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ОглавлениеTrying to See Black Men and Boys
In Malidoma Somé’s book, Of Water in the Spirit, the second chapter is titled “Trying to See.” The author details his experience being led by elder men through a Dagara initiation process for young males. The Dagara are an ethnic group found in Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Cote d’Ivoire. One part of this initiation process is dedicated to the development of sight. Without sight, Somé and the other initiates could not go through the other trials and lessons in their route to manhood. On page 203, an elder addresses the young males:
“Tomorrow we will begin working with your sight,” the coach continued. “You must learn to see. Without good sight, you can’t continue with the other sessions. When you have learned to see well, you will journey one by one to your respective places in this world and find every piece of your self. For now, I want you to sleep. Put your weary bodies to rest for the night and put your spirits in a state of awareness. There will be no further pause in this instruction until it is all over.” (Somé, 1994, p. 203)
The elders leading the initiation explained it is not possible to have knowledge without sight. For the Dagara, seeing goes beyond visual acuity, which is the narrowest level of perception (Somé, 1998). It is the development of spiritual sight that expands a person’s vision, making more of the world knowable. In Somé’s (1998) words, “We perceive the world based on our expectations, which are heavily determined by our context” (p. 65). The historical and contemporary social context in which Black males live, interacting with themselves and others, includes certain expectations. How do expectations of Black males shape the way people perceive and interact with them? How do they shape how people casually think about Black males? How do these expectations shape the way professional researchers study and write about Black males?
As thinkers, our choices of what we think about are, in part, shaped by what we already know plus our presumptions, beliefs, frustrations, passions, curiosities, and fascinations, etc. These drivers are important because they motivate us to learn—but they can stand in our way, too. In Of Water in the Spirit, young Malidoma Somé struggles to learn to see (based on the Dagara meaning of sight) because ←xiii | xiv→he was limited by what he already knew or thought he knew. He and the other initiates were given a task requiring them to tap into their sight, as Somé explains:
When we arrived back at the initiation camp, it was almost deserted. Those present were being given the assignment of the day: tree knowledge. I had expected a general meeting of the type we had the night before, but nothing like what happened. Instead, we were placed in groups of five to fifteen and asked to walk a distance away. Each initiate should select a sizeable tree. We were to sit, stand, or kneel about twenty meters from the tree and look hard at it. We were supposed to see something but were not told what. Each elder was assigned a certain number of students. Apparently, his task was to supervise this boring training and to make sure that we saw what we were supposed to see. (Somé, 1994, p. 206)
Somé found the process frustrating and boring because he believed he knew all he could possibly know about trees. After all, trees are physical objects that are everywhere and can be seen every day. What more could there be to know about them? Somé grew frustrated and wanted to say he had seen something. His fellow initiates begin to see something in the tree, and he could not. The elders began to discuss him as he began to fall behind the group:
Another elder joined my supervisor and they began to discuss me. I listened carefully. “How is he doing?” the newcomer asked. “In his belly, he is a full-bred White. He can’t see,” my supervisor replied. “The White man’s medicine must have damaged vuur [spirit]. But his soul is still in him. That’s why I said a year ago that for his own sake he should not be involved in initiation. But Kyéré silenced me as if I were speaking nonsense. Now, if this boy cannot wipe his eyes, how do you think he is going to clean his body? We are barely a day into Baor and he is trailing behind … Whatever he learned in the school of the White man must be hurting his ability to push through the veil. Something they did to him is telling him not to see this tree. But why would they do that? You cannot teach a child to conspire against himself. What kind of teacher would teach something like that? Surely the White man didn’t do that to him. Can it be that the White man’s power can be experienced only if he first buries the truth? How can a person have knowledge if he can’t see?” (Somé, 1994, pp. 208–209)
Something that set Somé apart was his attendance at a Jesuit mission school, where he was taught to view traditional Dagara culture as backward and inferior. Clearly, this damaged his vision. During the tree exercise, he even tried to lie, and say that he had seen an antelope. The elders knew he was lying and laughed. The next day he approached his task with a new determination. He began to feel a part of his mind that he had not used before. Still frustrated, he began to cry, yet keeping his focus on the tree, began speaking honestly to it, explaining his frustration and sadness at his failure. He once again focused and felt what seemed like lightning going through his body and into the ground. He felt weightless, the trees began to glow, and he lost all sense of time. Where there once was a tree he now saw a woman standing before him with a radiating energy. He embraced the woman and felt immeasurable love from her as she spoke to him. When he opened his eyes, he was embracing the tree. He heard the elders speaking:
They are always like this. First, they resist and play dumb when there are a lot of things waiting to be done, and then when it happens, they won’t let go either. Children are so full of contradictions. The very experience you reject before with lies, you are now accepting without apology. (Somé, 1994, p. 223)
As the elders claimed, Somé essentially had to overcome what he already knew. How often do we ask questions about Black males and never investigate them because we assume that we already know the answers? How often do questions never get asked because we believe that we already know? We engage in study and research because of our interest in expanding and challenging what we already know—to learn. Like the Dagara initiates, we must acquire new skills and thought processes in order to expand our vision. Similar to Somé’s experience, studying Black men and boys requires learning to see beyond what mainstream society teaches us to see and think.
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It is not possible to be knowledgeable about Black males without developing a certain sight to see the fullness of their humanity. In this text I argue that, like Malidoma Somé looking at the tree as hard as he could, in the American context, most people’s perceptions of Black males are compromised. We do not look at them with the guidance of elders who are present to make sure we see them properly. Like Somé, our vision is distorted by what we already know: knowledge shaped in an institutionally and culturally anti-Black male society. To develop a true awareness of Black male realities, people must wipe their eyes beginning with the acknowledgment of their presumptions or biases. The purpose of this introduction is to identify the key concepts and information that represent bridges and barriers to perceiving and understanding the humanity and personhood of Black men and boys.
At the heart of Africana Studies is the Africalogical perspective which, represents a certain sight, a way of seeing peoples of African descent as self-conscious human beings grounded in unique histories, cultures, and identities. In the current text, this sight will be applied to the exploration of the lives of Black men and boys; how they relate to and influence themselves, others and their environments throughout time (roots, contexts, futures) and space (geography). The approach of this work is informed by Bush and Bush’s (2013) African American male theory, Nobles, Goddard, and Gilbert’s (2009) culturecology theory, and Margarette Beale Spencer’s phenomenological variant of the ecological systems theory.
Seeing the Humanity and Personhood of Black Men and Boys
Seeing Power as a Guidance System for Thought on Black Males
Power-centered or asset-based approaches to studying Black males focus on the examination of strengths, resilience, and success (Bonner, 2014; Howard, 2014; King, 2014; Mitchell & Stewart, 2013). This kind of research is geared toward the development of policy initiatives and successful institutional interventions that lead to positive Black male outcomes. It operates from a position that interventions must be driven by males’ strengths and potential, instead of problems and failures (Howard, 2014).
The opposite of the strengths-based approach is the problem-based approach. When Black males are defined as problems to be solved, what goes missing are their strengths, successes, and solutions that deserve attention, investigation, and expansion. Stereotypes can be a sort of navigational and guidance system for scholarship on Black males. Because researchers are not immune, stereotypes influence their choices of topics, approaches to studying, and the conclusions they reach—reifying longstanding received ideas about Black males. This is sometimes called problem orientation that manifests itself in the tendency for researchers to focus on underachievement, calamity, depravity, deficiency, failure and other dysfunctional patterns of behavior. The tendency to view Black males as problems leads to problem-solving approaches focused on “fixing” Black males instead of examining the social institutions that shape their realities (Howard, 2014). This problem orientation or pathology-driven approach does not emerge in a vacuum; it is a manifestation of the cultural deficit paradigm, the view that Black people in general are an American product alone, with no historical or cultural continuity from Africa as the basis for any unique identity (White & Cones, 1999). Cultural deficit paradigm began with colonial conceptualizations of Black males as childlike, lacking the intelligence, discipline, and values to live up to social expectations (White & Cones, 1999). According to Parham, Ajamu, and White (2011), its proponents cite poor cultural traits as the sources of presumed Black deficiencies. The paradigm emerged from social scientists’ assumption that inadequate exposure and internalization of White American values by many Blacks left them culturally deficient, and in need of cultural enrichment to be properly integrated into society (Parham et al., 2011). Indeed, an additional problem ←xv | xvi→with the cultural deficit perspective is that it reduces Black male culture to a reaction to racist White Eurocentric cultural imposition, rather than preexisting cultural styles independent of forces of cultural assimilation (Kambon, 2006). Politically, the paradigm is used to discourage government social service interventions, positioned as the cause for marginalized families’ failure to teach proper values. The cultural deficit paradigm is known similarly by phrases such as cultural disadvantage and cultural deprivation, which includes the assumption that African American males experience social dilemmas based primarily on their own internal failures, unrelated to social and historical context.
