From Higher Learning to Charlottesville

This book interrogates John Singleton's 1995 Black cult classic film Higher Learning, set on a fictitious American college campus, as a harbinger of Donald Trump's successful 2016 and 2024 presidential campaigns, the 2017 Unite the Right Rally, reenergized protests by Blacks denouncing public monuments to the Confederacy, the #MeToo Movement, the Black Lives Matter Movement, and student protests erupting after the 2023 Israel-Hamas Gaza War. Contributors use Higher Learning as a fulcrum to explore how racial antagonisms, attitudes of college students, socio-economic disparities, and interpersonal relationships in America have changed and remained the same since the 1990s. From debates over free speech, affirmative action, hip hop music, and K-16 curriculum content, to protests condemning police brutality, this book examines why American college campuses continue to be sites of physical, visual, and epistemological conflicts over the meaning of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. This book also provides recommendations for how Americans might unite to address today's divisive issues and strengthen American democracy.

Leverages interdisciplinary approach to race, class, gender, politics, and identity Examines the tense socio-political and cultural landscapes of contemporary academic environments Theorizes pathways out of polarized exchanges and exclusionary systems on college campuses

Autorentext

Tyson D. King-Meadows Tyson D. King-Meadows is a Professor in the Department of Political Science and Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Norfolk State University.

Shahara'Tova V. Dente is an Associate Professor of English & Women's Studies and Graduate Director of Women's Leadership in the Department of Languages, Literature and Philosophy at Mississippi University for Women.

Klappentext

King-Meadows and Dente's edited collection serves as a fascinating and thought-provoking retrospective on an important film of the 1990s that will have a major impact on how higher education institutions foster intersectional discussions on our increasingly diverse post-secondary campuses. The authors show how the issues discussed in the film Higher Learning are still being debated today, such as the role of racism and white supremacy, misogyny, misogynoir, othering, and more. Let the unlearning begin!
-- Raymond Williams , author of blog Ballasts for the Mind

A standout. The volume harkens the 30th Anniversary and 'genius' of John Singleton's iconic film by illuminating its prescient and contemporary relevance. The volume offers a much-appreciated and nuanced approach to understanding higher education as a site of intellectualism, cultural exploration, cultural assertiveness, contention, resistance, and politics.
-- Shayla C. Nunnally , author of Trust in Black America: Race, Discrimination, and Politics

This book interrogates John Singleton's 1995 Black cult classic film Higher Learning, set on a fictitious American college campus, as a harbinger of Donald Trump's successful 2016 and 2024 presidential campaigns, the 2017 Unite the Right Rally, reenergized protests by Blacks denouncing public monuments to the Confederacy, the #MeToo Movement, the Black Lives Matter Movement, and student protests erupting after the 2023 Israel-Hamas Gaza War. Contributors use Higher Learning as a fulcrum to explore how racial antagonisms, attitudes of college students, socio-economic disparities, and interpersonal relationships in America have changed and remained the same since the 1990s. From debates over free speech, affirmative action, hip hop music, and K-16 curriculum content, to protests condemning police brutality, this book examines why American college campuses continue to be sites of physical, visual, and epistemological conflicts over the meaning of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. This book also provides recommendations for how Americans might unite to address today's divisive issues and strengthen American democracy.

Inhalt

Chapter 1: Introduction.- Section 1: The Damage Wrought by Weaponizing Culture.- Chapter 2: Racial Resentment.- Chapter 3: Black Music.- Chapter 4: Policing and Black Bodies.- Section 2: The Making and Meaning of Campus as Contested Space.- Chapter 5: Black Educators and Uplift.- Chapter 6: Black and Queer Women as Superheroes.- Chapter 7: Black Women and Economic Mobility.- Chapter 8: Invisibility, Intersectionality, and Racial Antagonisms.- Chapter 9: Clothing and Racial Communication.- Section 3: Learning and Applying Intersectionality.- Chapter 10: Lessons on Allyship.- Chapter 11: Being Woke.- Chapter 12: Racial Reconciliation and Community.- Chapter 13: Conclusion.