Latinx, Afro-Latin-America, Abya Yala Education Network (LAEN), a Toronto-based, grassroots organization.