An example of problem orientation is the stereotyping of Black males as hypersexual. Thus, a great deal of recent scholarship on Black male sexuality (Dancy, 2012) has been focused on hypersexuality, which reduces the broader topic of sexuality to conversations about sexual deviance. The supposed legitimacy of this sort of research, just like in stereotypes, is that it draws on something real—but it also greatly exaggerates reality when applied to Black males in general. Deviance is a valid topic, yet because so much of what is known and studied about Black males is fixated on it, the overall body of research on sexuality is like a distortion or carnival mirror which shows us images which exaggerate or diminish parts of who Black males are. The same applies to the great amount of research reasserting age-old notions of Black male hypermasculinity, propensity for violence and criminality, and ignorance. These topics are important, however, the sheer volume of research concentrated in these few problem areas is a reduction of Black male humanity. Black male life is more than these narrow categories, and the scope and depth of what is investigated needs to be broadened. The tendency to focus on problems also creates a poverty of solutions. Although some who conduct research primarily oriented toward Black male crime, drugs and violence may do so to bring attention to important issues, this strategy may ultimately be counterproductive by making service providers (nurses, teachers, psychologists, etc.), more apprehensive and/or apathetic about Black males (Smiley, 2011).
What happens to Black males who do not fit the narrow lens of problem orientation? They are rendered invisible to those who adopt this orientation. For education research, this manifests as a tendency for scholars to focus on underachievement while leaving high-achieving Black males under-researched. Regarding Black fathers, it manifests as a tendency to study father absence, leaving fathers with positive parent–child relationships also an under-researched population. It would be easier to create change and develop solutions if researchers spent more time studying what is working, and why, in the lives of Black men and boys. Solution-oriented research is present, but underdeveloped and underrepresented in the literature on Black males.
In recognizing the challenges that problem-oriented research presents for understanding of African American culture, Majors and Billson (1992) state that “efforts toward broadening research or writing new social policy must be clear about several issues. First, exploring Black responses to oppression must be cast in terms of cultural distinctiveness, not cultural or individual pathology. Second, recognition of cultural distinctiveness cannot be construed as a way to avoid making substantial changes in the structure of our society. And third, social policies and programs must have the full support of all segments of society, not just those who have fallen victim to its fundamental failings” (p. 116). The solution to the deficit paradigm is not to avoid analyzing problem behavior and thinking, but to avoid fixating on them (King, 2014). Ironically, a heavy focus on problem behavior and thinking undercuts the development of lasting solutions.
Some well-intentioned researchers, affected by the problem orientation, engage in a kind of thinking that is closely related to what some researcher call risk factor research (RFR) (Seixas & Wade, 2014). Dupree, Gasman, James, and Spencer (2009) assert that everyone experiences risk or vulnerability; it’s a part of the human experience. Risk is not something that is a fundamental part of Black maleness. Some Black males experience greater levels of risk than other demographics in various segments of society and at various points throughout the life course (Dupree et al., 2009). According to ←xvi | xvii→Seixas and Wade (2014), RFR is research with the purpose of identifying various socio-environmental factors that lead to problem behavior and outcomes. One of the limitations of RFR is that the interactive effects of risk factors across different social systems are rarely studied. Another limitation of RFR is that insufficient attention is given to cases where Black male youth are resilient despite their exposure to risk factors. Research models need to examine the role that protective factors (family and community relationships and personal coping skills) play in moderating the relationships between risk factors and social outcomes. Protective factors can, in some cases, decrease the likelihood of or prevent poor outcomes. Without an understanding of protective factors, well-studied risk factors are of no practical use to change agents or service providers who work with Black males (Seixas & Wade, 2014). However, an understanding of risk and protective factors expands our sight because it can be used for the purposes of designing interventions and better institutional services. This is the strength of using power as a guidance system for research on Black males.
Importance of Social Context
Perhaps the most devastating feature of the problem-oriented approach to scholarship is that Black males themselves can start seeing themselves through this lens as promoted in media as well as gender literature (Ford, Marsh, Blakeley, & Amos, 2014). Even service providers of Black men (teachers, doctors, police, and politicians) can engage in deficit thinking. Deficit approaches routinely avoid discussions of socio-environmental constraints and fantasize the existence of a post-racial reality. But there are deficits that lie in social structures, policies, and institutional practices (Howard, 2014). For example, if Black male students did poorly in all schools, the problem might be sought in the Black males themselves (Jackson, 2008). But, because they do well in good schools, the problem must also be sought by examining the educational system itself.
Ubuntu
The philosophy of Ubuntu offers some guidance for research on Black males. The term itself is a verbal noun referring to human beingness as a process by which one’s humanness is constantly unfolding (Ramose, 2002). Per Ubuntu, people are being human when they affirm their own humanity by maintaining humane relationships with others and their environment (Ramose, 2002). Ubuntu philosophy suggests that knowledge in the hands of a human being must be used to affirm humanity. Maat, in Kemetic cosmology, is the concept that governs what Nobles (2006) describes as the relationship between the knower and the known. Similarly, Maat refers to truth, justice, cosmic regulation, universal balance, order, and moral uprightness (Obenga, 2004). Thus, the purpose of knowledge (in the classical African sense of the word) is to affirm humanity by advancing the condition of the collective (Nkulu-N’Sengha, 2005). As such, knowledge about Black males should affirm their humanity and the humanity of people of African descent in general. Affirming Black male humanity means conducting research that is ethical, and that Black males are worthy of research, grounded in valid inquiry about their lives. Moreover, it means they are worthy of research that can be used to better understand and enhance their own lives and the lives of the Black community. Morial (2007) wrote that empowering Black males to reach their full potential is an economic and civil rights challenge that must be solved to ensure the well-being of the African American community and the nation.
To ensure the future of Black men, researchers should engage in self-reflection and question their own motivations for conducting research (Hsin-hsin & Coker, 2010; Nápoles-Springer et al., 2000; Parrill & Kennedy, 2011; Strauss et al., 2001). Researchers should (1) be prepared to explain how their research might benefit Black males and the Black community; (2) examine whether or not they are conducting research for money, status, or privilege, and how that might affect the validity of their research; (3) be aware of the interacting roles that race, class, sex, and gender oppression play in their research; and (4) be aware of the history of research with African American men and African Americans ←xvii | xviii→in general and their legitimate concerns, and; (5) identify their own preconceptions about Black males, how they acquired these ideas, their validity, and how they might affect the quality of their research.
Seeing Black Men and Boys’ Experiences as Unique and Multidimensional
This book’s focus is on investigating what is unique about being male and of African descent. This focus is necessary, in part, because research that compares Black males’ experiences with those of White people and Black women sometimes misses the unique experiences of Black maleness (Strayhorn & DeVita, 2010). Moreover, researchers risk reaching false conclusions that what benefits or harms Black women also harms or benefits Black men. Not all Black men share the same experiences, or at the same levels, and all have unique intersections of factors in play, different than for non-Black males. Littles, Bowers, and Gilmer (2007) explain:
A concrete example of this dilemma is the initiative, Moving to Opportunity, which gave mothers vouchers to move from areas where the poverty rate was 40 percent to areas where it was 20 percent. The moms did better, the girls did better, but the boys did worse. Moving to opportunity and countless similar efforts demonstrate the need to develop research specifically targeted to the unique situations of Black men and boys in the United States. (p. 14)
Although there is a significant body of historical research on Black men, it has seldom been studied from a clearly defined sex/gender perspective (Clarke-Hine & Jenkins, 1999). The sex/gender perspective is key because sex and gender are fundamental parts of how human beings organize and make meaning of their social realities (Hoppe, 2002). Building on the work of Dancy (2012), this chapter explores the interactive experience of being Black and male at the intersection of history, culture, family, sexuality, politics, economics, education, health, and justice.
Black men’s studies is the systematic, culturally and historically grounded study of the lives of Black men and boys for exploring, describing, explaining and advancing Black communities. It includes the study of Black manhood and masculinities. Some use the terms Black manhood and Black masculinity interchangeably. Recognizing that there are numerous definitions of each, there is a generally qualitative distinction between the two (Dancy, 2012). In this text, manhood refers to the principles, values, and beliefs that men develop or accept, while masculinity refers to the observable actions that men use to express or manifest manhood. Therefore, Black masculinity lends itself more easily to the study of performances or behaviors and other material manifestations of manhood. According to Williams (2014), Black manhood is related to Black masculinity studies but goes beyond fixating on outward behavioral expressions, enactments, and performances (Williams, 2014). Instead, Black men’s studies makes Black males’ humanity and personhood the point of departure for scholarly investigation. Its objectives are:
• To guide the development of holistic and balanced information for a better understanding of the diversity and multidimensionality of men and boys’ humanity
• To humanize men and boys through approaches to studying their lives that provide context to their thought and action
• To offer an approach to studying their lives that affirms the self-conscious ways of addressing and creating their owned realities
• To offer a supplementary lens of analysis to further enrich the critical study of Black women, families, and communities
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• To inform the development of thought, practice, and institutions to help males protect themselves against anti-Black male forces in all forms
• Ultimately, to guide the development of knowledge that advances men and boys, their families, their communities, and peoples of African descent in general
A holistic framework for studying Black males (and Black life in general) recognizes the intersection of multiple and varied aspects of their identities and experiences. This intersectional framework includes the interactive effects of multiple forms of identity and oppression—people of multiple identities experience oppression differently because racism, sexism, and classism do not operate in isolation. However, the intersectional framework is rarely applied to study the lives of Black men. The consequence of the selective suspension of intersectionality is that much of the breadth and depth of male experiences is missed (Howard, 2014). Lacy’s (2008) critique of the use of the intersectional framework lies in the fact that it is used to examine the lives of some subordinated groups, such as Black women, while Black men are often excluded from intersectional analysis despite the fact that they suffer the interactive effects of race, sex, and gender in unique ways. For example, in some school districts, the dropout rate for boys is twice that of girls. Race alone doesn’t explain this and other Black male realities; the combination of race and gender must be accounted for. Intersectional approaches could provide context and challenge crude generalizations about Black male attitudes and behaviors. Applying this approach requires seeing the unique intersection of different aspects of the identities of Black men and boys. Failure to recognize the roles that class plays can lead to too much focus on low-income Black men or heterosexual Black men, leaving middle and upper-income Black men, and gay, bisexual, or transgender Black men, under-researched (Dancy, 2012).
