tag:africana.nd.edu,2005:/newsDepartment of Africana Studies | News2023-07-10T10:00:00-04:00tag:africana.nd.edu,2005:News/1544492023-07-10T10:00:00-04:002023-07-10T10:00:23-04:00Marisel Moreno’s book about undocumented migration wins Caribbean Studies Association’s most prestigious prize<p>Notre Dame professor Marisel Moreno’s book about the largely unknown and dangerous phenomenon of undocumented sea migration within the Caribbean region has won the Gordon K. and Sybil Lewis Book Award, the Caribbean Studies Association’s most prestigious prize. In <em>Crossing Waters: Undocumented Migration in Hispanophone Caribbean and Latinx Literature & Art</em>, Moreno seeks to lift the veil of invisibility around intra-Caribbean undocumented migration. “Being recognized by my field’s premier scholarly organization is one of the greatest honors of my life,” she said.</p><figure class="image-right"><img src="https://al.nd.edu/assets/522669/300x/marisel_moreno_headshot.jpg" alt="Marisel Moreno Headshot" width="300" height="350">
<figcaption>Marisel Moreno</figcaption>
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<p>Notre Dame professor <a href="https://romancelanguages.nd.edu/people/faculty/marisel-moreno/">Marisel Moreno</a>’s book about the largely unknown and dangerous phenomenon of undocumented sea migration within the Caribbean region has won the <a href="https://www.caribbeanstudiesassociation.org/awards-grants/gordon-k-and-sybil-lewis-award/">Gordon K. and Sybil Lewis Book Award</a>, the Caribbean Studies Association’s most prestigious prize.</p>
<p>“Being recognized by my field’s premier scholarly organization is one of the greatest honors of my life,” said Moreno, the Rev. John A. O'Brien College Professor of <a href="https://romancelanguages.nd.edu/">Romance Languages and Literatures</a>.</p>
<p>“It is especially meaningful to know that even despite the linguistic and cultural differences, as well as the distinct colonial histories that characterize the islands of the archipelago, the book has resonated among Caribbean scholars.”</p>
<p>The annual award is given for the best book about the Caribbean published over the previous year in Spanish, English, French, or Dutch.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://utpress.utexas.edu/9781477325605/"><em>Crossing Waters: Undocumented Migration in Hispanophone Caribbean and Latinx Literature & Art</em></a>, Moreno seeks to lift the veil of invisibility around intra-Caribbean undocumented migration.</p>
<p>“Because those who tend to risk their lives at sea in order to survive — whether it is due to political persecution, hunger, natural disasters or climate change — tend to be Black, it is also a book that centers Blackness and that grapples with the colonial legacy of anti-Black racism in Hispanophone Caribbean societies and their diasporas,” said Moreno, who is also a fellow of the College of Arts & Letters’ <a href="https://latinostudies.nd.edu/">Institute for Latino Studies</a> and the <a href="https://raceandresilience.nd.edu/">Initiative on Race and Resilience</a>.</p>
<p>“We cannot understand undocumented migration in the Caribbean without understanding anti-Black racism, and how the history of slavery and European/U.S. colonialism has shaped the present.”</p>
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<p>“We cannot understand undocumented migration in the Caribbean without understanding anti-Black racism, and how the history of slavery and European/U.S. colonialism has shaped the present.”</p>
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<figure class="image-right"><img src="https://al.nd.edu/assets/522676/crossing_waters_book.jpg" alt="Crossing Waters Book" width="250" height="375"></figure>
<p>Moreno’s interest in the topic was, in part, a result of growing up in Puerto Rico and reading headlines about Haitian and Dominican migrants drowning trying to cross in yolas (makeshift vessels).</p>
<p>“Many years later, in grad school and beyond, I continued to be perplexed by the virtual absence of the Caribbean in border studies,” she said. “That silence — which continues to this day — did not align with the reality of the thousands of lives lost trying to cross the Caribbean.”</p>
<p>“I started to look at literature and art to see how this historical reality had been represented in cultural production, and eventually I understood that I needed to write the book I had been looking for,” said Moreno, who is an affiliated faculty member in the <a href="https://genderstudies.nd.edu/">Gender Studies Program</a> and the <a href="https://africana.nd.edu/">Department of Africana Studies</a>.</p>
<p><em>Crossing Waters </em>has also earned the 2023 <a href="https://sections.lasaweb.org/sections/haiti-dominicanrepublic/?pg=4">Isis Duarte Book Prize</a> Honorable Mention from the Latin American Studies Association’s Haiti-Dominican Republic Section.</p>
<p>For Moreno — who is also a faculty fellow with the <a href="https://kellogg.nd.edu/">Kellogg Institute for International Studies</a>, and <a href="https://socialconcerns.nd.edu/">Center for Social Concerns</a> — teaching and research are interconnected, with one continually influencing the other.</p>
<p>“Early on, when I was working on <em>Crossing Waters</em>, I designed an upper-level Spanish course based on many of the works that I examine in the book,” she said. “Teaching the course several times as I wrote the manuscript allowed me to think critically, deeply, and consistently about its contents. I don’t think the book would have been as strong without the opportunity to design a course around its main topics.”</p>
<p>Her teaching and service also have earned awards. At Notre Dame, Moreno won the <a href="https://al.nd.edu/news/latest-news/romance-languages-and-literatures-associate-professor-to-receive-sheedy-award/">Sheedy Excellence in Teaching Award</a> in 2016 and the <a href="https://provost.nd.edu/assets/321565/certificate_2019_toohey_social_justice_award_citation_moreno.pdf">Rev. William A. Toohey, C.S.C. Award for Social Justice</a> in 2019. And in 2011, she received the Indiana Governor’s Award for Service-Learning.</p>
<p>The co-creator of the digital humanities project <a href="http://listeningtopuertorico.org/">Listening to Puerto Rico</a> and co-curator of the exhibit <a href="https://expodivedco.sagrado.edu/">Art at the Service of the People: Posters and Books</a> is now working on a book project, tentatively titled “Eye of the Storm: Hurricane María in Puerto Rican Cultural Production.”</p>
<p>In it, she examines the representation of the hurricane in literature and visual art “to untangle the links between colonialism, anti-Blackness, disaster capitalism, climate change, and migration.”</p>
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<p>“It is especially meaningful to know that even despite the linguistic and cultural differences, as well as the distinct colonial histories that characterize the islands of the archipelago, the book has resonated among Caribbean scholars.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p class="attribution">Originally published by <span class="rel-author">Beth Staples</span> at <span class="rel-source"><a href="https://al.nd.edu/news/latest-news/romance-languages-and-literatures-professors-book-about-undocumented-migration-wins-caribbean-studies-associations-most-prestigious-prize/">al.nd.edu</a></span> on <span class="rel-pubdate">July 10, 2023</span>.</p>Beth Staplestag:africana.nd.edu,2005:News/1485632022-10-13T15:54:00-04:002022-10-13T15:54:18-04:00How Asha Barnes ’18 mapped out a career in urban planning using skills from anthropology and Africana studies<p>Maps don’t just show us where things are located — for urban planner Asha Barnes ’18, they also reveal stories about who we are and how we live our lives. Majoring in anthropology and Africana studies at Notre Dame allowed Barnes to explore humanity and identity using both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. She’s now employed these research techniques in her career, continuing to give back by telling the stories of those who have been silenced. “It was through my education that I was able to put to words my own experience as an Afro-American woman living in this country,” said Barnes, now an associate planner at the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning. “It was through my education at Notre Dame that I was able to learn the skills that I have now to collect and tell the stories of other people and advocate for communities that I’ve worked with.”</p><figure class="image-default"><img alt="Asha Barnes Thumbnail" height="800" src="https://al.nd.edu/assets/488936/fullsize/asha_barnes_thumbnail.jpg" width="1200"></figure>
<p>Maps don’t just show us where things are located — for urban planner Asha Barnes ’18, they also reveal stories about who we are and how we live our lives.</p>
<p>Majoring in <a href="http://anthropology.nd.edu/">anthropology</a> and <a href="http://africana.nd.edu/">Africana studies</a> at Notre Dame allowed Barnes to explore humanity and identity using both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. She’s now employed these research techniques in her career, continuing to give back by telling the stories of those who have been silenced.</p>
<p>“It was through my education that I was able to put to words my own experience as an Afro-American woman living in this country,” said Barnes, now an associate planner at the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning. “It was through my education at Notre Dame that I was able to learn the skills that I have now to collect and tell the stories of other people and advocate for communities that I’ve worked with.”</p>
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<p>“It was through my education at Notre Dame that I was able to learn the skills that I have now to collect and tell the stories of other people and advocate for communities that I’ve worked with.”</p>
</blockquote>
<h3>A sense of empathy</h3>
<figure class="image-right"><img alt="Asha Barnes In Paris" height="405" src="https://al.nd.edu/assets/488939/300x/asha_barnes_in_paris.jpg" width="300">
<figcaption>Barnes (first row, second from left) with friends during her study abroad experience in Paris.</figcaption>
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<p>Barnes was always intrigued by language and culture, especially seeing how they had shaped her own identity as the daughter of a Jamaican immigrant mother and African American father on the South Side of Chicago.</p>
<p>Though she began Notre Dame on a pre-med track, Barnes discovered that anthropology and Africana studies allowed her to study her long-held passions and explore her identity in a meaningful and contextualized way. </p>
<p>“Those classes were very important to me, fostering my own sense of self — my identity,” she said.</p>
<p>She found that anthropological research techniques — from surveys to interviews to participant observation (studying a community or situation through immersion) — allowed her to better comprehend peoples’ everyday lives and motivations.</p>
<p>“It’s through anthropology that we begin to open our minds to different cultures, different peoples, different truths, different walks of life,” she said. “It fostered a sense of empathy in me that I continue to carry today.”</p>
<h3>The value of mentorship</h3>
<p>During her time at Notre Dame, Barnes worked closely with many professors who helped her gain research experience and discover her interests.</p>
<p><a href="https://anthropology.nd.edu/people/faculty/alex-e-chavez/">Alex Chávez</a>, the Nancy O’Neill Associate Professor of Anthropology, was one of Barnes’ most pivotal mentors, serving as the advisor for her senior thesis on religiosity in Jamaica. </p>
<figure class="image-left"><img alt="Asha Barnes And Maria Mckenna" height="426" src="https://al.nd.edu/assets/488940/350x/asha_barnes_and_maria_mckenna.jpg" width="400">
<figcaption>Barnes with Africana studies faculty member Maria McKenna at Commencement in 2018.</figcaption>
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<p>“He was a huge influence on the work that I was doing at Notre Dame and continues to be an influence now in the way that I practice anthropology,” said Barnes, who received funding from the <a href="https://anthropology.nd.edu/">Department of Anthropology</a> to travel to Jamaica for her research. “He definitely is, for me, the standard of what anthropologists should be.”</p>
<p>The <a href="https://africana.nd.edu/undergraduate-programs/doan-scholars/">Doan Scholar</a> also worked alongside<a href="https://africana.nd.edu/"> Department of Africana Studies</a> faculty <a href="https://africana.nd.edu/people/maria-k-mckenna/">Maria McKenna</a> and <a href="https://africana.nd.edu/people/stuart-greene/">Stuart Greene</a> in conducting research about education in South Bend and working with middle school students in the city on building soft skills.</p>
