God Help the Black Scholar with a Looking Glass

For a period of time now I have felt that there exists a serious conflict of interest in relationship to the self dispersal of the "black intellect" within the confines of Euro white ivory towers.

It's hard to extend upon what has already been offered thus far regarding data; that said, I believe it is equally important that we touch on an another aspect that we have overlooked, the HBCU structures and their intended purposes. At the risk of being redundant, I am sure we have entertained these topics at some time or another but for contextual purposes, it is worth mentioning again..

The TWI has a mission strongly reflects a research tone where as the HBCUs embody a liberal arts foundation.. These divergent missions represent perpendicular ideologies. Many big 10 TWI's hold to the iron clad rule of publish or perish-- no publish, no tenure which in essence means no job security. At the other end of the spectrum, the modalities of the HBCUs stipulate that faculty come in, teach, serve on committees, not rock the boat, equating to a possibility (in some circumstances bleak possibility) of tenure. Cobb was 100% accurate when he eluded to the fact the Princetons, the Havards and other ivys are resource heavy which in turn, thus enabling them to create these AA studies “dream teams.” Another individual stated that Hampton and Howard work to cultivate future generations of scholars prepared and willing to pick up the African American scholarship where the current generation leaves off. That post equally has validity/salience --in it short makes sense..

That said, I posed this question to Dyson and West and their reactions as they were different, shared similarities. Having worked and still working at an HBCU I can easily understand their reasoning-- Dyson said, "I can't work for the Negro rate." West stated, "I was in jail this weekend protesting the G8 summit (I think that's what it was). (paraphrasing here) I don't think an HBCU will understand why Professor West was in jail." I am torn because as a supporter, I think I should caveat that, as a progressive supportive of HBCUs, I think the mission resonates for generations to come, as long as white privilege and racism exists. HBCUs have a place in our society… Lets face it, many HBCUs overwork and underpay their chief a large segment of their analytical bank, their faculty. Furthermore, I the philosophical dynamics and acrobatics held by many of these black scholars behind the ivory tower simply is not appreciated within the halls of the current of the HBCU structure. Building upon what T said earlier, many of these thinkers are not only thinking out of the box; they are restructuring the box into a sphere, a public sphere of epistemological discourse.

Egyptology-- as intriguing as it sounds would not have the same home at Shaw University as it would at Georgetown... Hegemonic Masculinity and its Oppositional Masculinities would not survive at NCCU or NCATSU for the simple fact of its content... (we really don't talk of homosexuals within our conversations unless we negate them--something which philosophically I think we need to change).. But even in and of that-- some of us on this list serve are products of that thinking...the HBCU mentality...

Furthermore, I think the conversation in African American Studies is on the verge of a major paradigm shift and or purging... The main focus in academe is on the topic of globalization....Globalization has one main isim and I have said it before-- capitalism.. Capitalism drives a whole host of other isims as I have said before-- Globalization centers primarily on the issue of domination vis-à-vis economic control.. When you have a small group of folk who look like each other, think like each other and others factoids, you have cultural imperialism which in turn "whitewashes" marginalized societies. Dyson, West, Rose, and hooks, and Baker among others are bringing this issue to the forefront. Talks about globalization don't take place at the HBCU-- it almost plays into the muted group theory.. that deals with male privilege and language -- however, I think could be extended white privilege and the control of the epistemological discourse... Men [Dominant society] create the words and meaning for the culture, allowing expression of their ideas. Women [Marginalized society], on the other hand, are left out of this meaning creation and left without a means to express that which is unique to them. That leaves women [Marginalized society] as a muted group.

This in turn could contribute to the spiral of silence that takes place at the HBCU where the still tongue makes a happy life.. There are too many games and inbreeding that takes place at the HBCU which makes the current design desperately in need of retooling and psychiatric evaluation.. Instead of lauding the employee or professor who actively engages in research and critical scholarship, the internal structures of these institutions work to destroy self esteem/efficacy... This can easily be attributed (I think) to a base of insecurity linked to neo-power. See at these institutions of epistemological plantations, there is a façade or false promise of scholarship. Instead there is this grandiose game of "king of the mountain"

or as we know "crabs in the bucket" where everybody strives to be on top by any means necessary. God help the black scholar who attempts to hold a mirrior up to these institutions for he or she will be drummed into academic exile. This is why I have serious contention with the Dysons, Wests, hooks et al. As Dyson pointed out, Martin Luther King Jr. put his body on the line for civil rights and we elegize him. The parallel may be a little off, but the concept remains the same...These folks who have liberated themselves academically, who have insulated themselves in their respective pocketbooks, will not come to the aid of the field Negroes who still sweat blood and tears at the epistemological sweat factories in the dirty south. To me, that represents a conflict..

To make matters worse, West alluded that blacks at the HBCUs could not match the caliber of his white and black students at Princeton-- real or imaginary, simply by making that statement alienates him folk who really need his sprit, his guidance, his presence as opposed to being his financial base....

So in closing-- (sorry to be so long winded) AA studies at the Ivy TWIs I am not too worried about as I am sure as soon as the need dries up, so too will the need for these programs.... What needs to take place a thrusting of the AA studies program into the global dialogue.. Hopefully, the HBCUs will enter a paradigm shift of their own to spear head this initiative....