What some see as the selective suspension (or the strategic choice) to drop intersectionality in the analysis of Black men leads to an approach to studying Black males in gender as participants in a standardized project of universal male domination. Failure to see Black male uniqueness leaves one blind to how being Black can undermine privilege and change the experience and expression of patriarchal oppression. Ignoring this reality makes overgeneralizing about Black male patriarchal oppression easy, or at least more likely. It facilitates polarized images of Black men in America, and Africa, as dominant actors who collude with sexist racism against Black women (Cornwall & IAI, 2005). Failure to see Black male uniqueness supports the notion of universal patriarchal oppression, and projects the idea that Black men who are not patriarchal subjugators of Black women are mere exceptions to the rule. Without an intersectional analysis of Black males, Black women are positioned as without agency and as passive victims of Black male oppression. This logic is easy but it sacrifices nuance and accuracy. Such an analysis makes it impossible to imagine instances of Black women participating in patriarchy, much less any involvement in the oppression of Black men.
At the core of intersectional analysis of Black males is the idea that they are privileged by their sex (male) while being disadvantaged by their race (African American) (Dancy, 2012). However, real life contradicts this binary logic. For example, one might struggle to understand how being Black and male makes Black males privileged in the criminal justice system relative to women. Criminal justice statistics tell a vastly different story. One might find it bizarre to read any privilege onto the dead bodies of Black male victims of police violence. Indeed, racial profiling happens because Black men are both Black and male (Mutua, 2006b), privileged by neither in the events leading to their killings. However, intersectional approaches often ignore the situationality of advantage and disadvantage based on race, sex, or gender, and other aspects of identity (Mutua, 2006b). Black males can be more or less advantaged or disadvantaged depending on the situation, position in society, and identities, and other theoretical frameworks such as multidimensionality theory acknowledge this. Black males are unique compared to other males. Seeing this allows one to appreciate the nuance and complexity of their lives.
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Seeing Black Men and Boys’ Lives as Worthy of Systematic Investigation: More than Impressionism and Anecdotal Approaches
Some who write about Black males lean heavily on impressionistic and anecdotal approaches: largely unsystematic, relying heavily on authors’ personal opinions, casual observations, and autobiographical experiences with Black males (Sommers, 2013). These approaches lead the researcher to psychoanalyze Black males’ thinking and behavior, typically based on personal ideology. While impressionistic and anecdotal accounts can have their place in research, their prevalence can devalue systematic approaches that center on allowing Black males to interpret their reality on their own terms.
Seeing Black Males as Possessing Voice
Deeper insight into Black males’ lives not only humanizes them but provides critical insight into how to offer them more opportunities and disrupt the processes that may lead to social problems (Spates, 2014). Black males themselves are the best prepared to do this by describing and explaining their lives. However, Spates (2014) asks the question, “are we more comfortable constructing meanings for Black men’s behavior from within the racialized and gendered frameworks given to us?” (p. 137) In other words, do researchers recognize Black male voices, diverse and multilayered, as a necessary part of research about Black males? Spates poses this question because much of what is written generally lacks firsthand accounts from Black males about their own lives (Howard, 2014; Oware, 2011). Allowing Black males to be the authors of their own experiences is the only way this centering on a personal, self-interpreted reality can be accomplished (Howard, 2014). For example, presumptions about Black male criminality have resulted in research that is unreceptive to the voices of men who commit crimes (Spates, 2014). Neglect of their voices can lead to surface-level descriptions of their behavior, reinforcing assumptions of innate criminality. However, listening to firsthand accounts from Black males can provide more insight into why some may engage in criminal behaviors and the factors that may lead to criminality. Methods of gaining these firsthand accounts might include interviews, autobiographies, and narrative analyses, ultimately resulting in a more humanizing understanding.
Hearing Black Males
Even when Black males are allowed voice, that doesn’t mean they are being heard. Mainstream definitions of hearing refer to the ability to perceive sound. In Ebonics or Black English Vernacular (BEV), the meaning of hearing involves more depth; to hear also means to understand. This is important because even when Black males are heard in the most basic sense, i.e., the sound of their voices is perceived by listening ears, they may still go unheard.
For example, research that includes interviews with Black men should be a way for male voices to be heard. But, researchers can frame and interpret Black men’s words based on assumptions of their hypermasculinity, patriarchy, and presumptions of dishonesty. In a casual sense, Black male speakers are not heard because their words are easily preempted—intended meanings and messages are distorted by biases and assumptions of the listener. This is because some listeners are coached by the anti-Black maleness of mainstream society to interpret those messages in ways that confirm their stereotypes. In Ebonics or BEV, hearing is inseparable from feeling. Feeling means understanding and relating to or empathizing as in the response, “I feel you.” Empathy is a part of the human experience. But culture shapes not only how people express empathy but what or who they express empathy for. Anti-Black maleness not only distorts sight and hearing by preventing the understanding of Black male lives, it also blocks people from expressing the human act of empathizing with Black males. What are the consequences? Black males are ill-positioned to experience humane treatment casually or professionally as long as they are unseen and unheard.
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Seeing the Agency, Self-Definition, and Determination in Black Males
Africana Studies involves investigating the self-consciousness of African people, or how they go about shaping and protecting their own lives, interests, and destinies. As an extension of Africana Studies, Black men’s studies looks at both agency and experience. According to Karenga (2010a), agency refers to African peoples’ initiative or what they have done and do, while experience is more about what has been done to them, what they undergo and live through. In the following chapters, there will be an emphasis—beyond relaying experiences—on how Black men and boys have used their thought, action, and creation to engage in problem-solving, generate change, and generally leave their marks on the world.
Counternarratives and Beyond
One of the responses to the deficit approach is the counternarrative approach. This approach focuses on the factors that lead to Black male success and resilience instead of failures. Spates (2014) points out the importance of counternarratives that oppose anti-Black male depictions of Black men and boys in the media, because racism shapes dominant narratives. Dominant narratives are the perspectives of those who hold disproportionate shares of power and privilege. They typically involve biased, yet institutionalized perspectives about those with less power and privilege. Stanley (2007) defines counternarratives as the:
deliberate, yet meaningful, intent to position the voices of marginalized groups as ones of authority and privilege and give them an opportunity to resist dominant academic discursive practices. It is an opportunity for individuals to contribute with dignity to theorizing about the world in which they live. (p. 23)
Counternarratives are intended to restore voice and dignity to subjugated people in dialog and scholarship about their lives. According to Akbar (1991), in an environment where Black male humanity and manhood is under constant attack, Black male self-definition is automatically oppositional. Many researchers of Black masculinity have characterized Black male culture as something formed out of opposition to or rebellion against society’s norms and customs because social policies and norms are in many cases detrimental to them (Grier & Cobbs, 1968; Majors & Billson, 1992). According to the oppositionist lens, inner-city males form their own norms and values because of an alienation from mainstream society (Anderson, 2000; White & Cones, 1999). As the theory of oppression goes, society has little investment in them as evidenced by institutional race/gender-based discrimination and lack of economic opportunity (i.e., police brutality). Black males in turn have little investment in conventional norms and social institutions (i.e., lack of faith in police).
However, from a different perspective, the oppositionist/counternarrative approach can be troublesome. When researchers become fixated on countering dominant narratives, writing about Black males can become caught in a cycle of reacting. Black males’ voices can be misclassified as mere reactions to the experience of oppression. Black men have always countered dominant narratives, yet their manhood and masculinities should not be limited to the quality of only being counternarratives to something else. Critics of the oppositionist perspective, like Kambon (1985), point out that African American culture is distinct and affirmative, yet also oppositional. African American culture, for example, doesn’t only differ from Euro-American culture because of racism, it is also different because it is an extension of African culture and unique African American cultural forms in the American context. To reduce it to a reaction to racism is a reduction of African American culture.
According to Lipsitz (1997), the oppositional character of Black culture makes it a source of education and inspiration to other populations who feel alienated from mainstream society. But the reactionary posture of oppositionist writers can be quite limiting. This aspect of the counternarrative approach is noticeably similar to the hundreds-of-years-old racist notion that Blackness was fashioned ←xxi | xxii→negatively in opposition to the positive qualities of Whiteness. This paradigm exists presently in the form of contemporary theories like Ogbu’s (1978) oppositional theory. According to some critics of it, the language of the counternarrative approach involves the use of classist, elitist, and hierarchical language to describe Black male cultures, such as “oppositional,” “alternative,” and “counter-culture” (Harrison, Martin, & Fuller, 2015).