<p>The experience inspired her to spend a year doing full-time service work in public education through City Year following her graduation. Barnes, who had attended Chicago Public Schools, returned to the district to teach seventh- and eighth-grade students at Deneen Elementary School.</p>
<p>She soon found that her two majors offered insight into the lives of her students and how she could enable success for them in the classroom. </p>
<p>“It really gave me an understanding of how to practice education differently, taking into account Afro-American experiences,” she said.</p>
<p>After City Year, Barnes wanted to continue working with youth. She spent a year working as a program coordinator for Spark, a nonprofit which works to improve children’s futures by connecting them with a variety of career exploration resources, leveraging partnerships with companies like Google and LinkedIn.</p>
<p>Being mentored by Notre Dame professors who were dedicated to improving the lives of those who had been disadvantaged or disempowered had inspired Barnes to do the same. </p>
<p>“Working with them created a greater sense of urgency to serve people and advocate for communities that don’t necessarily have the power to advocate for themselves,” she said.</p>
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<p>“I come from a community that’s been divested in and that’s been impacted by the legacy of segregation in Chicago, and it doesn’t have a champion and is lacking in power. I think of it now as my duty to come back and give back, and fortify those communities that have been left behind.”</p>
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<h3>Advocating for communities</h3>
<p>During her sophomore year, Barnes had served as a team anthropologist with the<a href="https://engagement.nd.edu/community-partners/coalitions/"> Bowman Creek Educational Ecosystem</a>, a coalition that brought together resources from Notre Dame and the City of South Bend. The team worked to provide revitalization and environmental solutions to flooding and contamination around Bowman Creek in the southeast side of the city, a racially diverse and economically divested area.</p>
<p>Witnessing how the team worked with the community to address public health made Barnes interested in urban planning and its potential to foster healthy neighborhoods. </p>
<p>“I come from a community that’s been divested in and that’s been impacted by the legacy of segregation in Chicago, and it doesn’t have a champion and is lacking in power,” she said. “I think of it now as my duty to come back and give back, and fortify those communities that have been left behind.”</p>
<figure class="image-right"><img alt="Asha Barnes Uiuc Degree" height="249" src="https://al.nd.edu/assets/488938/450x/asha_barnes_uiuc_degree.jpg" width="350">
<figcaption>Barnes with family after receiving her master's degree from the University of Illinois.</figcaption>
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<p>That experience and others — including a Youth Empowerment and Urban Environments course with Greene and McKenna — ultimately inspired her to complete a master’s degree in urban and regional planning at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, adding technical skills to her portfolio such as making maps using computer software, analyzing census data, and telling stories through data visualization.</p>
<p>The historical knowledge Barnes gained from her undergraduate education proved invaluable for understanding how urban planners can serve community needs.</p>
<p>“If you look at the state of American cities, especially Chicago, and how segregated it and other cities are, I’m able to utilize my knowledge of the African diaspora, of African American culture, to better assist or advocate for those communities,” Barnes said.</p>
<p>Barnes is already using anthropological methodologies in her new role at the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, a government organization working with municipalities throughout northeast Illinois. </p>
<p>Since her start in June, Barnes has been working primarily on two projects: ensuring that all municipalities are compliant with the American with Disabilities Act and helping the community of Austin on Chicago’s West Side implement its quality-of-life plan to uplift the neighborhood.</p>
<p>These projects require Barnes to utilize the research skills that she developed from her anthropology degree. </p>
<p>“Urban planning is a lot of data collection and data analysis, which is something that anthropologists do in general,” Barnes said. “We take both qualitative and quantitative data and try to tell the story with that. And that’s something that I learned during my time at Notre Dame.”</p>
<p>For Barnes, a Notre Dame liberal arts education unlocked the past as the key to a brighter future.</p>
<p>“You gain a greater understanding of the world that we live in,” she said, “of the history that we are working with or contending with, and you gain tools that you need to rectify past wrongs.”</p>
<p class="attribution">Originally published by <span class="rel-author">Hailey Oppenlander</span> at <span class="rel-source"><a href="https://al.nd.edu/news/latest-news/how-asha-barnes-18-mapped-out-a-career-in-urban-planning-using-skills-from-anthropology-and-africana-studies/">al.nd.edu</a></span> on <span class="rel-pubdate">October 11, 2022</span>.</p>Hailey Oppenlandertag:africana.nd.edu,2005:News/1494362022-09-12T12:43:00-04:002022-11-22T12:43:54-05:00Africana studies chair Mark Sanders honored as a member of the 2022 All-Faculty Team<p>Congratulations to Mark Sanders, professor of English and Africana studies and director of the Initiative on Race and Resilience, for being honored at Saturday's game as a member of the 2022 All-Faculty Team!</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">Congratulations to Mark Sanders,</p>
…</blockquote><p>Congratulations to Mark Sanders, professor of English and Africana studies and director of the Initiative on Race and Resilience, for being honored at Saturday's game as a member of the 2022 All-Faculty Team!</p>
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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Congratulations to Mark Sanders, professor of English and Africana studies and director of the <a href="https://twitter.com/NotreDame?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NotreDame</a> Initiative on Race and Resilience, for being honored at Saturday's game as a member of the 2022 All-Faculty Team! <a href="https://twitter.com/gamedayND?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@gamedayND</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/NDFootball?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NDFootball</a> <a href="https://t.co/UQQGEahLzH">https://t.co/UQQGEahLzH</a> <a href="https://t.co/GwoGSJ979x">pic.twitter.com/GwoGSJ979x</a></p>— ND Arts and Letters (@ArtsLettersND) <a href="https://twitter.com/ArtsLettersND/status/1569341709703577602?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 12, 2022</a>
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<p class="attribution">Originally published by <span class="rel-author">Initiative on Race and Resilience</span> at <span class="rel-source"><a href="https://raceandresilience.nd.edu/news-and-events/news/irr-director-mark-sanders-honored-as-a-member-of-the-2022-all-faculty-team/">raceandresilience.nd.edu</a></span> on <span class="rel-pubdate">September 12, 2022</span>.</p>Initiative on Race and Resiliencetag:africana.nd.edu,2005:News/1477952022-08-24T15:11:00-04:002022-11-22T12:04:42-05:00Concurrent faculty Erin McDonnell wins book award for research on how pockets of government in developing countries thrive <p>The European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS) has presented Notre Dame sociologist Erin Metz McDonnell with its 2022 Book Award for her original contribution to the knowledge about organizations, organizing, and the organized. In her award-winning book, <em>Patchwork Leviathan: Pockets of Bureaucratic Effectiveness in Developing States</em>, McDonnell argues that while corruption and ineffectiveness may be expected of public servants in developing countries, “some spectacularly effective state organizations thrive amid institutional weakness and succeed against impressive odds.” </p><figure class="image-right"><img alt="Erin McDonnell" height="333" src="https://al.nd.edu/assets/296037/500x/erin_mcdonnell_1200.jpg" width="500">
<figcaption>Erin McDonnell</figcaption>
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<p>The European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS) has presented Notre Dame sociologist <a href="https://sociology.nd.edu/people/erin-mcdonnell/">Erin Metz McDonnell</a> with its <a href="https://www.egos.org/egos/about_egos/EGOS-Book-Award">2022 Book Award</a> for her original contribution to the knowledge about organizations, organizing, and the organized.</p>
<p>The worldwide association — with nearly 3,000 members in 60 countries — is an active voice in key policy debates.</p>
<p>In her award-winning book, <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691197357/patchwork-leviathan"><em>Patchwork Leviathan: Pockets of Bureaucratic Effectiveness in Developing States</em></a>, McDonnell argues that while corruption and ineffectiveness may be expected of public servants in developing countries, “some spectacularly effective state organizations thrive amid institutional weakness and succeed against impressive odds.” </p>
<p>McDonnell — who is also concurrent faculty in the <a href="https://africana.nd.edu/">Department of Africana Studies</a> and a fellow of the <a href="https://kellogg.nd.edu/">Kellogg Institute for International Studies</a>, the <a href="https://kroc.nd.edu/">Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies</a>, and the <a href="https://pulte.nd.edu/">Pulte Institute for Global Development</a> — researches organizational, political, cultural, and economic sociology.</p>
<p><em>Patchwork Leviathan</em>’s focus is on how small group culture affects organizational performance. It argues that a sufficient concentration of resources clustered within particular pockets of a state can be transformative, enabling distinctively effective organizations to emerge from a sea of ineffectiveness. The book analyzes cases from contemporary Ghana and Nigeria, mid-20th-century Kenya and Brazil, and early 20th-century China as examples.</p>
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<p>“We should be more interested in lauding the achievements of Ghanaians and Africans and recognizing their expertise and effort.”</p>
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<p>By detailing how these effective pockets differ from Western bureaucracies — on which so much state and organizational theory is based — McDonnell gives insights into why well-funded global capacity-building reforms fail. As well as how they can do better.</p>
<p>In early July, when McDonnell was in Vienna to take part in a panel at the 38th EGOS Colloquium, she was notified that her book had been shortlisted for the honor. While she was excited <em>Patchwork Leviathan</em> was being considered for the award, she wondered if “shortlisted” might be the European way of saying “honorable mention.”</p>
<p>“When they announced I had won, honestly it took me a second, and then I sort of startled in my seat and leapt up to go on stage to receive the award,” she said.</p>
<p>Now, McDonnell is in Ghana doing fieldwork for her next large project, a five-year study funded by a <a href="https://al.nd.edu/news/latest-news/two-arts-and-letters-faculty-members-receive-nsf-early-career-development-awards/">National Science Foundation (NSF) Early Career Development (CAREER) Award</a>, to examine efforts to spread lessons learned from these “pockets of effectiveness” in the public sector. </p>
<p>For her book, McDonnell studied Ghana’s commercial court system around 2008, and she is now reconstructing the history of what has happened with the courts since then. During a recent day of research, she learned about the spread of the practice of alternative dispute resolution to courts countrywide.</p>
<p>“I feel so incredibly grateful for the guidance, participation, and insightful experiences from the various Ghanaian public servants I have encountered here,” she said, adding that the West doesn’t hear enough about what works well in Africa, such as the death rate from COVID-19 in Ghana, adjusted for population size, being roughly one-tenth of what it is in the United States. </p>
<p>The state, she said, brought back a Ghanaian from the World Health Organization to head its effort, which has included masking, contact tracing, enforced lockdowns, and organized food distributions. </p>
