Ella Baker and the challenge of black rule

Spence, Lester K.

doi:10.1057/s41296-020-00448-8

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Drawing from Black feminist studies as well as the methods of ethnography, autobiography, and social and oral history, I discuss the interiority of sound, the contexts of reception, and the sets of relations that exist between sonic phenomena. Scholars such as Lester Spence (2020, p. 565) encourage us to develop approaches that still include but are not limited to text because in doing so, we can transform our scholarship into something “far less individualized, less andro-centric, and less elitist.” I argue that these creative approaches not only compel us to ask better questions about cultural moments but are foundational to understanding that Hip Hop is not just rap music; it is a practice, process, and lived experience.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The First Time I Heard: Black Feminist Approaches to Hip Hop Methodologies

Seth

2023

Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies

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Pulse and rhythm are found in our heartbeats, our breaths, and our physical movements. Pitch and tone give our voices distinct expressive and communicative qualities that serve as articulations of our relationship to space and time. Sound constantly surrounds us, embeds us, and embraces us. Yet, in the academy, conversations on Hip Hop as a field of study tend to focus almost exclusively on lyrical analyses. We do not have to completely abandon this mode of engagement, but we seem to forget that Hip Hop is not simply about empirics or measurement. And so, this paper seeks to re-think, re-consider, and re-articulate how we theorize Hip Hop—its politics, its culture, and its ways of being—by attending to the vibrations in the air, nonlexical expressions, and the practices of looking and listening. Drawing from Black feminist studies as well as the methods of ethnography, autobiography, and social and oral history, I discuss the interiority of sound, the contexts of reception, and the sets of relations that exist between sonic phenomena. I argue that these creative approaches not only compel us to ask better questions about cultural moments but are foundational to understanding that Hip Hop is not just rap music; it is a practice, process, and lived experience.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The First Time I Heard: Black Feminist Approaches to Hip Hop Methodologies

Seth

2023

Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies

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“…In addition to arguing that organizing is ideological, this article introduces Baker as a political theorist who offers radical democratic theory a better understanding of how quotidian democratic practices and moments of rebelliousness translate into social change. In presenting this reading of Baker's praxis, it also builds on a growing body of work that treats political actors, including Baker, as political theorists and demonstrates a method for studying the political theories of organizers (Mantena 2012;Pineda 2021;Simon 2017;Spence 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Starting with People Where They Are: Ella Baker’s Theory of Political Organizing

Inouye

2021

Am Polit Sci Rev

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This article argues that Ella Baker’s ideology of radical democracy shaped her theory of organizing, including her theories of mass action and indigenous leadership. Against the emerging consensus in realist and radical democratic theory that both Baker’s praxis and democratic organizing more broadly are nonideological, I argue that all organizing is ideological if, with Stuart Hall, we understand ideology not as a rigid set of beliefs but as a dynamic framework for understanding society. Organizers make decisions based on their own ideologies and they attempt to maintain or reshape the dominant ideologies. In this sense, organizers are political theorists: they have self-conscious theories of how society works and changes based on which they make strategic decisions. I demonstrate a method for interpreting organizers’ political theories and argue that Baker’s theory of radical democracy offers democratic theory insight into the practices and organizational structures that advance democratization.

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“…Others have emphasized the fluidity of individuals’ development, pointing to the fact that the same people have engaged in activism and social-critical work at various points in their lives (Gougeon 2012a; James 1994, 8–15; Mantena 2012; Shelby and Terry 2018, 5). Still others have seen the traditional privilege of the non-activist critic as damning and have suggested that activist work has rendered the practice of non-activist criticism obsolete (Balfour 1999; Spence 2020).…”

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confidence: 99%

Activism versus Criticism? The Case for a Distinctive Role for Social Critics

Gilson

2023

Am Polit Sci Rev

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This essay makes a distinction between the roles that activists and social critics can play in democratic societies and defends the separate tasks of a non-activist social critic. Drawing on Ralph Waldo Emerson’s writings, I argue that non-activist social critics are better situated than activists to reach certain audiences, cultivate certain democratic capacities, and preserve their audience’s agency while doing so. In Emerson’s case, his concerns about his activist contemporaries led him to craft new ways of critically engaging his peers. At the same time, as Emerson’s life also illustrates, non-activist critics are limited by their roles and must forgo some of their distinctive advantages in order to do activist work. Clarifying the scope of the social critic’s role in this way helps critics to draw on the benefits of their position and avoid overstepping its constraints, thereby allowing them to more effectively promote political reform.

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Ella Baker and the challenge of black rule

Cited by 5 publications

References 34 publications

The First Time I Heard: Black Feminist Approaches to Hip Hop Methodologies

The First Time I Heard: Black Feminist Approaches to Hip Hop Methodologies

Starting with People Where They Are: Ella Baker’s Theory of Political Organizing

Activism versus Criticism? The Case for a Distinctive Role for Social Critics

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