'Left of Black' S2:E5 with Scott Poulson Bryant and Anne-Maria Makhulu

Left of Black S2:E5

w/ Scott Poulson Bryant and Anne-Maria Makhulu

October 10, 2011

Left of Black, host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Scott Poulson Bryant, one of the founding editors of Vibe Magazine and author of the 2005 book Hung: A Meditation on the Measure of Black Men in America and the just published novel The VIPs.  The two scholars speak to the book's setting in Sag Harbor, a black elite leisure space in Long Island, New York comparable to Martha's Vineyard.  The Long Island bred author and journalist, who is currently enrolled in Harvard University’s doctoral program in American Civilization, crowned the name Vibe Magazine tells and Left of Black about the impact of hip-hop and black popular culture on contemporary journalism.  

Neal is later joined by Anne-Marie Makhulu, professor of Cultural Anthropology and African & African-American Studies at Duke University.  Professor Makhulu is currently teaching a class on the HBO series The Wire.  An expert on economics in South Africa, Makhulu compares and contrasts the urban American inner-city portrayed in The Wire with that of South African cities.  Makhulu talks about the series’ depiction of  the decline of the American city and  how the series, a favorite of President Obama, might impact public policy.

  

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Left of Black is a weekly Webcast hosted by Mark Anthony Neal and produced in collaboration with the John Hope Franklin Center at Duke University.

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Episodes of Left of Black are also available for download @ iTunes U

Teaching “The Wire” and Remembering the Founding of Vibe Magazine on the October 10th Episode of Left of Black

Teaching “The Wire” and Remembering the Founding of Vibe Magazine on  the October 10^th Episode of Left of Black

On the October 10^th episode of Left of Black, host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Anne-Marie Makhulu, professor of Cultural Anthropology and African & African-American Studies at Duke University.  Professor Makhulu is currently teaching a class on the HBO series The Wire.  An expert on economics in South Africa, Makhulu compares and contrasts the urban American inner-city portrayed in The Wire with that of South African cities.  Makhulu talks about getting into the show after its final season and deciding to teach it to Duke students because of the story it tells about the decline of the American city.  She also looks at how the American dream portrayed in the series impacts public policy. Makhulu reveals her favorite characters, discusses her experiences teaching the show, and lastly keeps the audience up-to-date on her current projects regarding informal settlements in South Africa.  

Later, host Neal is joined by Scott Poulson Bryant, one of the founding editors of Vibe Magazine and author of the 2005 book Hung: A Meditation on the Measure of Black Men in America and the just published new novel The VIPs.  The two scholars speak to the book's setting in Sag Harbor, a black elite leisure space in Long Island, New York comparable to Martha's Vineyard.  The fiction writer talks about who he would cast in a movie version of The VIPs and what he was intending to offer his readers.   The Long Island bred author and journalist , who is currently enrolled in Harvard’s doctoral program in American Civilization, talks about the people and publications who influence his work.  Bryant, who crowned the name Vibe Magazine tells Left of Black about the impact of hip-hop and black popular culture on contemporary journalism.  

Left of Black airs at 1:30 p.m. (EST) on Mondays on Duke's Ustream channel: ustream.tv/dukeuniversity. Viewers are invited to participate in a Twitter conversation with Neal and featured guests while the show airs using hash tags #LeftofBlack or #dukelive.  

Left of Black is recorded and produced at the John Hope Franklin Center of International and Interdisciplinary Studies at Duke University.

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Follow Left of Black on Twitter: @LeftofBlack

Follow Mark Anthony Neal on Twitter: @NewBlackMan

Follow Scott Poulson-Bryant on Twitter: @SPBVIP

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'Left of Black': Episode #5 featuring Danielle McGuire and Stephane Dunn

Left of Black host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Wayne State University Historian Danielle McGuire, the author of At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance--A New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power.

Neal also talks with Morehouse College English Professor Stephane Dunn about the recent Vibe Magazine article 'The Mean Girls of Morehouse." Dunn is a regular contributor to theLoop21.com and the author of Baad Bitches and Sassy Supermamas: Black Power Action Films.

Pumps, Lipstick & Swagger: Gender & Sexuality at Morehouse

Pumps, Lipstick & Swagger: Gender & Sexuality at Morehouse
by Stephane Dunn | TheLoop21

I realized I’d walked into an unusual hot, personal debate soon as I approached my 1:00 p.m. afternoon class. I hardly cleared the door before my excited students begin practically yelling at me indignantly, "Have you seen it? You see how they representin’ us?" “It” was a new story in a former iconic outlet of hip-hop journalism, Vibe magazine.

Can a man of Morehouse be gay? Absolutely. But can he be a woman? Meet the plastics.

That’s one of the leading lines in the latest, almost infamous expose on Morehouse College’s gay and cross dressing “subgroups.” It immediately made my blood pressure rise. I am a woman, who works and walks around campus whose professor status and sometimes deceptive appearance grant me a degree of invisibility. Words like “bitch” are not rare in the passing conversations of men in reference to some of the Daisy Duke wearing women they see or in general reference to the Spelman women across the way.

Just yesterday, I overheard two students having a familiar conversation about the wayward, materialistic, cunning ways of these “hoes” out here. Other times, I’ve seen young men shoot a killing look at some high heel wearing, sashaying fellow diva student or even heard them mutter "faggot"—loudly, as if the very sight was a personal affront.

So I immediately thought that the opening tagline [of the Vibe article] absolutely personifies what’s wrong with not only this sensationalist story, but with too many of the recent public discussions regarding issues of sexuality within African American communities.

Read the Full Essay @ theLoop21.com