<p>“We should be more interested in lauding the achievements of Ghanaians and Africans,” she said, “and recognizing their expertise and effort.”</p>
<p class="attribution">Originally published by <span class="rel-author">Beth Staples</span> at <span class="rel-source"><a href="https://al.nd.edu/news/latest-news/sociologist-wins-european-book-award-for-research-on-how-pockets-of-government-in-developing-countries-thrive/">al.nd.edu</a></span> on <span class="rel-pubdate">August 23, 2022</span>.</p>Beth Staplestag:africana.nd.edu,2005:News/1473262022-08-19T10:49:00-04:002022-09-13T14:54:25-04:00University of Notre Dame hosts joint conference of national Black Catholic clergy and religious <p><span style="background:white">The event included three days of private joint sessions and individual meetings of the <a href="http://www.nbccc.cc">National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus</a>, the <a href="http://www.nbsc68.com">National Black Sisters Conference</a>, the <a href="https://nabcd.org/">National Association of Black Catholic Deacons</a> and the <a href="http://www.nbcsa.today">National Black Catholic Seminarians Association</a>. </span></p><figure class="image-default"><img alt="Black Catholic Clergy Conference Feature" src="https://africana.nd.edu/assets/482059/fullsize/black_catholic_clergy_conference_feature.jpg"></figure>
<p><span style="background:white"></span><span style="background:white">The University of Notre Dame hosted the annual joint conference of the national organizations for Black Catholic clergy, women religious, deacons and seminarians from July 24 to 28. </span></p>
<p><span style="background:white">The event included three days of private joint sessions and individual meetings of the <a href="http://www.nbccc.cc">National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus</a>, the <a href="http://www.nbsc68.com">National Black Sisters Conference</a>, the <a href="https://nabcd.org/">National Association of Black Catholic Deacons</a> and the <a href="http://www.nbcsa.today">National Black Catholic Seminarians Association</a>. </span></p>
<p><span style="background:white">Inspired by the title of a traditional African American hymn, the conference’s theme was “Walk Together Children.” Participants focused on coming together for reflection, study, conversation, planning and prayer in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing political and religious polarization, rising racial tensions and dwindling resources to support Black Catholic evangelization — all of which have significantly impacted their roles as ministers in the Black and Catholic communities.</span></p>
<p><span style="background:white">“The University of Notre Dame has defined itself, especially under the late President Theodore Hesburgh, as the ‘place where the Church does its thinking,’” said <a href="https://news.nd.edu/our-experts/dianne-pinderhughes/">Dianne Pinderhughes</a>, a professor of Africana studies and political science. “Bringing a range of Black clergy to the campus allowed us to explore the complicated and difficult thinking that goes on among Black Catholic religious organizations, as well as their religious worship practices.</span></p>
<p><span style="background:white">“African Americans constitute only about 4 percent of Catholic adults in the U.S., so it was especially important for Notre Dame’s religious and academic leaders to have this opportunity to learn of the interests, ideas, spiritual practices and values of this network of African American clergy, nuns, deacons and seminarians.”</span></p>
<p><span style="background:white">A Jubilarian Mass celebrating Black Catholic vocations was held Monday (July 25) in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. Most Rev. Shelton Fabre, Archbishop of Louisville, served as celebrant, with Bishop Kevin Rhoades of the Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend offering a welcome. Fr. Carl Gales, S.V.D., of Chicago served as homilist, and the Holy Angels/St. Rita Parish Gospel Choirs of Indianapolis provided music for the liturgy. </span></p>
<p><span style="background:white">A panel of young clergy, religious and graduate students discussing the topic “Our Voices Matter: To Be Young, Gifted, Black and Catholic in 2022” <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIbahvf28OE">was livestreamed</a> on Tuesday (July 26), followed by a jazz performance by internationally renowned saxophonist and recording artist Gregory Tardy.</span></p>
<p><span style="background:white">Participants in the joint sessions — including Catholic religious women and lay associates, religious brothers, deacons and their wives, novices, seminarians and priests — engaged with the South African principles of "ubuntu," which means humanity, and "sawubona,” meaning “we see you,” as they discussed how to prayerfully move forward informed by the faith and experiences of Black people in the U.S.</span></p>
<p><span style="background:white">The University has hosted similar events in the past, including the <a href="https://news.nd.edu/news/black-catholic-theological-symposium-to-convene-31st-annual-meeting-at-notre-dame/">Black Catholic Theological Symposium in fall 2021</a>, a Black Catholic Vocations Symposium in 2010 and the summer session of the Institute for Black Catholic Studies at Xavier University of New Orleans in 2006, which was displaced due to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In 1971, when Fr. Hesburgh was president, the University hosted one of the earliest National Black Sisters Conference meetings. The sisters offered space for seminarians to gather during that conference and, consequently, the National Black Catholic Seminarians Association was established in 1971 at Notre Dame. </span></p>
<p><span style="background:white">University sponsors included the <a href="https://mcgrath.nd.edu/">McGrath Institute for Church Life</a>, the <a href="https://theology.nd.edu/graduate-programs/initiatives/marten-program/">Marten Program in Homiletics and Liturgics</a> in the Department of Theology, the <a href="https://africana.nd.edu/">Department of Africana Studies</a>, the <a href="https://cushwa.nd.edu/">Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism</a>, the <a href="https://raceandresilience.nd.edu/">Initiative on Race and Resilience</a> and the <a href="https://campusministry.nd.edu/">Office of Campus Ministry</a>. </span></p>
<p class="attribution">Originally published by <span class="rel-author">Carrie Gates</span> at <span class="rel-source"><a href="https://news.nd.edu/news/university-of-notre-dame-hosts-joint-conference-of-national-black-catholic-clergy-and-religious/">news.nd.edu</a></span> on <span class="rel-pubdate">August 02, 2022</span>.</p>Carrie Gatestag:africana.nd.edu,2005:News/1456742022-05-18T16:45:00-04:002022-05-20T19:47:41-04:00A Letter Sent on Behalf of Dr. Mark A. Sanders: Buffalo Murders<h4>Mourning the Murders in Buffalo</h4> <p><br> Dear Friends,<br> Just as Notre Dame was celebrating its graduates this past Saturday, a white supremacist murdered ten African Americans in a Tops Friendly Markets store (due to redlining, the only supermarket in this Black neighborhood) in Buffalo, New…</p><h4>Mourning the Murders in Buffalo</h4>
<p><br>
Dear Friends,<br>
Just as Notre Dame was celebrating its graduates this past Saturday, a white supremacist murdered ten African Americans in a Tops Friendly Markets store (due to redlining, the only supermarket in this Black neighborhood) in Buffalo, New York. The fact that this has happened again, and that the perpetrator (again) acted with such efficient intent is both chilling and incomprehensible in a way that nearly outstrips our capacity to rationalize such a tragedy.</p>
<p><br>
Our hearts are heavy for the victims and their families. And as we hold them in our thoughts and prayers, it is essential that we say and remember their names:</p>
<p><br>
Roberta A. Drury of Buffalo, N.Y. – age 32, daughter and sister.</p>
<p><br>
Margus D. Morrison of Buffalo, N.Y. – age 52, husband and father of four.</p>
<p><br>
Andre Mackneil of Auburn, N.Y. – age 53, father and engaged to be married.</p>
<p><br>
Aaron Salter of Lockport, N.Y. – age 55, husband and father of three, retired police officer, Tops security guard.</p>
<p><br>
Geraldine Talley of Buffalo, N.Y. – age 62, mother of two.</p>
<p><br>
Celestine Chaney of Buffalo, N.Y. – age 65, mother and grandmother of six.</p>
<p><br>
Heyward Patterson of Buffalo, N.Y. – age 67, father of three.</p>
<p><br>
Katherine Massey of Buffalo, N.Y. – age 72, civil rights activist.</p>
<p><br>
Pearl Young of Buffalo, N.Y. – age 77, mother of three.</p>
<p><br>
Ruth Whitfield of Buffalo, N.Y. – age 86, wife and mother of four, grandmother of eight.</p>
<p><br>
We pray for the wounded survivors who will need the ongoing support of their families and surrounding communities to recover from this traumatic moment. And as we hold them in our thoughts and prayers, it is essential that we say and remember their names:</p>
<p><br>
Zaire Goodman of Buffalo, N.Y. – age 20, Tops employee.</p>
<p><br>
Jennifer Warrington of Tonawanda, N.Y. – age 50.</p>
<p><br>
Christopher Braden of Lackawanna, N.Y. – age 55.</p>
<p><br>
These victims were attacked because of a fanatical devotion to white supremacy, the belief that European descent confers an innate superiority and entitlement, a belief that requires the creation and vilification of a racialized enemy. Historically, this belief has sanctioned the hemisphericwide campaign of genocide against indigenous communities, the African slave trade, racialized slavery, colonization, anti-Asian violence, the Inquisition, the Holocaust, the attack on the Capital, and systemic racism that manifests itself today in health, wealth, education, police brutality, mass incarceration, prejudicial sentencing, environmental racism, housing,… indeed in virtually every feature of modern life.</p>
<p><br>
White supremacy and its derivations (white nationalism, white Christian nationalism, replacement theory, and so on), propagated through social media and sanctioned or excused by a growing number of politicians, give rise to the massacres we’ve witnessed recently: Dylann Roof’s murder of nine Black worshippers at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina in 2015; the murder of eleven worshipers at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 2018; the killing of twenty people (mostly Latinx) at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas in 2019; and the shootings at the Al Noor Mosque and the Linwood Islamic Centre in Christchurch, New Zealand that resulted in the deaths of 51 Muslims in 2019. These are only the most infamous racist massacres. The list is much longer.</p>
<p><br>
And so, in this moment of pain and anger and bewilderment, what are we to do? What are we to do when prayers and well-wishing seem so woefully inadequate?</p>
<p>We can do what our forebears have done for centuries: persevere. We can redouble our efforts to continue the centuries-old struggle to realize a world free of white supremacy. Therefore, we must work to hold politicians and media outlets that propagate replacement theory accountable for their lethal rhetoric; we must continue to confront systemic racism in its myriad forms; we must continue, at every turn, to promote multiracial democracy; and we must support and celebrate communities of color.</p>
<p><br>
May love and hope continue to bind us and buoy us up, and may we carry the victims of the Buffalo massacre with us.</p>
<p><br>
Sincerely,</p>
<p><br>
Mark A. Sanders</p>Dr. Mark A. Sanderstag:africana.nd.edu,2005:News/1454162022-05-06T13:00:00-04:002022-05-06T13:23:08-04:00English and Africana studies alumna Geraldine Mukumbi named Knight-Hennessy Scholar<p>Notre Dame alumna Geraldine Mukumbi has been named a 2022 Knight-Hennessy Scholar. She is Notre Dame’s second consecutive Knight-Hennessy Scholar and third in the past four years. An English and Africana studies major, she will now pursue a doctorate in curriculum studies and teacher education at the Stanford Graduate School of Education. She is interested in interventions in the English classroom that can inspire students to be lifelong readers — particularly, the role that young adult fiction can play in improving the quality of literacy for multilingual students.</p><figure class="image-right"><img alt="Mukumbi Geraldine 06647579 1 Feature" src="https://africana.nd.edu/assets/471408/mukumbi_geraldine_06647579_1_feature.jpg"></figure>
<p>University of Notre Dame alumna Geraldine Mukumbi has been named a 2022 Knight-Hennessy Scholar. She is Notre Dame’s second consecutive Knight-Hennessy Scholar and third in the past four years.</p>
<p>First awarded in 2018, the Knight-Hennessy Scholars Program covers tuition and other expenses for graduate or professional study, up to three years, at Stanford University.</p>