Another critique of this lens is in the question of what voice is truly central in the oppositional framework. If Black male culture is always described in opposition, then what is it being described in opposition to? Typically, it is Whiteness. Based on this critique, describing Black male culture as oppositional is an indirect way of, perhaps unintentionally, centering or privileging Whiteness as the point of departure in the study of Black men. If Black male culture is “counter-culture” or “oppositional culture” or even “unorthodox,” then Black masculinity and manhood are reduced to being responses to Whiteness (the implied orthodoxy). Similarly, Ogbu (2004) makes blanket descriptions of Black American collective identity as oppositional. Fordham and Ogbu (1986) attribute Black students’ academic underachievement to their oppositional culture. Sweeping generalizations using Ogbu’s theory of opposition (Ogbu, 1978) renders invisible those aspects of Black male culture which lead to success. According to Noguera (2014), Fordham and Ogbu fail to examine Black male resilience and the ways that Black males resist divorcing their ethnic and scholarly identities. Understanding Black male culture should not come at the cost of reducing it to an opposition to the mainstream.
The larger point is that Black males do more than counter and oppose. For example, in Coles (2009) research on single Black male fathers, some of her participants stated they were good fathers not simply to counter negative stereotypes, but to make it known their values and beliefs mattered. Nevertheless, they were hopeful that the truth of their reality would challenge the stereotype. This is indicative of some Black men’s concern that their thoughts and behaviors not be reduced to reactions to racism and oppression. Researchers who study Black male culture, including their beliefs and attitudes, or styles of expression, must be careful not to reduce Black male cultural expressions to reactions to oppression or dominant narratives. Doing so situates oppression as the over-determining force in the creation of African American male culture. Lastly, the oppositional lens of Black male culture simultaneously obscures African cultural continuity in the African American cultural experience, and African American cultural continuity in Black youth culture—irrespective of oppression. For example, if this oppositional lens is applied to hip-hop music, the emergence of the art form might simply be attributed to urban decay and socioeconomic marginalization during the 1970s while ignoring hip-hop as an African/African American cultural product reflecting ethnic continuity and adaptation.
Black Males in Crisis Narrative
The crisis narrative regarding the state of Black males emerged in the 1980s and has grown in reference to rates of drug abuse, incarceration, criminality, alcohol abuse, unwed parenting, employment, and premature death (Trammel, Newhart, Willis, & Johnson, 2008). Smiley (2011) embraces the notion of a Black male crisis, and states if White males faced the same social and economic biases and hardships, it would be deemed a national crisis. Those who have presented or described Black males as in crisis sometimes do so to call attention to conditions that would otherwise be ignored by the general public as well as political leadership. However, according to Ivory Toldson, too much research focus on different Black male crises, like crime, drugs, and violence, is counterproductive because it leads service providers to be apathetic and anxious about Black males and therefore, less effective in serving them (Smiley, 2011, p. 62). This may happen because, like stereotypes, overemphasis on crises can distort the public image of Black males and lower expectations for them (Harper, 2005). Other critics claim that too much use of terms like “crisis” can generate fear and sensationalism to the degree that it undercuts possibilities for change and healing (Gurian & Stevens, 2005). Runner (2017) argues that crisis ←xxii | xxiii→narratives can present Black people as liabilities that need to be managed. According to Jones (2014), the endangered-species or Black-male-crisis paradigm can blind researchers to Black males’ successes in public education. Some critics of the approach claim that it has not been successful in attracting the attention of philanthropists, scholars, experts, and the general public to issues that uniquely affect Black males. Instead, in recent years, crisis literature about Black males has been subsumed under the banner of literature focused on umbrella groups like the “disadvantaged,” “at-risk,” “disconnected,” “people of color” etc. (Littles et al., 2007). The results sometimes lead to philanthropic and government actions that do not address the unique challenges that Black males face.
But the crisis narrative does spark public outrage, as in cases of unjustified police killings of Black males. However, when it comes to Black males, public concern is episodic, responding to media images, yet it is rarely sustained (Davis, 2009). Because of this, the emergence of Black men’s studies is needed to establish a sustained examination of how to address the challenges and goals of the Black community as they relate to Black males. Moreover, Black men’s studies is well-positioned to balance crisis narratives with narratives of Black male success.
Seeing Black Male Agency in Cultural and Social-Environmental Context: Theoretical Frameworks
Several theoretical frameworks inform the approach taken in this text, and each offers a way of approaching different aspects of Black men’s lives. Taken together, they provide a holistic approach to studying the thought and behavior of Black men for the purpose of Black liberation. Bronfenbrenner (1977) theorized that social development took place within the context of a multilayered environment. The first is the microsystem, structures in which an individual has direct contact (schools, families, peer groups). The second is the mesosystem involving connections between the structures in a person’s microsystem (teachers and parents, peer group, neighborhood). The third is the exosystem, the larger social system having an indirect effect on the person by influencing structures in the microsystem (parent’s work schedule, neighborhood resources). Fourth is the macrosystem, consisting of macro-values, customs, and laws which can influence all other layers. Lastly, the chronosystem comprises the effects of time on a person’s environments. These can refer to the timing of events such as a death in a person’s family or the effects of change over time on a person.
Spencer (1995) builds on Bronfenbrenner’s (1977) explanation of multilayered environmental contexts by focusing on how individuals are influenced and make meaning of experiences over their life course. The phenomenological variant of the ecological systems theory (PVEST) is a conceptual framework for examining the process of normative youth development through the interaction of identity and environmental context (Spencer, 1995). Adding to the ecological perspective, Spencer (1995) emphasizes young persons’ self-appraisal and meaning-making processes in the context of race, class, and gender-laden environmental contexts. PVEST consists of five interrelated components that describe the identity development process. The first component is the net vulnerability level, the balance between risk-protective factors and risk-contributing factors. Risk-protective factors are the characteristics and contexts that serve as supports to positively affect an individual’s development. Risk-contributing factors are the characteristics and contexts that serve as liabilities and could adversely affect an individual’s development. They include phenomena such as poverty, racial discrimination, or gender discrimination. Risk-contributing factors could be offset or counterbalanced by risk-protective factors or resources such as cultural capital, i.e., style/temperament, resources, education, knowledge & skill (Swanson, Spencer, Dell’Angelo, Harpalani, & Spencer, 2002). Situations in which risk-contributing factors outweigh risk-protective factors contribute to an individual’s net vulnerability. The second component is net stress engagement level, the experiences that challenge or support individuals as they engage risks that threaten their well-being. Youth may experience stress in the form of racism, sexism, ←xxiii | xxiv→weight discrimination, class discrimination, puberty, and peer relationships. Support comes in the form of racial socialization and cultural enrichment. An absence or limited amount of such supportive experiences can be dangerous. The third component is reactive coping methods, adaptive or maladaptive coping responses to stress. Harmful reactive coping methods are destructive (changing physical features in response to racism, acting out in school), while adaptive coping (resilience, successful problem-solving skills, self-control) is positive and beneficial. Too much challenge and not enough support at an earlier stage can lead to unhealthy coping. The fourth component is emergent identities which refers to “how individuals view themselves within and between their various contexts of development (family, school, and neighborhood)” (Swanson et al., 2002, p. 78). Culture and racial identity, gender identity, individual and peer relationships, and all prior stages shape the identity development of youth. The fifth component, life-stage, specific coping outcomes, refers to the productive or adverse behavioral and attitudinal outcomes as a consequence of stresses, vulnerabilities, supports, and identities. Productive outcomes may be good health, positive racial identity, high self-esteem, and positive relationships. Conversely, adverse outcomes may be drug abuse, alcohol abuse, and poor relationships. According to PVEST, these stages help contextualize and explain youth identity development in a holistic way.
Different from ecological models (Bronfenbrenner, 1977; Spencer, 1995) and some racial identity models, the culturecology model makes use of a multilayered understanding of culture. Culture in Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model is given very little attention. Spencer’s PVEST model goes beyond the ecological systems model in the attention it gives to racial identity, but it doesn’t deal with culture as anything more than racial identity. PVEST, like other models such as the Cross (1971) model of racial identity, examine the roles that the experience of racism, and preparation for the experience of racism play in identity development. However, the culturecology model has a more in-depth conceptualization of the relationship between culture and environment. The role of culture is central to studying the lives of Black men and boys because it frames their thinking and actions. This author used the culturecology model as explained by Nobles, Goddard, and Gilbert (2009) as a model which sees human well-being as fundamentally relational, resulting from situational relationships between people and their environments. Therefore, Black males are cultural agents interacting with cultural environments. The culturecology model recognizes the importance of ecological perspectives because they examine the ways that society, community, family, and individual-level factors affect the structure and functioning of Black men and boys. Nobles (2006) defines culture, beyond the idea of racial pride, as “a scientific construct representing a vast structure of language, behavior, customs, knowledge, symbols, ideas, and values which provide a people with a general design for living and patterns for interpreting reality” (p. 71).
