So Real Illusions of Black Intellectualism: Exploring Race, Roles, and Gender in the Academy

Abstract

Pages 48-63The absence of any written mainstream valuation of African American theories and historical relevancies presents a significant commentary and dilemma within the field of human communication studies and other disciplines as well. I t forces committed African American intellectuals to ask ourselves if w e have created a large enough arsenal of quality theories or if we have simply recycled theories produced by "observers" to describe our communicative behavior. I f African American theories have been created, tested, and verified, then where are they, and why are they not being recognized by the academy? African American scholars must define what it means to be central to critical scholarship, determine whether this position has been achieved, and finally decide t o continue to push the margins. This essay is to be read as an initial exploration that examines the sociopolitical factors of race and gender as contributing variables to the success of African American intellectualism.

Negotiations of the Complicitous Nature of US Racial/Ethnic Categorization: Exploring Rhetorical Strategies

“…In addition, both Jackson (2000) and Hatch (2003) point to complicity theory as a helpful framework to transform the current state of race relations into more liberating dialogues where true racial reconciliation can occur. The framework appears especially fitting for our analysis because it was created specifically to study and explain issues of race, language, and communication (Allen, 2007).…”

An invitation to dialogue: Do communication journal reviewers mute the race‐related research of scholars of color?

“…As a Black female to be successful in this profession, I have to know the rules that normally work for Whites as well as how those rules actually apply to me as a Black person. As my colleague Jackson (2000) so eloquently stated, we have a "dual sensibility "guiding us to use "appropriate codes within varying rhetorical situations to demonstrate our communication competencies" (p. 56). In other words, I'm aware of being a Black woman striving (sometimes fighting) for success and respect in a White world when many of my White colleagues and students have never given their racial/ethnic identity any thought (or very little thought) because they do not have to do so.…”

“…These panels offer evidence of a persistent racial problem among the members of our discipline. 12 In a related vein, Jackson (2000) spoke of his conversations with graduate students who said they were "admonished not to use controversial cultural paradigms such as afrocentricity in their theses and dissertations" and stated:…”

Articulating the Heuristic Value of African American Communication Studies

“…There are many paradigmatic approaches within the subdiscipline of African American communication (Jackson, 2000;Jackson, 2004b;Orbe, 1995), but the most prominent is Afrocentricity, which operates under the premise that Africans and African Americans should have their cultural and historical perspectives placed at the center, as opposed to the periphery of their life experiences (Asante, 1980). The metatheory also maintains that African American communication, behaviors, and Articulating the Heuristic Value of African American Communication Studies 239 other phenomena should be explored through a lens that mirrors African cultural norms, as opposed to Western ideologies, because viewing African experiences through a European lens ''often results in inaccurate, misleading and biased interpretations'' (Hamlet, 1998, p. xi).…”

“…In the world of academia, a dominant paradigm of White patriarchal hegemony exists (hooks, 1989), which marginalizes and mutes Black faculty. Thus, in addition to research exploring the effect of otherness on the Articulating the Heuristic Value of African American Communication Studies 245 lives of Black faculty, especially African American women faculty, scholarship has queried African American identity negotiation amidst the various social ills that confine Blacks to the margins of an otherness existence (Jackson, 2000).…”