<p>A native of Zimbabwe, Mukumbi graduated from Notre Dame in 2016 with a degree in <a href="http://english.nd.edu/">English</a> and <a href="http://africana.nd.edu/">Africana studies</a>. She was a Hesburgh-Yusko Scholar and a Kellogg International Scholar. As a senior, she won the Hammon-Wheatley Creative Arts Award, the Richard Sullivan Prize for Short Fiction and the Notre Dame Leadership Award. She was executive producer of the monologue show “Show Some Skin,” which gives voice to unspoken stories about identity and difference at Notre Dame.</p>
<p>Through the Hesburgh-Yusko Scholars Program, she conducted research exploring art as a response to silence in the aftermath of tragedy in New York, Nairobi, Kenya and Makhanda, South Africa.</p>
<p>In recent years, she has taught at the African Leadership Academy in Johannesburg, South Africa; LEAF Academy in Bratislava, Slovakia; and USAP Community School in Ruwa, Zimbabwe.</p>
<p>As a Knight-Hennessy Scholar, she will pursue a doctorate in curriculum studies and teacher education at the Stanford Graduate School of Education. She is interested in interventions in the English classroom that can inspire students to be lifelong readers — particularly, the role that young adult fiction can play in improving the quality of literacy for multilingual students.</p>
<p>In the long term, she hopes to open an art high school in her home region of Matabeleland, Zimbabwe.</p>
<p>“I believe the Knight-Hennessy Scholars Program is a unique opportunity to grow as a well-rounded student and an invitation to dream of better classrooms in a community of peers who are committed to building a better world,” Mukumbi said.</p>
<p>She thanked a number of individuals, including “my family and friends who encourage me to dream” and “the Africana studies department at Notre Dame, which exposed me to the type of community-based research that I aspire to carry out. I am also grateful to Professor Joe Buttigieg, who modeled an unflinching love for literature, as well as Professors Stuart Greene, Maria McKenna and Paul Ocobock, who have supported me in my journey as a writer and teacher.”</p>
<p>She continued, “My thinking has been shaped by friends and colleagues such as Chris Bradford, Taeyin ChoGlueck, L’ubica Lutz, Jaromír Sedlár, Dave Tait and Rebecca Zeigler Mano, who have served as inspiring soundboards in expanding my thinking about schools and community.”</p>
<p>Ocobock, for his part, described Mukumbi as a “born leader” in the classroom, “extraordinarily self-aware, ever mindful of her positionality and genuinely sensitive to the experiences of her peers.”</p>
<p>“Having lived in Zimbabwe and South Africa, Gerie volunteered her own experiences to make profound points about inequality, western imperialism and racism, among other topics,” said Ocobock, an associate professor of history at Notre Dame. “Her formidable presence fundamentally changed the class, her fellow classmates and me for the better.”</p>
<p>Like previous Knight-Hennessy Scholars, Mukumbi worked closely with the <a href="https://cuse.nd.edu/">Flatley Center for Undergraduate Scholarly Engagement (CUSE)</a> to apply for the award. CUSE promotes the intellectual development of Notre Dame undergraduates through scholarly engagement, research, creative endeavors and the pursuit of fellowships.</p>
<p>”We were so happy to hear that Geraldine had been selected for the Knight-Hennessy Scholars Program,” said <a href="https://cuse.nd.edu/about/team/">Jeffrey Thibert</a>, the Paul and Maureen Stefanick Director of CUSE. “She truly represents the best of this University, both in terms of character and in terms of a commitment to using her talents and energies to improve the lives of others. It has truly been an honor to work with Geraldine. She is an extraordinary individual who has already done much to contribute to making this a better world but still believes she has much to do.”</p>
<p>For more on this and other scholarship opportunities, visit <a href="https://cuse.nd.edu/">cuse.nd.edu</a>.</p>
<p>Originally published at <a href="https://news.nd.edu/news/alumna-geraldine-mukumbi-named-2022-knight-hennessy-scholar/">news.nd.edu</a>.</p>
<p class="attribution">Originally published by <span class="rel-author">Erin Blasko</span> at <span class="rel-source"><a href="https://al.nd.edu/news/latest-news/alumna-geraldine-mukumbi-named-2022-knight-hennessy-scholar/">news.nd.edu</a></span> on <span class="rel-pubdate">May 06, 2022</span>.</p>Erin Blaskotag:africana.nd.edu,2005:News/1451072022-04-26T12:00:00-04:002022-04-26T12:42:45-04:002022 Senior Thesis Projects for Africana Studies <h2>2022 Senior Thesis Projects</h2> <p>The Department of Africana Studies would like to highlight a collection of senior thesis projects completed by students that are associated with our department in the College of Arts & Letters Class of 2022. We are so proud of our scholars for completing hours…</p><h2>2022 Senior Thesis Projects</h2>
<p>The Department of Africana Studies would like to highlight a collection of senior thesis projects completed by students that are associated with our department in the College of Arts & Letters Class of 2022. We are so proud of our scholars for completing hours of original research, interviews, practice, analysis, writing, and creative work to contribute to academic scholarship and our department. Join us in congratulating and highlighting our seniors as they have completed their 2022 Senior Thesis projects. </p>
<h4>Grace Doefler </h4>
<figure class="image-right"><img alt="Screen Shot 2022 04 26 At 12" height="472" src="https://africana.nd.edu/assets/470055/screen_shot_2022_04_26_at_12.34.21_pm.png" width="376"></figure>
<ul>
<li>Major: History </li>
<li>Supplementary Major: Africana Studies </li>
<li>Glynn Family Honors Program </li>
<li>Suzanne and Walter Scott Scholars Program </li>
<li>Advisor: Kathleen Sprows Cummings</li>
</ul>
<h3><strong>Finding Women’s Voices in the Catholic Clergy Sex Abuse Crisis </strong></h3>
<p>"I examined the role of whistleblowers in the clergy abuse crisis, specifically Catholic sisters who blew the whistle in their different roles in the Church. Through this lens, I examined how gender and power ultimately functioned to delegitimize women’s voices and reinforce silence about clergy sex abuse. I have been interested in researching the abuse crisis since I began college. Over the past few years, I have learned a lot about the too-little-known stories of women in Catholicism. Choosing this topic was an opportunity to learn from those who are too seldom heard."</p>
<h4>Duncan Donahue</h4>
<figure class="image-right"><img alt="Screen Shot 2022 04 26 At 12" height="474" src="https://africana.nd.edu/assets/470056/screen_shot_2022_04_26_at_12.34.38_pm.png" width="372"></figure>
<ul>
<li>Major: Sociology</li>
<li>Supplementary Major: Peace Studies </li>
<li>Minor: Africana Studies </li>
<li>Advisor: Garrett Fitzgerald</li>
</ul>
<h3><strong>The Intersection on Stolen Land: Critical Engagements Between Intersectionality and Indigenous Resurgence</strong></h3>
<p>"In 2019, Patricia Hill Collins warned that “without serious self-reflection, intersectionality could easily become just another social theory that implicitly upholds the status quo.” In the interest of combatting its hollowing, my research reflected on intersectionality in light of another critical knowledge project — Indigenous resurgence. Through three lines of engagement with Indigenous resurgence, I constructively problematized several currents and applications of intersectionality in the academy and popular discourse. I have developed a keen interest in decolonial theory in my studies at Notre Dame and thought there was much to be gained from the productive tension between Indigenous resurgence and intersectionality as two critical theories from the North American context."</p>
<p> </p>
<h4>Daut'e Martin </h4>
<figure class="image-right"><img alt="Screen Shot 2022 04 26 At 12" height="470" src="https://africana.nd.edu/assets/470057/screen_shot_2022_04_26_at_12.34.49_pm.png" width="374"></figure>
<ul>
<li>Major: Africana Studies</li>
<li>Minor: Education, Schooling, and Society (ESS)</li>
<li>Posse Scholars Program</li>
<li>Advisor: Maria McKenna</li>
</ul>
<h3>Imagining What’s Possible from Notre Dame and Beyond</h3>
<p>"This project aimed to understand the ideologies of Black educators in historically white spaces. One of the main goals of this project was to make it apparent that there’s a particularity to how Black educators teach, especially in historically white spaces. Using autoethnography, I offered my learning experiences from Black educators within interdisciplinary fields. I explored how a single experience of a Black female student encouraged Black educators to enter the world of higher education.</p>
<p>I choose this topic because I believe that my experiences at Notre Dame matter. More importantly, it’s been hard to imagine what senior year and graduating from Notre Dame would look like. I want my thesis to be a remembrance of my transformative growth and legacy at Notre Dame."</p>Vicky Nguyentag:africana.nd.edu,2005:News/1477922022-01-28T08:00:00-05:002022-09-13T15:00:51-04:00Ernest Morrell, A&L associate dean and literacy scholar, elected to the National Academy of Education<p>Ernest Morrell, the associate dean for the humanities and equity in Notre Dame’s College of Arts and Letters and the director of the Center for Literacy Education, has been elected to the National Academy of Education. The Academy advances high-quality research that improves education quality and practice. Members are elected on the basis of outstanding scholarship related to education.</p><figure class="image-right"><img alt="Ernest Morrell 600" height="600" src="https://al.nd.edu/assets/437953/ernest_morrell_600.jpg" width="600"></figure>
<p><a href="https://al.nd.edu/about/office-of-the-dean/executive-committee/ernest-morrell/">Ernest Morrell</a>, the associate dean for the humanities and equity in Notre Dame’s <a href="http://al.nd.edu/">College of Arts and Letters</a> and the director of the <a href="https://iei.nd.edu/initiatives/cle">Center for Literacy Education</a>, has been elected to the <a href="https://naeducation.org/">National Academy of Education</a>.</p>
<p>The Academy advances high-quality research that improves education quality and practice. Members are elected on the basis of outstanding scholarship related to education.</p>
<p>“It is the highest honor bestowed in our field, and I am absolutely humbled by it,” Morrell said. “To be included amongst the membership of the National Academy represents both a recognition and a challenge. With all that schools and students face these days, we need to make certain that we are forming the next generation of scholars and educators and that we bring the best of educational research to policy and practice. This has been my life's work, and I am ready to take it to the next level through my work in the Academy.”</p>
<p>Morrell is also the Coyle Professor in Literacy Education at Notre Dame, a professor in the departments of <a href="http://english.nd.edu/">English</a> and <a href="http://africana.nd.edu/">Africana Studies</a>, a fellow in the <a href="https://iei.nd.edu/">Institute for Educational Initiatives</a> and <a href="http://kellogg.nd.edu/">Kellogg Institute for International Studies</a> and a faculty affiliate of the <a href="https://raceandresilience.nd.edu/">Notre Dame Initiative on Race and Resilience</a>.</p>
<p>“Ernest’s innovative research and practice have shown how we can impact the lives of students around the country,” said Mark Berends, the Hackett Family Director of IEI. “He is well-deserving of this honor.”</p>
<p>Morrell’s research focuses on how the use of popular culture in the classroom can successfully engage urban youth and communities and on translanguaging — the idea that students can maximize their learning by using the many different languages they use in their everyday lives. </p>
<p>He also co-designed the first AP seminar on the African diaspora, and his work was <a href="https://fightingfor.nd.edu/2021/fighting-for-literacy-across-america/">featured in Notre Dame’s award-winning “What Would You Fight For” series</a> last fall.</p>
<p>Since 2015, Morrell has been annually ranked among the top university-based education scholars in the RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings published by <em>EdWeek</em>. He is the director of the National Council of Teachers of English James R. Squire Office for Policy Research in the English Language Arts, an elected fellow of the American Educational Research Association, a past president of the National Council of Teachers of English and a co-convener of the African Diaspora International Research Network. </p>