Bush and Bush’s (2013) African American Male Theory (AAMT) is an approach to studying the lives of Black men and boys by “drawing on and accounting for pre- and post-enslavement experiences” (p. 6). It is also meant to be a framework to guide practical work with African American boys and men. There are six basic tenants of AAMT. First, the experiences and behaviors of African American boys and men’s lives are best analyzed using an ecological systems approach. AAMT builds on the five dimensions of ecological systems theory (mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, chronosystem, and microsystem). AAMT adds a sixth dimension called the subsystem which includes the influence of spirit, collective will, collective unconscious, and archetypes. The second tenant of AAMT is the recognition that there is something unique about the experience of being both Black and male. This recognition highlights the unique contributions that African American males make and have made to humanity and how critical they are for effective social services to Black men. The third tenant of AAMT is recognizing the continuity of pre-colonial African culture(s), consciousness, and biology that influences the experiences of present-day African American boys and men; failure to account for it leads to faulty analysis. The fourth tenant of AAMT is the understanding that African American boys ←xxiv | xxv→and men are resilient and self-determining despite hegemony, without focusing exclusively on deficiency and oppression. The fifth tenant of AAMT is recognition that race and racism combined with classism and sexism have a profound impact on the lives of African American men and boys. Lastly, the sixth tenant of AAMT is recognition that the focus and purpose of study and programs concerning African American boys and men should be the pursuit of social justice.
Seeing Black Males in Historical Context
Seeing Black men and boys as human means seeing them in context. The current state of Black males is the result of historical unfolding. Placing Black males in historical context reveals continuity and discontinuity: how things have remained the same or changed, and why. Black males cannot be understood by only viewing frozen contemporary moments or episodes in their lives, or isolated actions or thoughts. Africana Studies lenses allow the researcher to see the problem presented by taking an episodic approach to studying the contemporary aspects of African people’s lives, without placing them into full historical context as leading to victim blaming and misguided explanations of current conditions (Carr, 2007; Hill, 1998). Without historical context, research on the contemporary conditions of Black males can be very fragmented. This kind of research may be descriptive but lacking in explanation. Ahistorical research on Black males not only feeds stereotypical understanding but also leads to a lack of appreciation for the continuity and change in Black male experiences over time. Lack of knowledge of the history of Black men leaves both Black men and researchers of Black men vulnerable to internalizing misperceptions and misjudgments (Wilson, 1991). Connecting the past with the present helps researchers to provide an understanding of how present conditions developed and how the past is still unfolding. Black male thought and behavior must be placed in this context to develop insight into their present conditions (Wilson, 1991).
Pre-Colonial Black Male Life Cycle Development
Placing Black male lives in socio-historical context is the first step in understanding the many dimensions of the present social lives of Black males, particularly their formation of consciousness (Booker, 2000; Wilson, 1991). The Akan symbol, Sankofa, represents the principal of constantly interrogating the past to draw on cultural traditions and historical to improve life in the present and future (Karenga, 2010a). In like fashion, interrogating the history of Black men can aid efforts toward their social advance and liberation. Furthermore, studying the history of Black males is also an indispensable component in the liberation of the Black community. After all, the challenges confronting Black males are inseparable from those facing the entire Black community (Booker, 2000). Still, they are distinguishable and unique, and recognizing the uniqueness is necessary for the formulation of Black liberation strategies. Throughout the chronology of people of African descent in America, major historic events have influenced and been influenced by Black men and their constructions of manhood and masculinity.
Men of African descent arrived in the Americas thousands of years ago, the American colonies hundreds of years ago, and continue to arrive today with their own conceptualizations of who they are. This section will provide an overview of pre-colonial African conceptualizations of manhood and masculinity and the African cultural institutions that shaped them. It is commonplace for intellectuals to ground their analyses in history by starting with a recognition of the enduring influence of Greek and Roman civilization on modern ideas. It is equally common to begin analyses of Black men by paying homage to the enduring influence of slavery as the major shaping force, having a lasting influence on modern Black men’s lives. This practice has become a norm in some academic cultures and resulted in a systematic rejection of or silence regarding any ongoing influence of Africanity on Black men’s lives. This removal of African cultures and civilizations from explanations of Black male realities ←xxv | xxvi→makes it difficult to understand them without reaching misleading and sometimes anti-Black-male racist conclusions. From a research ethics perspective, the evasion of African influences on Black male realities is a reduction of their historical genealogy and therefore, a critical barrier to the production of valid inquiry. By recognizing institutionalized cultural racism in the research process, we can see what might otherwise be perceived as scientific oversight as an expected part of the legacy of scientific colonialism. This book, however, is grounded in the principle that starting with a systematic reconnection to African cultural identities is a necessary part of affirming Black men’s humanity as full actors in the world (Carr, 2007). This allows scholars to contextualize Black male identities and to recognize both their endurance and change over time.
For male youth, the essence of rites of passage was introducing them to appropriate male conduct, roles, and solidarity—guiding them in the process of advancement toward healthy manhood, from birth to ancestorhood and rebirth. During these elaborate rituals and rites, young men were taught the cultures of their ethnic group, the village’s history, and the critical roles of God and their ancestors (White & Cones, 1999). They were also taught more specific and practical knowledge such as how to be good fathers and husbands, and survival skills such as hunting, farming, and self-defense (White & Cones, 1999).
Naming
Occurring shortly after the birth of children, naming ceremonies were among the earliest of several rituals many African societies created to guide the transition of a person through the cycle of life. Among the Yoruba, the Edo, the Ewe, and the Akan, a child was typically named seven to nine days after birth because this is the period of time necessary for the child to transition from the spirit world to that of the living. Other ethnic groups, like the Akamba, would name their children 3 days after birth (Mazama, 2009c), and the Igbo, 8–12 days after (Falola, 2000).
Chosen for many different reasons, names can be more than a label, reflecting meaning, power, and/or source. For example, Zulu names can be chosen for reasons including: temporal factors (when the child was born); the structure of the family (sex of the child, and the number and spacing of the family’s children); the perceived role of God or the ancestors in the birth; the state of mind of the parents (their feelings about the child); the circumstances of the birth (condition of the family at the time of the birth); personality characteristics; and references to the family-line (references to the ancestors or the lineage the child belongs to) (Koopman, 1999). Naming can represent an essential part of one’s spiritual anatomy (Adogame, 2009b). Names can be a reflection of the child’s identity, but they are sometimes believed to have an influence on a child’s destiny. Among the Yoruba, a child born outside of Yorubaland is often called Tokunbo, meaning coming from across the seas (Adogame, 2009b). But, the Yoruba also believe that names affect behavior, guiding a child’s tendencies and preferences (Adogame, 2009b). Akan infants experience a ritual called din to in which a child is introduced to the community and given name. The first name, the kra den, is the child’s soul name, reflecting the day of the week the child was born on and the divinity governing that day. The Akan believe a person is influenced by the qualities and characteristics of the divinities or abosom that govern their day of birth. Akan children also receive an agyadin, the name chosen by the child’s father or parents (Adogame, 2009b). The names that children receive often link them to their ancestry. For example, some African names are like short stories or praise poems such as the Yoruba oriki, the Zulu izithakazelo, or the Xhosa iziduko. These family praise names, announced at naming rituals, link children to their ancestors. In addition to given personal names, family praise names consist of a string of the names of selected ancestors and their accomplishments or things they were known for. Naming rituals allow families to shape children’s identities long before they become consciously aware of it (Black, 1997).
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In these naming rituals and initiation rituals, infant males are celebrated, named, and/or introduced to their communities, the supreme being, the ancestors, and deities. Although the infant is not fully conscious of the ceremony, it is believed that his spirit is (Black, 1997). Among the Ga, a child is officially named eight days after being born at a public ceremony called kpodsiemo (Quartey-Papafio, 1914). Before this day, the child is considered to be a non-person, without a complete identity. The community and family members attend the ceremony, bringing with them gifts for the child and family (Abarry, 1997). In this ceremony, libations (usually an alcohol-containing beverage) are poured to the ground to invite the presence of the family’s ancestors who are believed to be responsible for human fertility. An entire ritual drama is acted out. Abarry (1997, p. 372) explains one point during the ritual involving a symbolic demonstration of the ethical behavior expected from a Ga:
The infant is admonished to maintain the cherished values of Ga culture as the gathering chants back the response formula Yao:
You see, you haven’t seen
You hear, you haven’t heard
Don’t lie, don’t steal
Father is father Mother is mother.
After this episode, the infant is touched gently by the godperson, first with the left foot as he or she simultaneously utters the words Mitswa bo nane (I strike you with my foot). This act is repeated with the right foot but with different words Ko mi nane (Take my foot). Taken together, these expressions and the godparent’s physical action are meant to impress the child with the former’s character. Hence he or she is admonished to “take my foot,” follow in the footsteps of, and become like, the godperson. The latter may pick up the child again, and make remarks about the positive and some weak aspects of his or her own character. The child is, however, advised to choose only the good and improve on the weaknesses in the godperson’s personality. After this physical and symbolic introduction of the Ga universe-sky, air, earth, and water and ancestral virtues to the infant, the latter is returned to a private room where he or she is dressed in white and kept for the remaining period of the ceremony.
At the end of the ritual, the family and community in attendance take a drink of gbee woo daa, the name sealing drink (Abarry, 1997). After the child’s name is announced, the community says the name—a symbolic form of accepting responsibility for that child’s well-being in the presence of one another and their ancestors.
Manhood Rites
In some ethnic groups, boys experience rites of passage as early as ages four through seven (Black, 1997). Initiation at this age usually consists of removing boys from the immediate community to be guided by older and elder males through a series of collective educational tasks. The tasks often teach discipline, how to be courageous and deal with fear, how to bond with other males, and the importance of listening to and obeying elders. The tasks also teach older males to take responsibility for their younger peers (Mazama, 2009c).
