The Denial of Antiblackness: Multiracial Redemption and Black Suffering

Description

An incisive new look at the black diaspora, examining the true roots of antiblackness and its destructive effects on all of society Thanks to movements like Black Lives Matter, Western society’s chronic discrimination against black individuals has become front-page news. Yet, there is little awareness of the systemic factors that make such a distinct form of dehumanization possible. In both the United States and Brazil—two leading nations of the black diaspora—a very necessary acknowledgment of black suffering is nonetheless undercut by denial of the pervasive antiblackness that still exists throughout these societies. In The Denial of Antiblackness, João H. Costa Vargas examines how antiblackness affects society as a whole through analyses of recent protests against police killings of black individuals in both the United States and Brazil, as well as the everyday dynamics of incarceration, residential segregation, and poverty. With multisite ethnography ranging from a juvenile prison in Austin, Texas, to grassroots organizing in Los Angeles and Black social movements in Brazil, Vargas finds the common factors that have perpetuated antiblackness, regardless of context. Ultimately, he asks why the denial of antiblackness persists, whom this narrative serves, and what political realities it makes possible. Cover Half Title Title Copyright Contents Preface: The Challenges of Black Autonomy Introduction. Our Lives Are Our Deaths: Antiblackness and Oblique Identification Part I. Austin, U.S.A.: The Dynamics of Youth Incarceration 1. Does Heaven Have a Ghetto? Growing Up in Prisons 2. Stanzas of Oppression and Hope: Voices of Incarcerated Black and Latino Boys 3. Negotiating Quotidian Violence and Uncertain Futures: Narratives from Black and Latina Girls Part II. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Empire-State Terror and Apartheid 4. Reclaiming Public Space: Rolezinhos as Protest 5. The Pacifying Police: Security through Brutality Part III. The Denial of Antiblackness 6. Michael Zinzun: The Fall and Rise of the Black Cyborg 7. Black Suffering as Catalyst: Multiracial Blocs in Diaspora Conclusion: The Slave against the Cyborg Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W X Y Z