<p>He has written 90 articles, research briefs and book chapters and 10 scholarly monographs, including <em>Educating Harlem: A Century of Schooling and Resistance in a Black Community </em>(Columbia, 2020).</p>
<p>Morrell is one of 17 newly elected members who will be inducted Nov. 6 in Washington, D.C. Academy members are elected on the basis of outstanding scholarship related to education. Nominations are submitted by individual Academy members once a year for review and election by the organization’s membership. </p>
<p class="attribution">Originally published by <span class="rel-author">Theo Helm</span> at <span class="rel-source"><a href="https://al.nd.edu/news/latest-news/ernest-morrell-a-l-associate-dean-and-literacy-scholar-elected-to-the-national-academy-of-education/">al.nd.edu</a></span> on <span class="rel-pubdate">January 28, 2022</span>.</p>Theo Helmtag:africana.nd.edu,2005:News/1477962021-11-22T15:18:00-05:002022-09-13T15:18:25-04:00Debuting solo show at Notre Dame, artist-in-residence Reginald Dwayne Betts explores lasting effects of incarceration and the power of the written word<p>When Reginald Dwayne Betts hears the word prison, his first thoughts aren’t about violence or distance or time — he thinks about books. Betts, an artist-in-residence at the Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study and the Notre Dame Initiative on Race and Resilience, was sentenced to nine years in prison as a 16-year-old. It was there that a book, slid under the door of his cell, changed the course of his life. Now an acclaimed poet, graduate of Yale Law School and 2021 MacArthur Fellow, Betts presented the debut of his solo show Nov. 17 and 18 in the Regis Philbin Studio Theatre at the University of Notre Dame’s DeBartolo Performing Arts Center.</p><figure class="image-default"><img alt="Reginald Dwayne Betts 1" src="https://al.nd.edu/assets/452275/fullsize/reginald_dwayne_betts_1.jpg"></figure>
<p>When <a href="https://ndias.nd.edu/fellows/betts-reginald-dwayne/">Reginald Dwayne Betts</a> hears the word prison, his first thoughts aren’t about violence or distance or time — he thinks about books.</p>
<p>Betts, an artist-in-residence in the <a href="https://ndias.nd.edu/">Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study</a> and the <a href="https://raceandresilience.nd.edu/">Notre Dame Initiative on Race and Resilience</a>, was sentenced to nine years in prison as a 16-year-old. It was there that a book, slid under the door of his cell, changed the course of his life.</p>
<p>Now an acclaimed poet, graduate of Yale Law School and 2021 MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellow, Betts presented the debut of his solo show Nov. 17 and 18 in the Regis Philbin Studio Theatre at the University of Notre Dame’s DeBartolo Performing Arts Center.</p>
<p><em>Felon: An American Washi Tale</em> brings together elements of theater and fine art — including handmade paper made from his friends’ prison uniforms and scraps of letters — with excerpts from Betts’ most recent book of poetry, <em>Felon</em>.</p>
<figure class="image-right"><img alt="Reginald Dwayne Betts 3" height="266" src="https://al.nd.edu/assets/452277/400x/reginald_dwayne_betts_3.jpg" width="400">
<figcaption>Felon: An American Washi Tale brings together elements of theater and fine art — including handmade paper made from his friends’ prison uniforms and scraps of letters — with excerpts from Betts’ most recent book of poetry, Felon.</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The performance explores the lasting effects of incarceration, along with themes of racial injustice, family legacy, identity — and the power of the written word.</p>
<p>It also allows him to explore the “space between” the poems in his collection, Betts said.</p>
<p>“You write a collection of poems, and it’s always the space between the poems that tells a story, and you hope it’s the space after the poems that tells a story,” he said. “The book is meant to be a solitary event that people read on their own and, as a public event, it doesn’t always capture what I want to capture. So, I thought about what it would mean if I did a solo show.”</p>
<p>The show opens with Betts’ description of how he received a copy of <em>The Black Poets</em>, an anthology edited by Dudley Randall, through the prison’s underground library system. After discovering the works of Etheridge Knight in the book, Betts began writing himself.</p>
<p>“When I first said I was going to be a writer, it was, you know, a wild ambition. I didn’t know what that meant,” Betts said. “Then I read his poetry, and I found out that he’d served time in prison. He's writing about a 16-year-old that went to prison, and I went to prison at 16. </p>
<p>“I was 17 at the time that I read it, and it made sense for me to become a writer. I had an ink pen, and I had paper. I started writing essays, whatever I could, whatever I needed to.”</p>
<p>Betts, who earned an MFA in poetry and is pursuing a doctorate in law at Yale University, has published three critically acclaimed collections of poetry and a memoir, <em>A Question of Freedom: A Memoir of Learning, Survival, and Coming of Age in Prison</em>.</p>
<p>In the show, Betts notes that he was released from prison on March 4 — “the only day on the calendar that is both a date and a command.” And “march forth” is a directive he has clearly heeded. A fierce advocate for those incarcerated, he is also the founder of Freedom Reads, a project that aims to place libraries inside prisons throughout the U.S. </p>
<p>Betts has personally curated a collection of 500 books to be included and worked with a design team to ensure that the libraries themselves are a space of beauty.</p>
<figure class="image-left"><img alt="Reginald Dwayne Betts 2" height="267" src="https://al.nd.edu/assets/452276/400x/reginald_dwayne_betts_2.jpg" width="400">
<figcaption>One of Betts’ goals for the show — and for his engagement with Notre Dame students and faculty this year — is to encourage others to seek ways to show love to those imprisoned.</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>“When you’re in your cell, you just look out at concrete, a sanitized environment. There’s nothing natural there. There’s nothing beautiful,” Betts said. “Here at Notre Dame, everything around us is beautiful. And it’s intentionally so because there is an underlying belief that a part of the human experience and the human experience of education is beauty. … So, this project is not just about books, but it’s also about beauty and a level of dignity.”</p>
<p>The project is currently installing its first libraries in prison facilities in Massachusetts and Louisiana. In the spring, Betts also hopes to place one in Indiana’s Westville Correctional Facility, where Notre Dame and Holy Cross faculty lead a transformational liberal arts education program for inmates.</p>
<p>Throughout the show, Betts interweaves lines from his poem “Ghazal,” which focuses on the challenges of life after prison and ends with the line: “Shahid you’re loved, not shipwrecked after prison.” One of his goals for the show — and for his engagement with Notre Dame students and faculty this year — is to encourage others to seek ways to show love to those imprisoned.</p>
<p>“If we want to radically change the circumstances and conditions that lead to incarceration, we have to pay attention to the people who are inside,” he said. “I think the first tenet of love is attention, and we haven’t paid people in prison attention. It was the thing that I longed for most while I was incarcerated. And books helped give me the attention that I desired, but how much better might it have been if there was a system that encouraged me to pay other people attention and encouraged the world to pay us attention?”</p>
<p class="attribution">Originally published at <span class="rel-source"><a href="https://news.nd.edu/news/reginald-dwayne-betts-notre-dame-artist-in-residence-presents-solo-show-felon-an-american-washi-tale/">news.nd.edu</a></span>.</p>Carrie Gatestag:africana.nd.edu,2005:News/1418712021-11-22T10:00:00-05:002021-11-22T10:48:23-05:00Doan Scholar alumna MacKenzie Isaac named 2022 Rhodes Scholar<p><span style="background:white">Notre Dame alumna MacKenzie Isaac ’20 will study at the University of Oxford in England next year as a member of the U.S. Rhodes Scholar Class of 2022. She is one of 32 Rhodes Scholars selected from a pool of 826 candidates this year, and is Notre Dame’s 21st Rhodes Scholar overall and fourth in the past five years. She graduated in 2020 with a Bachelor of Arts in sociology, minoring in data science and Latino studies.</span></p><figure class="image-right"><img alt="Mackenzie Isaac" src="https://al.nd.edu/assets/452050/350x/mackenzie_isaac.jpg">
<figcaption>MacKenzie Isaac ’20</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Notre Dame alumna MacKenzie Isaac will study at the University of Oxford in England next year as a member of the U.S. Rhodes Scholar Class of 2022. She is one of 32 Rhodes Scholars selected from a pool of 826 candidates this year, and is Notre Dame’s 21st Rhodes Scholar overall and fourth in the past five years. </p>
<p>Isaac worked closely with the <a href="http://cuse.nd.edu">Flatley Center for Undergraduate Scholarly Engagement (CUSE)</a> to apply for the award. CUSE promotes the intellectual development of Notre Dame students through scholarly engagement, research, creative endeavors and the pursuit of fellowships.</p>
<p>“Notre Dame could not be prouder of MacKenzie because she was selected not for scholarly achievement alone, but — in the words of the Rhodes Trust — for ‘character, commitment to others and to the common good, and for their potential for leadership in whatever domains their careers may lead,’” said Notre Dame President <a href="https://president.nd.edu/about/">Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C.</a> “On behalf of the entire University community, I offer sincere congratulations to MacKenzie, to her family, and to the faculty and staff who provided invaluable support and encouragement, especially those in the Center for Undergraduate Scholarly Engagement.”</p>
<p><a href="https://cuse.nd.edu/about/team/">Jeffrey Thibert</a>, the Paul and Maureen Stefanick Director of CUSE, said, “On behalf of CUSE, I would like to congratulate MacKenzie for being selected to join the U.S. Rhodes Scholar Class of 2022. It has truly been an honor to advise her throughout the extensive discernment, endorsement, application and interview process involved in being considered for the Rhodes Scholarship. It has also been humbling, as I have seen how much good she has already added to the world; studying at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar will multiply this positive impact.”</p>
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<p>“Notre Dame could not be prouder of MacKenzie because she was selected not for scholarly achievement alone, but — in the words of the Rhodes Trust — for ‘character, commitment to others and to the common good, and for their potential for leadership in whatever domains their careers may lead.’”</p>
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<p>He continued, “I would like to thank the many administrators, faculty, staff and alumni who generously made the time to help prepare MacKenzie and all of our finalists for their interviews. And I would like to express my admiration for this year’s applicants for the Rhodes, Marshall and Mitchell scholarships, all of whom had the courage to engage in the intensive and introspective application process. I hope that we lived up to CUSE’s ideal of ensuring that all applicants gain value from the application process commensurate with the work that they are willing to put in, regardless of the ultimate outcome.”</p>
<p>Isaac, of Indianapolis, graduated from Notre Dame in 2020 with a Bachelor of Arts in sociology. She minored in data science and Latino studies. She was a <a href="https://kellogg.nd.edu/opportunities/undergraduate-students/kellogg-international-scholars-program">Kellogg International Scholar</a>, a Building Bridges mentee and a nominee for the Truman Scholarship. Isaac wrote a senior thesis on the practice of skin bleaching in the Caribbean diaspora and shed light on how community health programs can address the dangerous practice in culturally competent and empathetic ways.</p>
<figure class="image-left"><img alt="Mackenzie Isaac Research" height="243" src="https://al.nd.edu/assets/311201/450x/mackenzie_isaac_research.jpg" width="300">
<figcaption>Isaac presenting research she conducted through a Harvard School of Public Health summer research program called Fostering Advancement & Careers through Enrichment Training in Science (FACETS).</figcaption>
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<p>Isaac is the 16th Arts & Letters student to be named a Rhodes Scholar, and the fifth since 2015.</p>