The puberty/manhood rite of passage, typically occurring between the ages of 9 and 14, is a highly structured and elaborate process that involved the child-self dying to be reborn as adult. This death and rebirth is in part characterized by their possession of greater knowledge and wisdom (Mazama, 2009c). A great deal of variation exists in the structure of rites of passage across ethnicity and geography in Africa. However, Mazama (2009c) identifies a general pattern which includes separation, testing/teaching, and reincorporation into the community. Fathers of the village typically make arrangements and ←xxvii | xxviii→lead the initiation process of males. Adolescents are first separated from the community and secluded in a remote location. In some cases, a structure is built specifically for the ritual. For example, the initiation of Fulani boys takes place under a tree known as the Mamahi (great-mother tree) (Notes and News, 1938). Each day, food is offered to the spirit of the tree (smeared on its trunk), the essence of the food is consumed by the spirit and the energy from it is used by the tree to watch over the boys as they sleep. Shujaa (2009) explains that this time in seclusion is symbolic of the life cycle. Being secluded in a sacred place after a period of childhood and before rebirth as adults is similar to being in the spirit world after death and before rebirth (Shujaa, 2009).
Testing and Teaching
Initiates undergo a series of tests and teaching from their elders during which they are expected to demonstrate physical endurance, mental strength, and intelligence (Mazama, 2009c). If it has not been done at an earlier ritual before puberty, males may undergo circumcision during the rites of passage. Circumcision symbolically represents a cleansing sacrifice to the ancestors, the establishment of brotherhood bonds, and an early step in the process of manhood (Black, 1997; Houessou-Adin, 2009). A practice traced back to ancient Kemet (Egypt), circumcision is thought to help sort the male population into age grades (Mbuvi, 2009a). Together, these age grades, or groups of initiated boys from different families, experience instruction on the histories, cultures, and responsibilities of their ethnic groups (Collins & Burns, 2007). They usually maintain a lifelong bond throughout many life stages, from being young leaders to warriors, to married men, to elders, and finally as ancestors. The removal of flesh in circumcision is also seen as establishing the dominance of a single sex (male/female) in initiates. Other reasons given for the practice of circumcision are to maintain sexual cleanliness and hygiene, and as a mark of strength and leadership (in addition a symbolic representation of a transition from boyhood to manhood) (Houessou-Adin, 2009). When boys experience circumcision, they are expected to show only minimal pain or discomfort, as too much expressing of pain brings about shame and dishonor. Circumcision is now increasingly regarded as genital mutilation, especially in regard to females and the practice of female genital cutting. However, circumcision was not the only test during manhood rites.
Bravery, courage, and fortitude were important parts of manhood rituals. However, during the period of testing and teaching, initiates experiences varied across different ethnic groups. Boys were challenged and tested in many ways. Luimbi boys were made to lie next to the hot flames of a fire without wincing, jump through the flames, walk over hot coals, sleep coverless through the cold nights of the Angola highlands, capture birds and other bush animals, and retrieve objects thrown into deep cold pools of water (Tucker, 1949). In the Maasi Eunoto manhood ritual, initiates were expected to watch cattle, kill cattle, learn how to properly divide meat, and kill a lion with their bare hands (Mazama, 2009c). Boys were taught discipline, emotional stability, and perseverance sometimes through learning the skills of hunting, wrestling, or knowledge of the poisonous and healing properties of different plants (Black, 1997). Initiates were also taught how to maintain a healthy marriage, sex life, procreation, and family life (Mazama, 2009c). This is important given that this rite of passage is in part meant to prepare initiates for their new right and responsibility to marry. As a part of their initiation teaching, for example, Fulani boys were taught how to treat women (Notes and News, 1938). In the initiation camps of Luimbi boys, they were taught a full range of traditional songs, including wedding songs, hunting songs, play songs, dance songs, and funeral songs (Tucker, 1949).
Boys were taught to internalize cultural knowledge and wisdom. Among many ethnic groups, boys were taught to memorize and recite their family histories and lineages. Luimbi boys were taught to memorize the wise proverbs of their ethnic group (Tucker, 1949). There is often an artistic component to many African manhood rites as well. Most African manhood rites for which we have historical ←xxviii | xxix→accounts describe boys engaging in traditional dancing at some point in the process (Black, 1997). In Nigeria, some ethnic groups require initiates to write, direct and perform plays that demonstrate cultural knowledge, create masks, and perform traditional dances (Black, 1997). Manhood rite initiates were also taught to have an appropriate level of reverence for the ancestors. The Yungur people of Nigeria believed that dance during initiation brought them closer to the wisdom and strength of their elders and ancestors. Fulani boys made ocarina type instruments from clay and played songs (Notes and News, 1938). In different African societies, songs were used as a teaching and bonding instrument. Ngulu boys were taught various songs and riddles that provided them with traditional knowledge about sexual relationships (i.e., appropriate sexual behavior and rules against incest), gender identity, and other traditional values (Beidelman, 1965). Boys were also taught to understand and internalize traditional values such as collectivism and good character. For example, the Ashanti told initiates traditional proverbs, such as, if two selfish young men sit next to a pot of water, the water spills out on the ground and a man who moves about alone is met on the road and seized as a slave (Black, 1997).
Reincorporation into the Community
The moment when initiates leave seclusion and are reincorporated into the community marks their rebirth (Mazama, 2009c). Before reentry, they are sometimes shaved of head hair, their old clothes may be thrown away, their faces may be traditionally painted, and they may receive new names, all indicating a new maturation. In preparation for return, Fulani boys were washed, had their heads shaved and nails cut, given new pants, gown, cap, and shoes, and a horse on which to ride back to the village (Notes and News, 1938). In some cases, they received some form of scarification or tattooing during initiation. Scarifying is the practice of cutting, burning, and/or inserting or rubbing substances under the skin to form cultural symbols. Scarification as practiced in Africa symbolized cultural belongingness, social roles, spiritual beliefs, and beauty (Nevadomsky & Aisien, 1995). Scarification was unique for males and females. While female scarification often was practiced on their breasts or sometimes entire torsos, male scarification tended to be located on the face, arms, and shoulders to symbolize strength and virility. Upon return, there is generally a family and community celebration which includes dancing, feasting, and singing—encouraging the new men’s reincorporation and new identities. Among the Fulani, the people of the village sang songs in honor of the new men, and their fathers slaughtered a bull from their herd (Notes and News, 1938). As adults, they could take on new responsibilities such as marriage, procreating, and initiation into new specialized socio-religious organizations (Mazama, 2009c).
Castes/Societies of Secrets
Children were not the only ones to experience rites of passage; understanding human beingness as a process means that rites of passage were continuous (Imhotep, 2009). Mental and spiritual development could always reach higher levels (Hilliard, 1997). Adults were initiated into what are known as societies of secrets which maintained the harmonious functioning of society by providing training in specialized services (Imhotep, 2009). These societies maintained and advanced specific ancient cultural and technical knowledge and traditions. Because it was sometimes abused, the sacred knowledge received had to be kept confidential so that it stayed in the hands of those who were trained to use it responsibly and efficiently (Imhotep). Individuals initiated into these societies were trained to use special skills to improve different aspects of life on earth (Imhotep). The special skills involved the use of symbols and signs that only the initiated could interpret (Falola, 2000). Initiation into these societies generally followed the same format of separation, testing/teaching, and reincorporation described earlier.
Successful initiates joined these non-hierarchical professional castes, often associated with professions that were vital to the community such as iron smelters/blacksmiths, stonemasons, ←xxix | xxx→woodcarvers, engineers, farmers, warriors, sages, herbalists, and diviners (Imhotep, 2009; Williams, 1987a). Successfully undergoing a series of difficult initiation processes allowed individuals to enter and advance to higher ranks within these associations (Müller & Ritz-Müller, 2000). Although some societies were ethnically based, others drew membership across ethnic groups, generations, and geographical locations, such as the Poro society of Liberia, Guinea, and the Ivory Coast (Falola, 2000). Both men and women were members of complementary societies of secrets (Khapoya, 1998). However, there were gender differences. For example, men were more likely to be a part of societies that served judicial functions, such as settling disputes and issuing sanctions for the violation of social rules.
Husbandhood
Husbandhood was a commonly held societal expectation for a young man in the context of the larger community. Marriage was understood to be a collective affair, involving more than a man and a woman (Mazama, 2009b), and including extended families and ancestors. Entering marriage was a step that also increased the social and economic status of men. Among some ethnic groups, a unmarried man could not make any major decisions without consulting his father (Black, 1997). As a husband, a male had to demonstrate his economic resourcefulness and good moral character. This was in part demonstrated by consultation between the families of the bride and groom about potential husbands’ characters. In addition, the groom, with the help of his family, had to pay a bridewealth to the family of the bride. This payment represented many things, including compensation for the loss of the bride’s family’s daughter and her production, evidence that the bride would be treated well, and a reflection of the honor, beauty, and righteousness of the bride (Ahanotu, 2000). Therefore, if a wife reported abuse, the husband and his family could face social scorn, corporal punishment of the husband, and the return of the bridewealth depending on the severity of the crime. From the time of male puberty and manhood rites, young boys were taught to respect and honor women (Black, 1997).
Marriage ceremonies themselves varied widely across ethnic groups. Some key features among them are prayers, offerings, and sacrifices to the ancestors so that the marriage and the family may be blessed (Mazama, 2009b). Ceremonies were filled with drama and symbolism. Tillotson (2009) describes a dramatic component of some west African marriage rituals:
The Yoruba of southwestern Nigeria and Krio in Sierra Leone have a prewedding ceremony, in which the intended bride is kept hidden when her fiancé comes to see her. He calls for her, and her family keeps producing different women, who are often old. The fiancé spots the mistake each time, and each time calls for his intended. Eventually, she is produced with excitement. (p. 260)
This ritual symbolically demonstrates the young man’s commitment, serenity, devotion, sincerity, and overall good character. Uchendu (1965) describes one of the key moments in the Igbo marriage ceremony as follows:
Before the father takes the bridewealth, he gives his daughter a cup of palm liquor and asks her to show her husband to the audience by giving him the liquor. The shy girl walks with faltering steps to her husband, sips the liquor, and as she gives it to him, tells her shouting audience: “This is my husband. Father may take the bridewealth.” (pp. 51–52)
Among the Bemba of central Africa, the bride’s father’s sister gives her a clay pot (Mazama, 2009b). The clay pot represents her womb, expected to be blessed with pregnancies. Among the Zulu, the groomsmen and the bridesmaids engage in back-and-forth dance competition, ukusina (Beckwith & Fisher, 1999). The dance can be a ritualistic symbol or enactment of family celebration and rivalry, and partnership. During the dance competition, the families may boast and exchange insults in a spirit of celebration. A bull is then sacrificed to the ancestors, marking the end of the dancing, and a symbol ←xxx | xxxi→that the families must put any hostilities aside for the sake of the union. Various aesthetic aspects of African marriage ceremonies serve to reinforce commitment, community, and other family values.
In patrilineal societies, a man could engage in multiple marriages involving more than one woman only if he had the resources necessary to support them and their children (Mazama, 2009b; Staples, 1976). For this reason, only a minority of men participated in the practice (Ahanotu, 2000). Even with the heights of opulence reached in Kemet, marriage remained mainly monogamous (Iliffe, 1995). An extension of collectivist values, this family system was one way of enhancing family economic security and family stability (Collins & Burns, 2013; Steady, 1992). In one sense, women added more labor resulting in more agricultural production, thus greater economic security. In another sense, the high male mortality rate also encouraged multiple women sharing a husband (Collins & Burns, 2013). Like all family systems, this form is subject to tensions and exploitation. Its success depended, in part, on interpersonal skills and diplomacy. Some dimensions of polygamy provided safeguards against male dominance. Co-wives provided shared parenting, particularly shared mothering. This increased women’s autonomy, personal freedom, and mobility (Steady, 1992). Although its economic usefulness may have declined, it continues to exist today perhaps because of these features (Steady, 1992).
Husbands protected and provided in unique ways depending on their geographic region and different cultural traditions. For example, among some peoples, husbands were the only ones allowed to carry firearms (Black, 1997). Depending on where an ethnic group resides, husbands might be farmers, herdsmen, fisherman, or hunters. They were also generally considered responsible for the maintaining the safety of the family. Husbands whose families were unsafe or destitute were looked upon with disdain (Black, 1997).
African family systems are mostly patrilineal, although many are also matrilineal, tracing descent through the female line (Hill, 1998). In a patrilineal society, male and female children belong to the father’s lineage (including the living and the dead back to the founding ancestor). Even in patrilineal societies, women formed the connecting links between families and ensured the continuity of the lineages, both spiritual and biological. Childbearing was more of a spiritual event than a biological one because children were a gift from the ancestors. Women in African family systems usually had the responsibility of rearing, feeding, and supervising children. Men were also actively engaged in the socializing and disciplining of children (Herskovits, 1938), especially in the socialization of boys (Steady, 1992). However, this child-rearing took place in a communal context rather than within a nuclear family alone (Steady, 1992). African women were providers in different ways than men. Far from being confined to homemaking, African women generally played key roles as economic providers. Herskovits (1938) explains that West African women principally dominated the open-air market economy as traders and played key roles as healers which enhanced their abilities to exercise power within other social, political, and economic roles.
The dissolution of marital bonds was not taken lightly because marriage was expected to be a lifelong contract. However, divorce might be prevented by a close relative assuming economic, social, sexual or reproductive duties (Mazama, 2009b). In the event of the death of a spouse, the family of the deceased were sometimes expected to provide a replacement. For example, the brother of the man who died must provide for his brother’s widow and children.
Martial Arts and the Warrior Tradition
African martial arts were tied to identity and honor. Therefore many male rites of passage included training in different styles of physical attack, defense, and endurance (Desch-Obi, 2008). A number of techniques were practiced in pre-colonial Africa including wrestling, boxing and other hand- and leg-striking tactics, plus weapon fighting and weapon-making. Among some African ethnic groups, boys engaged in hand-to-hand combat for sport and play. For instance, in pre-colonial times, male ←xxxi | xxxii→wrestling matches in the Senegambia region were public events that drew people from miles away (Black, 1997). These competitors received community praise, affirmation, and adoration (Paul, 1987). West African wrestling, like other aspects of life, was tied to ethics and spirituality. Combatants were encouraged to have no ill will toward one another. They also used spiritual energy to protect themselves and enhance their capabilities during their performances (Paul, 1987). Spirituality was inseparable from combat for competition or recreation.
Engolo, or foot fighting, originated in the Angola-Namibia region of Africa. This martial art reflected the Amabundu people’s spiritual philosophy, Kalunga. Engolo fighters often stood on their hands to throw strikes, mimicking the inverted world of the ancestors. By standing on their hands, Engolo fighters were also drawing on the spiritual energy of the ancestors to assist their kicks, leg sweeps, and evasive techniques (Paul, 1987). In some communities, boys were expected to demonstrate mastery of the tactics of war in mock battles (Black, 1997). Males who were skilled at fighting were also seen as capable of protecting a family or a village in the event of war. Warfare, along with many tradecrafts, was an indication of the transition from boyhood to manhood.
Different peoples typically went to war for reasons related to territorial expansion, control of trade routes, and resources (Falola, 2000). Black (1997) explains that war dancing was a significant feature of the African warrior tradition. Among the Lele people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, after a boy proved his manhood in initiation by successfully killing a beast, he was expected to return and dance around his village to the beat of a ukoko drum (Black, 1997). His dance was believed to indicate his physical and mental endurance. Zulu warriors engaged in competitive dancing to keep them in mental and physical shape. In addition to dance, different African ethnic groups also engaged in other cultural wartime conventions. Typically, the enemy was given notice so that they could send women, elders, and children to safety. The Hausa observed a three-day delay so that soldiers could sharpen their knives (Falola, 2000). Among many societies, sacrifices were made for the ancestors and deities in times of war. The Yoruba made sacrifices to Ogun, the orisha (deity) of war and iron, before battle. In addition, diviners were consulted, weapons rubbed with spiritual substances, and amulets possessing divine energies were stitched to garments (Falola, 2000). Spirituality was often central to African warrior traditions.
Fatherhood
Fatherhood was fundamentally linked to reproduction, one of the perceived functions of marriage and a means by which manhood was acquired. Describing common features of pre-colonial West African life, Franklin and Moss (2000) note that fathers were expected to teach their sons discipline, trade skills, and survival skills (hunting, fishing, and farming). Fathers were also expected to steep their children in the history of their people by way of the oral tradition (tales, legends, and songs) (Black, 1997).
Among some ethnic groups, a person had to be married with children to become an ancestor. Because childlessness was so detested, systems of surrogated reproduction were developed (Falola, 2000). The institution of polygamy was in part a reflection of the desire for children. In cases of a barren or sterile marital partner, a family member would procreate on their behalf. Among the Igbo, if a woman gave birth to 10 or more living children, a ceremony was held in her honor. For the ritual, a goat would be symbolically sacrificed while held over her hips, and her husband would purchase expensive elephant tusks for her wrists and ankles (Falola, 2000). Families with many children were honored for some material reasons; children were considered a source of labor and a source of care for their parents in their old age. However, children served two fundamental spiritual purposes (Mazama, 2009a). First, children were expected to honor and remember their parents once they had transitioned to the realm of the ancestors. The most feared form of death was a social death in which one’s children no longer remembered and honored them. Children were expected to conduct the appropriate ←xxxii | xxxiii→funeral rituals to help their parents smoothly transition to the ancestral realm. Specifically, children were responsible for performing rituals of honor and remembrance for their ancestors throughout their lives by making offerings (such as libations) or leading ceremonies of remembrance. Second, children allowed the ancestors to return to be a part of the world of the living. In these two fundamental ways, children allow life to continue (Mazama, 2009a).
Ancestorhood
Having journeyed adequately in this world, in your afterlife, you become much more effective to the community that contained you when you return to the world of the Spirit. When my grandfather, Bakhye, died, he told my father, “I have to go now. From where I’ll be I’ll be more useful to you than if I stay here.” Death is not a separation but a different form of communion, a higher form of connectedness with the community, providing an opportunity for even greater service.