<p>She is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in health education from Columbia University Teachers College in New York. She was a Rhodes finalist last year as well. She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.</p>
<p>As a student and scholar, and as a Black woman, Isaac is interested in health equity. Particularly, she is interested in factors such as racism and discrimination that contribute to chronic disease in communities of color, and in promoting holistic well-being for people of color through the creation, delivery, and evaluation of health education curricula that take into account the importance of cultural competency and social justice.</p>
<p>As a Kellogg Scholar, Isaac documented the evolution of outmigration and political response to natural disasters in Haiti with <a href="https://latinostudies.nd.edu/people/personnel/karen-richman/">Karen Richman</a>, professor of the practice and director of undergraduate studies at the <a href="http://latinostudies.nd.edu">Institute for Latino Studies</a>. She also served as a research assistant to Kim Rollings, former assistant professor of architecture, with the Architecture, Health and Sustainability Research Group in the <a href="https://architecture.nd.edu/">School of Architecture</a>, a research assistant and assistant community liaison with the Diabetes Impact Project-Indianapolis Neighborhoods (DIP-IN) at the Indiana University Fairbanks School of Public Health, and as a student research fellow with the FACETS program at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.</p>
<figure class="image-right"><img alt="Mackenzie Isaac Dolores Huerta" height="355" src="https://al.nd.edu/assets/311199/450x/mackenzie_isaac_dolores_huerta.jpg" width="300">
<figcaption>Isaac meeting social activist Dolores Huerta during her 2018 visit to Notre Dame, hosted by the Institute for Latino Studies.</figcaption>
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<p>Active in service and leadership, Isaac served as director of diversity and inclusion for Notre Dame Student Government and a senior multicultural fellow with Lyons Hall Council. She was a seminar co-leader with the <a href="https://socialconcerns.nd.edu/">Center for Social Concerns</a>, a member and secretary of the Voices of Faith Gospel Choir, a peer advocate and undergraduate programming assistant with the <a href="https://mcwell.nd.edu/">McDonald Center for Student Well-Being</a> and student coordinator of Africana ministry with <a href="https://campusministry.nd.edu/">Notre Dame Campus Ministry</a>.</p>
<p>As part of her work with student government, Isaac was the sole student on the organizing committee for <a href="https://diversity.nd.edu/walk-the-walk/">Walk the Walk Week</a> and lead organizer of Race Relations Week, and she successfully brought disability advocacy under the purview of the <a href="https://diversity.nd.edu/">Department of Diversity and Inclusion</a>. She launched a discussion series on identity and mental health stigmas as an extension of her peer advocacy with the McDonald Center. Additionally, she was an executive board member with the Notre Dame Diversity Council, was a member of the vice president for student affairs’ advisory committee on student climate related to race and ethnicity, and played an instrumental role in broaching topics of cultural competency, sensitivity and equity within the Moreau Student Advisory Council.</p>
<p>Through her close partnership with <a href="https://www.msps.nd.edu/">Multicultural Student Programs and Services</a>, Isaac contributed to the development of miNDful, a series of cultural competency-oriented workshops specially designed for residence halls and other residential, spiritual and academic communities on campus.</p>
<p>In addition to her studies at Columbia, Isaac currently oversees projects at the intersection of urban planning, community organization and health promotion at Health by Design, where she previously served as an apprentice. She also serves as director of volunteer engagement with Omena Madagascar, where she assists with the creation of an emotional abuse prevention curriculum for the organization’s global network of youth and young adult peer educators; as a Northeast Neighborhood steering committee member with DIP-IN; and as a program instructor and outreach ambassador for the Center for Leadership Development in Indianapolis. </p>
<p>As a Rhodes Scholar, Isaac plans to pursue a Doctor of Philosophy in population health. Long term, she hopes to work in the area of community health education, advocating for programs and curricula that thoughtfully capture community narratives and resolutely push marginalized narratives toward the center of focus, with the ultimate goal of health care justice.</p>
<p>“I would like to thank Dr. Thibert, Elise Rudt and my recommenders for all they have poured into me throughout my scholarship and fellowship application process,” Isaac said. “I would not have this opportunity without them and the numerous others who comprise my not-so-small village. I recognize and embrace the fact that I stand on the shoulders of so many, including and especially the wise and driven leaders in my hometown community. They saw — and continue to draw out — assets in me that I don’t always see in myself, and have offered continuous guidance as I explore how to put these assets to best use in service to the world. I am so excited to see how my experience as a Rhodes Scholar contributes to this ongoing journey of exploration.”</p>
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<p>“I recognize and embrace the fact that I stand on the shoulders of so many, including and especially the wise and driven leaders in my hometown community. They saw — and continue to draw out — assets in me that I don’t always see in myself, and have offered continuous guidance as I explore how to put these assets to best use in service to the world.”</p>
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<p><a href="https://sociology.nd.edu/people/william-carbonaro/">William Carbonaro</a>, professor and chair in the <a href="https://sociology.nd.edu/">Department of Sociology</a> at Notre Dame, taught Isaac in two of his courses: Linear Regression, a graduate-level statistics course, and Inner City America.</p>
<figure class="image-left"><img alt="Mackenzie Isaac Doan Scholars" height="165" src="https://al.nd.edu/assets/311202/400x/mackenzie_isaac_doan_scholars.jpg" width="300">
<figcaption>Isaac (far right) at her 2018 induction into the Doan Scholars, a program for Arts & Letters students who have demonstrated academic success, provided substantial service to the University or surrounding community, and show promise as African American scholars and leaders.</figcaption>
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<p>“MacKenzie is one of the best undergraduate students that I have taught in my 20 years at Notre Dame,” Carbonaro said. “She is very mature, both intellectually and as a person. In her writing and comments in class, it was clear that she had both a cognitive and moral empathy. In other words, she is very good at thinking about the perspective of others in order to understand the world, and also how to respond to others in a humane and equitable way. I will also say that MacKenzie is eager to learn about the world around her. She has a great deal of humility, and that serves her well as a student and a person. She is the type of student who is a joy to work with, and who gives me hope for the future.”</p>
<p>Named for English businessman and politician Cecil Rhodes, the Rhodes Scholarships are the oldest international fellowships in the world, recognizing American students from all 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia and the U.S. territories, for their scholarly achievements, character, commitment to others and to the common good and potential for leadership.</p>
<p>Notre Dame seniors Patrick Aimone, Jack Boland, Devin Diggs and Greg Miller were also selected as finalists for the Class of 2022.</p>
<p><em>Originally published at news.nd.edu.</em></p>
<p class="attribution">Originally published by <span class="rel-author">Erin Blasko</span> at <span class="rel-source"><a href="https://al.nd.edu/news/latest-news/notre-dame-alumna-mackenzie-isaac-named-2022-rhodes-scholars/">news.nd.edu</a></span> on <span class="rel-pubdate">November 21, 2021</span>.</p>Erin Blaskotag:africana.nd.edu,2005:News/1381402021-05-26T12:40:00-04:002021-06-03T12:40:21-04:00Pinderhughes is Recipient of 2021 President's Award<div dir="auto"> <div data-ad-comet-preview="message" data-ad-preview="message" id="jsc_c_k1"> <div> <div> <div> <div dir="auto"> <figure class="image-left"><img alt="Dianne" height="400" src="https://politicalscience.nd.edu/assets/431099/dianne.jpg" width="600"></figure>The University of Notre Dame</div>
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<figure class="image-left"><img alt="Dianne" height="400" src="https://politicalscience.nd.edu/assets/431099/dianne.jpg" width="600"></figure>The University of Notre Dame is proud to present the 2021 President’s Award to Dianne Pinderhughes. The President’s Award recognizes a member of the faculty and/or the administration for distinguished service to the University over an extended period of time. An outstanding ambassador for Notre Dame and its academic community, Dianne Pinderhughes is a political scientist who studies inequality, American civil society institutions, and voting rights policy. She has served as president of the American Political Science Association and vice president of the International Political Science Association, among many other professional appointments. Her dedication to her students and colleagues is evident not only in her leadership of the Department of Africana Studies, which she has chaired for the past six years, but also her abiding commitment to speaking with campus groups about race relations, diversity, and inclusion. Elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 2019, she is an exceptional mentor for junior faculty, particularly</div>
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<p class="attribution">Originally published by <span class="rel-author">Greg Endicott</span> at <span class="rel-source"><a href="https://politicalscience.nd.edu/news-and-events/news/pinderhughes-is-recipient-of-2021-presidents-award/">politicalscience.nd.edu</a></span> on <span class="rel-pubdate">May 26, 2021</span>.</p>Greg Endicotttag:africana.nd.edu,2005:News/1381442021-05-25T12:00:00-04:002021-06-03T12:43:45-04:00Faculty milestones, promotions, and awards mark the end of 2020–21 academic year<p>On Tuesday (May 25), Marie Lynn Miranda, Charles and Jill Fischer Provost at the University of Notre Dame, announced the winners of several annual awards as part of a broader recognition of all those Notre Dame faculty members who have achieved career milestones this spring.</p> <p><strong>Faculty</strong>…</p><p>On Tuesday (May 25), Marie Lynn Miranda, Charles and Jill Fischer Provost at the University of Notre Dame, announced the winners of several annual awards as part of a broader recognition of all those Notre Dame faculty members who have achieved career milestones this spring.</p>
<p><strong>Faculty Milestones and Promotions</strong></p>
<p>Each year, the Office of the Provost recognizes faculty who have:</p>
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<li>been promoted, including those who have earned tenure</li>
<li>assumed an academic leadership role</li>
<li>reached emerita/emeritus status</li>
<li>completed 25 or 50 years of service to the University</li>
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<p>The full list of faculty who have earned these distinctions in 2021 is available at: <a href="https://provost.nd.edu/faculty-recognitions/faculty-promotions/">provost.nd.edu/milestones-and-promotions</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Award Winners</strong></p>
<p>Through a group of 10 annual awards, faculty and staff are honored for excellence in research, teaching, and other work in support of Notre Dame’s academic community.</p>
<p>These awards are coordinated by the Office of the Provost, with the exception of the Research Achievement Award and the Toohey Awards, which are presented by Notre Dame Research and the Office of Campus Ministry, respectively.</p>
<p>This year’s recipients are:</p>
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<a href="https://provost.nd.edu/faculty-recognitions/faculty-awards/provost-award-for-academic-support-of-student-athletes/">Provost’s Award for Academic Support of Student-Athletes</a> – Adam M. Sargent</li>
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<a href="https://provost.nd.edu/faculty-recognitions/faculty-awards/faculty-award/">Faculty Award</a> (co-honoree) – David T. Leighton</li>
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<a href="https://provost.nd.edu/faculty-recognitions/faculty-awards/faculty-award/">Faculty Award</a> (co-honoree) – Mark J. McCready</li>
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<a href="https://provost.nd.edu/faculty-recognitions/faculty-awards/faculty-award/">Faculty Award</a> (co-honoree) – Nicole M. McNeil</li>
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<a href="https://provost.nd.edu/faculty-recognitions/faculty-awards/faculty-award/">Faculty Award</a> (co-honoree) – Michael Pfrender</li>
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<a href="https://provost.nd.edu/faculty-recognitions/faculty-awards/niebuhr-award/">Reinhold Niebuhr Award</a> – Heidi Beidinger-Burnett</li>
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<a href="https://provost.nd.edu/faculty-recognitions/faculty-awards/clark-award/">Grenville Clark Award</a> – Michael J. Mannor II</li>
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<a href="https://provost.nd.edu/faculty-recognitions/faculty-awards/research-achievement-award/">Research Achievement Award</a> – Nora J. Besansky</li>
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<a href="https://provost.nd.edu/faculty-recognitions/faculty-awards/foik-award/">Rev. Paul J. Foik, C.S.C., Award</a> – Patricia A. Lawton</li>
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<a href="https://provost.nd.edu/faculty-recognitions/faculty-awards/madden-award/">Thomas P. Madden Award</a> – Rev. Kevin G. Grove, C.S.C.</li>
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<a href="https://provost.nd.edu/faculty-recognitions/faculty-awards/toohey-awards/">Rev. William A. Toohey, C.S.C., Award for Preaching</a> – Rev. Gerard J. Olinger, C.S.C.</li>
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<a href="https://provost.nd.edu/faculty-recognitions/faculty-awards/toohey-awards/">Rev. William A. Toohey, C.S.C., Award for Social Justice</a> – Kraig Beyerlein</li>
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<a href="https://provost.nd.edu/faculty-recognitions/faculty-awards/presidents-award/">President’s Award</a> – Dianne M. Pinderhughes</li>
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<p>Citations for each award winner are available through the above links.</p>
<p>Earlier this month, the Office of the Provost also <a href="https://provost.nd.edu/news/faculty-awards-honor-undergraduate-teaching-and-advising-4/">announced</a> the recipients of the Dockweiler Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Advising and the Rev. Edmund P. Joyce, C.S.C., Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. </p>
<p class="attribution">Originally published by <span class="rel-author">Ted Fox</span> at <span class="rel-source"><a href="https://provost.nd.edu/news/faculty-milestones-promotions-and-awards-mark-the-end-of-202021-academic-year/">provost.nd.edu</a></span> on <span class="rel-pubdate">May 25, 2021</span>.</p>Ted Foxtag:africana.nd.edu,2005:News/1377472021-05-17T22:15:00-04:002021-05-17T22:15:58-04:002021 Senior Thesis Projects <p>Recently, four graduates of Africana Studies, Rae'Vonne Barnes, Tonaysia Price, Malik Tropez, and Tia Wilson have completed a diverse array of senior thesis projects for 2021, all the while, earning internships for the year 2021. They have worked so hard on these projects for the last year of 2020-2021.…</p><p>Recently, four graduates of Africana Studies, Rae'Vonne Barnes, Tonaysia Price, Malik Tropez, and Tia Wilson have completed a diverse array of senior thesis projects for 2021, all the while, earning internships for the year 2021. They have worked so hard on these projects for the last year of 2020-2021. The Department of Africana Studies is honored and proud to recognize these seniors and their dedication to the Africana Studies' field. </p>
<h4><strong>Rae'Vonne Barnes: Rap Gets a Bad Rap: The Effects of Rap on Mental Health Stigma </strong></h4>
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<p>"My research project seeks to understand rap as a form of music therapy. It includes a questionnaire and a qualitative interview to determine the amount of mental health stigma at the University of Notre Dame and whether gangsta rap and confessional rap can decrease that mental health stigma and increase the likelihood of students seeking professional mental health help..."</p>
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<h4><strong>Tonaysia Price: Initiative on Race and Resilience </strong></h4>
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<p>"My yearlong senior capstone allowed for what Paolo Freire coined “praxis,” putting theory to practice. Over the course of the year, I assisted Mark Sanders, director of the Initiative on Race and Resilience, with research, benchmarking, and outreach projects related to the University’s newest efforts on race, racial identity, and resilience..."</p>
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<h4><strong>Malik Tropez: Design for Good: Sharing the Readiness Center with the World </strong></h4>
<p>"My project is a collaboration with the Readiness Center in Benton Harbor, Michigan, an early childhood and family programming center serving historically under-resourced families. Working to combine my expertise in Africana studies and collaborative design, I assisted the Readiness Center with new and expanded graphic art, including logos and communication designs..."</p>
<h4><strong>Tia Wilson: Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship: Empowering Students from Diverse Backgrounds</strong></h4>
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<p>"This project is a collaboration with the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship in St. Louis, Missouri. Through the collaboration, I was able to apply my understanding of the experiences of African American youth and how they relate to entrepreneurial activities and outlets for youth. Through student coaching, research, social media management, and grant writing, I used the skills and knowledge I gained in Africana studies to support the nonprofit’s mission and<br>
constituent groups..."</p>
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<p>Click here for the presentation: <a href="https://africana.nd.edu/assets/430058/2021_senior_thesis_presentation_for_africana.pdf">2021 Senior Thesis Presentation For Africana</a></p>Department of Africana Studiestag:africana.nd.edu,2005:News/1369432021-04-20T12:20:00-04:002021-04-20T12:21:50-04:00AFRICANA Excellence <h2>AFRICANA Excellence </h2> <p> </p> <figure class="image-left"> <figure class="image-left"><img alt="0f15f692 31bb 454b 9a93 549d3bb39081 2" src="https://africana.nd.edu/assets/427533/0f15f692_31bb_454b_9a93_549d3bb39081_2.jpg"></figure><br> <br> <br> <br> <br>  </figure> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p>Alexandra…</p><h2>AFRICANA Excellence </h2>
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<p>Alexandra Rice is a 2021 Doctorate of Medicine candidate at the Medical University of South Carolina College of Medicine. She grew up in Columbia, SC and graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 2016, double majoring in Science Pre-Professional Studies and Africana Studies. </p>
<p>During her time at Notre Dame, Alex was a member of both the Chorale Choir and Voices of Faith Gospel Choir and served as both President and VP of the Africana Studies Club. Alex won the 2015 Africana Studies Community Spirit and Service Award and was a 2016 inductee into the Societas Africana honor society. She won the 2016 Wright, Flint-Hamilton, & Mason Award for her Africana Studies Senior Thesis under the advisement of Dr. Stuart Greene, entitled “‘It Wouldn't Be the First Time’: Womanism & African-American Women's Activism.” Her thesis was chosen for publication in the 2017 edition of the University of Notre Dame Journal of Undergraduate Research.</p>
<p>Following graduation, Alex completed a year of service at a Mobile Medical Care, Inc., a Federally Qualified Health Center in Montgomery County, MD, through the Westmoreland Volunteer Corps. She matriculated to medical school and has served as Vice President of the MUSC chapter of the Student National Medical Association, Referrals Coordinator for the student-run MUSC CARES Clinic, MUSC Student Government Association Vice President of Diversity & Inclusion, and as</p>
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Alex recently matched for Family Medicine residency at the Duke University Department of Family Medicine and Community Health in Durham, NC. She looks forward to caring for underserved patients and addressing health disparities through a career in Family Medicine.a mentor to college and high school students through the SM^3: Student Mentors for Minorities in Medicine program. Alex is a MUSC Presidential Scholar, a South Carolina Area Health Education Consortium (AHEC) Scholar, and an AAFP Foundation Emerging Leaders Institute Scholar. She has a personal and academic interest in addressing the historical and ongoing mistreatment of Black patients and other patients of color and led an interprofessional Race & Medicine Medical Humanities discussion group during her time at MUSC.</p>
<figure class="image-left"><img alt="Bright Gyamfi" height="174" src="https://africana.nd.edu/assets/427573/bright_gyamfi.jpeg" width="144"></figure>
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<p>Bright Gyamfi, a 2016 alumnus from Notre Dame, was the featured topic of a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAIQdV13x_M">Stanford Business School talk</a> (<em>The Bright Way to Foster Belonging</em>) regarding how to create more inclusivity by Jean-Pierre Vertil, who is currently working on his MBA ’22.<br>
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<a href="https://history.northwestern.edu/people/graduate-students/bright-gyamfi.html">Bright</a> is a PhD candidate in the Department of History in Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern University. His dissertation examines Ghanaian intellectuals who transformed and radicalized the study of Africa in academic and intellectual centers around the Atlantic. </p>
<h4>Recent Honor(s)</h4>
<p>Honorable Mention Distinction for the 2020-21 McBride Student Award, Northwestern University, 2021</p>
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This <a href="https://www.tgs.northwestern.edu/about/news/2021/03/announcing-the-202021-ver-steeg-and-mcbride-award-recipients.html">award</a> recognizes one graduate student and one postdoctoral trainee who go above and beyond in any or all of the areas of diversity, service, and engagement. Bright was one of two student honorable mention awardees.</p>
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<p><a href="https://africasacountry.com/2021/03/pioneers-in-black-studies">"Pioneers in Black Studies"</a><br>
</p>Department of Africana Studiestag:africana.nd.edu,2005:News/1350932021-02-09T12:00:00-05:002021-02-09T12:40:43-05:00Morrell Joins Board for the Center for Applied Linguistics <figure class="image-right"><img alt="Morrell 300x200" src="https://africana.nd.edu/assets/419416/morrell_300x200.jpg"></figure> <h5>Originally published by <a href="https://www.cal.org/news-and-events/in-the-news/ernest-morrell-board-2021">cal.org</a> on January 22, 2021</h5> <p> </p> <p>Starting January 2021, Kellogg Faculty…</p><figure class="image-right"><img alt="Morrell 300x200" src="https://africana.nd.edu/assets/419416/morrell_300x200.jpg"></figure>
<h5>Originally published by <a href="https://www.cal.org/news-and-events/in-the-news/ernest-morrell-board-2021">cal.org</a> on January 22, 2021</h5>
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<p>Starting January 2021, Kellogg Faculty Fellow Ernest Morrell joins the Board of Trustee of the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) for a three-year term. A well-respected leader in the field of English education, the African diaspora, and media and popular culture, Morrell brings more than a decade of research and writing experience to the board of 12.</p>
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“We are extremely grateful and excited to announce Dr. Ernest Morrell’s appointment to the CAL Board of Trustees,” said President and CEO of CAL Joel Gómez.</p>