—Malidoma Somé (1998, p. 53)
Death itself was not a finality or an endpoint; it was one part of a cycle of important moments of transformation and rebirth in the process of Ubuntu. Because the fundamental substance of human beings was spiritual energy, their divine spirit, ancestral soul, and physical body were not destroyed at death. Instead, they were dis-integrated and transformed as they were re-integrated to new destinations (the creator, the ancestral realm, and rebirth). Funeral rituals were organized for many reasons: mourning, securing the destiny of the deceased, forming a new relationship with the deceased, and affirming the continuity of life (Martin, 2009b). Remembrance after death is a way of giving ancestors life, and in return, the ancestors offer guidance to the living (Martin, 2009a). Within the rich and varied funerary traditions across the African continent, men often played special roles (Martin, 2009a; Mbiti, 1970). These ceremonies of remembrance were and are often led by the eldest males of families. During funerals, males or sons of the deceased often had specific responsibilities. For example, certain ancestral rituals among the Zulu, Ndebele, Yoruba and many others must be led by the eldest son of the deceased.
Despite their variety and richness, African traditions related to ancestorhood tend to have several common components such as preparation of the body, burial rites, methods of forming a new relationship with the deceased, and ways of affirming life. Ancient Kemites (Egyptians) had elaborate methods of preparing bodies for burial (known as mummification). The Swazi were known for using certain practices such as squeezing the fluids out of the body to slow the process of decay (Martin, 2009b). The Yoruba put clothes on the deceased backward so they might find their way back when they were reborn (Martin, 2009b). Burial rites varied greatly. Different objects, foods, other substances such as medicines and sacrificed animals were offered to sustain the deceased in their transition. Again, practices varied by gender. The Ndebele, for example, sacrificed an ox for men and a goat for women. The ox meat was expected to be eaten by the spirit overnight. Males and females played different roles in traditional Dogon funeral rituals. Hamilton (2010) explains the roles of a particular male caste in Dogon funeral rites:
The Awa society, the society of the masks, is a secret association that consists of circumcised males in a village or group of villages. The Awa is a society of the dead. Their purpose is to put back into order the spiritual forces that were liberated by the first death (Imperato, 1972). Members of the Awa dance with masks during both funeral and death anniversary ceremonies such as the Dama and Sigui. The authority of the Awa is based upon age. Middle-aged men in the Awa society serve as masters of ceremony or dance masters; they are also responsible for seeing to the correct preparation and execution of the masked dances (Imperato, 1971). In addition to this, once the men of the Awa transition into being mulono, or elders, they learn the secret language of the sigi so. (p. 64)
Public grieving was expressed and facilitated through song, dance, and music (Martin, 2009b). In fact, some peoples played certain melodies and rhythms reserved to facilitate the outpouring of emotion at ←xxxiii | xxxiv→funerals. Among different African cultures, these rituals were conducted to establish new relationships with the deceased (Martin, 2009b). Sometimes this occurs months after the original funeral ceremony and other times it occurs after a year or more. The final characteristic of classical African funeral practices was the festive aspects of them, involving a celebration or affirmation of the continuity of community life through music, dance, singing, and feasting (Martin, 2009b). Miller (2010) illustrates how body preparation, ritual, mourning, and celebration play out in the burial practices of the Malagasy:
Once a family has been decided upon the village or town where the Famadihana will take place, there is a calling of the ancestor’s name. Then the next day the family who is sponsoring the event brings the whole town or village to the tomb. This can be up to 700 people or more. As the family walks up to the tomb, the leader of the line is an astrologer followed by men carrying photos of the most important ancestors of that tomb and one carries the Malagasy flag. The Malagasy flag when presented confirms that the ceremony is legally authorized. Then the musicians and women, who are carrying rolled papyrus mats or sheets are followed by children. Once at the site of the ancestral tomb, the Malagasy flag is placed on the roof and the ceremony begins. First, the men dig away at the earth to get to the stone door. Then the stone door is splashed with rum by one of the diggers, which is done to welcome the ancestors to the festival. Then the door is opened. After being opened, men and woman bring light in the form of candles or lamps, and then step inside the tomb. The women sit in rows with their feet facing towards the entrance, while the men find the most ancient body. When the most ancient body is found, they splash a bit of rum over it and make a brief blessing then roll the body from its place onto papyrus mat. Three to four men then carry the body out of the tomb saying the ancestor’s name. As they emerge with the body the crowd is whooping and cheering. All the bodies in that particular tomb are pulled out while the last body to be removed is the one in which the Famadihana is intended for. The bodies are then placed on the lap of a woman, usually a family member of that ancestor, such as wife or daughter. Then the bodies have honey or rum poured on them while others stick a piece of tobacco in the mouths of the dead which is done to make the ancestors part of the festival. Some people bring coins, ginger or pieces of candy to place inside the fold of cloth where the head would have been. Fangathana tsodrano, a giving, is called a request of the blessing of the ancestors, and there is a giving, taking and sharing of food and rum. The dead bodies are on the women’s bodies while being rewrapped by the men. The old layers of cloth are not removed but new layers are added with the bodies and then wrapped with thicker lamba. The most important ancestors get wrapped in two layers of silk lambamena. Sometimes while the bodies are being wrapped very tightly, bones are broken and over time as this process is repeated the bones become dust. Their dust is then combined with other family members. (p. 72)
Ultimately, men’s roles in these rituals have been avenues through which both humanity and manhood were expressed and achieved. Manhood in different African cultures was defined in diverse ways, and those definitions were standards the males were held to. These standards were situated in certain sets of values and beliefs that might be called worldviews, which will be discussed in the following chapter.
When Black males cannot see themselves, they see themselves, to various degrees, through the lenses of anti-Black maleness. When they cannot truly see themselves, this author argues, they are in custody. They do not belong to themselves and because of this form of incarceration, they are positioned to primarily serve the interests of others. However, when Black males are exposed to experiences that allow them to see themselves, they begin to engage in collective-self-determining behaviors. During enslavement, when a Black person engaged in the freedom seeking act of escape, they were often charged with the crimes of theft of self or taking custody of self. This crime was an existential threat to the well-being of those in positions of power and privilege, thus Whites during this time fought to prevent Black self-determination through brutal acts of terrorism. Consequently, today when Black males begin to see themselves and become self-determining and affirming in ways that advance themselves and their communities, they have engaged in theft of self, as truly they must.
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The chapters in this book provide the historical and cultural knowledge of Black men and boys’ lives in several key arenas of social life. This information is provided so that the current state of Black men and boys can be properly understood. Each chapter provides an analysis of the barriers that prevent Black males’ thought and behavior from being clearly understood. The multidimensionality of Black males’ experiences is explored. Every chapter includes suggestions for how available knowledge can be used to enhance and/or implement culturally relevant initiatives to enhance the state of Black men and the liberation of people of African descent.
Chapter 1 explores some critical questions related to Black males and culture. What is culture? What are the roots of Black male cultures? How is Black male culture unique? How are Black males affected by cultural oppression? What role does Black male culture play in Black liberation? Black male cultures are situated within their pre-colonial roots. Their unique features are explored, in addition to topics such as cultural revolution and cultural reclamation. Chapter 2 explores Black males’ unique relationships with racism and more specifically anti-Black-maleness in various arenas of life. Emphasis is placed on identifying how Black males have learned to be self-determining in a hostile environment, how they can successfully challenge anti-Black-maleness, and undergo culturally informed healing. Chapter 3 explores the various meanings of Black manhood and masculinities. The author describes the historical development of Black manhood and masculinities up to the present day. Emphasis is placed on how Black male gender identities develop in healthy and dysfunctional ways. Lastly, the chapter includes an analysis of manhood development programs. Chapter 4 explores Black male intimate relationships with friends and romantic partners. The chapter describes the contours of Black male sexual identities. Moreover, this chapter explores how webs of relationships can be constructed by Black families and communities to nurture healthy Black male relationships. Chapter 5 recounts the history of Black men in family life. Emphasis is placed on the experiences of Black fathers and sons. Several policy initiatives and community-based approaches to fatherhood enhancement are explored. Chapter 6 includes a description of Black males’ experiences in education from preK to higher education. Emphasis is placed on factors which play a role in Black males’ educational success and factors that represent barriers to success. Chapter 7 explores the history of Black men in politics. The political thought and actions of Black men are explained to construct ways they can be mobilized to advance Black communities. After recounting the history of Black male economics, Chapter 8 explores how Black males can advance economically in light of old and emerging market shifts. Chapter 9 explores the complex relationship between Black males and the law from their pre-colonial heritage and enslavement to the present. Emphasis is placed on ways to stop self-destructive behaviors among Black men and reversing systematic anti-Black-maleness in the criminal justice system. Chapter 10 describes the history of Black male contributions to maintaining health and well-being in Black communities. In addition to examining the health-related challenges that Black males face, this chapter explores how health conditions of Black men and boys can be enhanced in culturally responsive ways.
Collectively these chapters provide a full view of Black male experiences and self-determining action in the context of the larger African/Black community. Not all topics are covered in the same manner in this text. For example, spirituality does not have its own chapter. This is because spirituality is a fundamental part of the approach to this text and is a part of every chapter. There is also no chapter on sports and entertainment. However, sports and entertainment are covered in several chapters, including but not limited to the chapters on culture, education, and economics. Ultimately, this text provides a humanizing and liberatory approach to the lives of Black men and boys.
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