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“Ernest’s experience as a teacher, researcher, and tireless advocate for students goes hand in hand with the mission and vision CAL has been striving towards since 1959. In 2021, part of that mission is to shine a brighter light on digital equity – and inequity – in our schools, the importance of literacy and multiliteracy for our youngest learners, and the need for increased diversity in our field and areas of research.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Ernest is a welcome addition to our leadership team, and I look forward to working with him over the next several years to grow our mission." </p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="https://kellogg.nd.edu/news/morrell-joins-board-center-applied-linguistics">Read more.</a> </p>Center for Applied Linguisticstag:africana.nd.edu,2005:News/1347232021-01-27T12:00:00-05:002021-01-27T12:52:22-05:00Having Coffee with Dianne Pinderhughes <h5><em>Originally published by Notre Dame Magazine at <a href="https://diversity.nd.edu/our-stories/having-coffee-with-dianne-pinderhughes/">diversity.nd.edu</a> on November 19, 2020</em></h5> <h5> <strong>Author</strong>: <a href="https://politicalscience.nd.edu/news-and-events/news/authors/notre-dame-magazine/">Notre</a>
…</h5><h5><em>Originally published by Notre Dame Magazine at <a href="https://diversity.nd.edu/our-stories/having-coffee-with-dianne-pinderhughes/">diversity.nd.edu</a> on November 19, 2020</em></h5>
<h5>
<strong>Author</strong>: <a href="https://politicalscience.nd.edu/news-and-events/news/authors/notre-dame-magazine/">Notre Dame Magazine </a>
</h5>
<figure class="image-right"><img alt="Pinderhughes" src="https://africana.nd.edu/assets/417861/pinderhughes.jpg"></figure>
<p> </p>
<p>Dianne Pinderhughes has been observing protests and marches for racial and social justice since her childhood in segregated Washington, D.C., where residents of the majority Black city didn’t have the right to vote in presidential elections until after passage of the Twenty-Third Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1961.</p>
<p><br>
In 2020, after the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police and the growth of the Black Lives Matter movement, things seem different.</p>
<p><br>
“By race, it’s quite different from the pattern that we have seen in past decades of unrest. A significant number of whites have been in the streets,” says Pinderhughes, a professor of political science and chair of the Department of Africana Studies.</p>
<p><br>
White support for the civil rights movement in the 1950s and ’60s was mostly limited to small groups of religious or political leaders and college students who went to the South to join in demonstrations for racial justice. “This is a much broader range of the population, and even multigenerational protest groups [are] going out and bringing their children to protest,” the professor says.</p>
<p><a href="https://magazine.nd.edu/stories/having-coffee-with-dianne-pinderhughes/">Read more.</a> </p>Notre Dame Magazinetag:africana.nd.edu,2005:News/1381412021-01-22T12:40:00-05:002021-06-03T12:41:12-04:00Morrell joins Center for Applied Linguistic's Board<p>Starting January 2021, Klau Center faculty fellow Dr. Ernest Morrell joins the Center for Applied Linguistics’s Board of Trustees for a 3-year term. A well-respected leader in the field of English education, the African Diaspora, and Media and Popular Culture, Dr. Morrell brings over a decade of research and writing experience to the board of 12.</p><p>Starting January 2021, Klau Center faculty fellow Dr. Ernest Morrell joins the Center for Applied Linguistics’s Board of Trustees for a 3-year term. A well-respected leader in the field of English education, the African Diaspora, and Media and Popular Culture, Dr. Morrell brings over a decade of research and writing experience to the board of 12.</p>
<p>“We are extremely grateful and excited to announce Dr. Ernest Morrell’s appointment to the CAL Board of Trustees,” said President and CEO of CAL, Dr. Joel Gómez.</p>
<p>“Ernest’s experience as a teacher, researcher, and tireless advocate for students goes hand in hand with the mission and vision CAL has been striving towards since 1959. In 2021, part of that mission is to shine a brighter light on digital equity –and inequity– in our schools; the importance of literacy and multiliteracy for our youngest learners; and the need for increased diversity in our field and areas of research.</p>
<p>"Ernest is a welcome addition to our leadership team, and I look forward to working with him over the next several years to grow our mission." </p>
<p>Dr. Morrell is the Coyle Professor in Literacy Education and Director of the Center for Literacy Education at the University of Notre Dame. He was recently named director of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) James R. Squire Office for Policy Research in the English Language Arts. He is an elected Fellow of the American Educational Research Association, a past president of NCTE, and a co-convener of the African Diaspora International Research Network.</p>
<p>From 2015-2019 Dr. Morrell was ranked among the top 200 university-based education scholars in the RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings published by EdWeek. Dr. Morrell is also the recipient of the NCTE Distinguished Service Award, the Kent Williamson Leadership Award from the Conference on English Leadership, and the Divergent Award for Excellence in 21st Century Literacies. His scholarly interests include literacy studies, the teaching of English, literature for children, critical media pedagogy, youth popular culture, and postcolonial literatures of the African Diaspora. </p>
<p>Dr. Morrell has authored over 90 articles, research briefs, and book chapters and ten books. He received his Ph.D. in Language, Literacy, and Culture from the University of California, Berkeley. He is chair of the Planning and Advisory Committee for the African Diaspora Consortium and also sits on the Executive Boards of LitWorld and the Education for Democracy Institute.</p>
<p>Recent books and articles include:</p>
<ul>
<li>(2018). <em>Educating Harlem: Schooling and Resistance in an American Community</em>. New York: Columbia University Press.</li>
<li>(2016). <em>Doing youth participatory action research: Transforming Inquiry for researchers, educators, and students</em>. New York: Routledge.</li>
<li>(2015). <em>New Directions in Teaching English: Reimagining Teaching, Teacher Education and Research</em>. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.</li>
<li>(2017). Towards equity and diversity in literacy research, policy, and practice: A critical, global approach. <em>Journal of Literacy Research, 49</em> (3)</li>
<li>(2017). Confronting the digital divide: Debunking brave new world discourses. <em>The Reading Teacher</em>. Retrieved from<a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.1603" target="_self"> </a><a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.1603" target="_self">https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.1603</a>
<hr>
</li>
</ul>
<p><em>Originally published January 22, 2021, at <a href="https://www.cal.org/news-and-events/in-the-news/ernest-morrell-board-2021">cal.org</a></em></p>
<p class="attribution">Originally published by <span class="rel-author">Center for Applied Linguistics</span> at <span class="rel-source"><a href="https://klau.nd.edu/news-events/news/morrell-joins-center-for-applied-linguistics-board/">klau.nd.edu</a></span> on <span class="rel-pubdate">January 26, 2021</span>.</p>Center for Applied Linguisticstag:africana.nd.edu,2005:News/1381422021-01-20T12:00:00-05:002021-06-03T12:41:51-04:00Justice Alan Page MLK Day Talk<p>University of Notre Dame alumnus and retired former Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Alan Page challenged the idea of originalism with respect to the U.S. Constitution and proposed revisiting the founding document every 50 years during an hour-long conversation with G. Marcus Cole, the Joseph A. Matson Dean and Professor of Law at Notre Dame Law School, in commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. “Our Constitution is grounded in racial bias,” said Page, a 1967 Notre Dame graduate and member of the college and pro football halls of fame. “If we’re going to go back to the words of Jefferson and Lincoln and Madison and decide how we live today, those words were grounded in slavery. How do we untether ourselves from that?”</p><figure class="image-right"><img alt="Alan Page And Marcus Cole Feature" src="https://dailydomer.nd.edu/assets/416226/alan_page_and_marcus_cole_feature.jpg"></figure>
<p><strong>Erin Blasko | January 20, 2021</strong></p>
<p>University of Notre Dame alumnus and retired former Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Alan Page challenged the idea of originalism with respect to the U.S. Constitution and proposed revisiting the founding document every 50 years during an hour-long conversation with G. Marcus Cole, the Joseph A. Matson Dean and Professor of Law at Notre Dame Law School, in commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.</p>
<p>“Our Constitution is grounded in racial bias,” said Page, a 1967 Notre Dame graduate and member of the college and pro football halls of fame. “If we’re going to go back to the words of Jefferson and Lincoln and Madison and decide how we live today, those words were grounded in slavery. How do we untether ourselves from that?”</p>
<p>He proposed, “What if we had an amendment that said every 50 years we look at the words in the Constitution and give them their current meaning? That would break us from the past and actually give us a Constitution that works in the present.”</p>
<p>Touching on issues of race and the law, as well as Page’s childhood and his decision to come to Notre Dame, the online conversation took place amid a nationwide reckoning around issues of racial justice, including the treatment of Black people by police, and less than two weeks after a violent mob with ties to white nationalist organizations stormed the U.S. Capitol in protest of the election, leaving five people dead.</p>
<p>Read more <a href="https://news.nd.edu/news/justice-alan-page-urges-notre-dame-community-to-look-internally-during-mlk-day-talk/">here</a>.</p>
<p class="attribution">Originally published by <span class="rel-author">Daily Domer Staff</span> at <span class="rel-source"><a href="https://dailydomer.nd.edu/news/justice-alan-page-mlk-day-talk/">dailydomer.nd.edu</a></span> on <span class="rel-pubdate">January 20, 2021</span>.</p>Daily Domer Stafftag:africana.nd.edu,2005:News/1333662021-01-19T00:05:00-05:002021-01-19T12:47:34-05:00The Department of Africana Studies Statement on the January 6 Insurrection on Capitol Hill:<p>On the Behalf of The Department of Africana Studies,</p> <p>We write after the invasion of the US Capitol by Trump supporters. The ‘insurrection’ has generated enormous dismay and conflict in the nation and around the world. The Africana Studies faculty convey our own condemnation of the attack on…</p><p>On the Behalf of The Department of Africana Studies,</p>
<p>We write after the invasion of the US Capitol by Trump supporters. The ‘insurrection’ has generated enormous dismay and conflict in the nation and around the world. The Africana Studies faculty convey our own condemnation of the attack on the US Capitol. We know that a public statement will not necessarily change the environment, but it can contribute to an understanding of the importance of our nation’s democratic life.</p>
<p>We write to convey our genuine dismay at these events. We also share our distaste and disgust at the appearance of Notre Dame’s “God, Country, and Notre Dame” theme on a flag that was staked and very much present at the January 6, 2021 attack. We understand that it was one of the few university flags on-site. The presence of what should be an honorable phrase, in the midst of Trump’s minions, was hardly pleasant to see. But even more repulsive, it went unremarked by our University’s brief statement, when it deserved recognition. Notre Dame should be leading the reforms in the wake of the George Floyd demonstrations that spread across the world last summer. Instead of the Racial Reckoning that the nation deserves, there was only a whimper.</p>
<p>The need for fundamental reforms, so painfully revealed by police murder of George Floyd and others in recent months, was followed instead by the efforts at Insurrection in the attack on the Capitol. The challenges and protests by Trump’s allies’ about “illegal votes” are actually an effort to nullify Black votes in many parts of the country, including Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Detroit and Atlanta. Trump’s failed efforts to deny the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris recognized the reality of the impact of those Black Votes. The Voting Rights Act of 1965, currently constrained by the Supreme Court’s 2013 Shelby County v. Holder decision, will, we hope and pray, be reformed by the John Lewis Voting Rights Act in the legislative agenda of the Biden-Harris administration. We support our legally elected administration, and call on Notre Dame’s leaders to join us publicly in marching towards a future more closely related to the Catholic Social Teachings they so frequently affirm.</p>
<p>January 18, 2021</p>
<p>The Department of Africana Studies</p>Dianne Pinderhughes