Insurgent Intersections: Combating Global Anti-Blackness is a multi-year project of the Department of Africana Studies at Rutgers University-New Brunswick that takes its inspiration from the events of 2020, when one of the largest social protests in US history erupted following the police murders of Black women, men, and trans people. The protests occurred in the midst of several ongoing and overlapping global crises: a pandemic that has disproportionately impacted working class and poor communities, and communities of color; a resurgence of white nationalism; the continued expropriation of indigenous lands; and the ongoing disregard for Black life across multiple contexts. While this uprising became the impetus for national and global calls for a “racial reckoning,” we noted that 1) these issues have long been evident to the people who live these realities, and 2) in conflating the many ways that racism informs multiple forms of oppression, we lose the specific ways that anti-Blackness is at the root of global racial capitalism.
Insurgent Intersections seeks to draw out and cultivate the answers to these challenges that are embedded in Black experience – in the resistance and insurgent genius that has led Black peoples to find joy and fullness in the face of societies designed to consume Black life. The project’s home discipline, Africana Studies, was created to draw from this dual history of social injustice and creative resistance to forge new approaches for a just and inclusive world. Insurgent Intersections thus explores how Africana Studies, as well as its intersections with other disciplines, informs global struggles against anti-Blackness.
Launched in Fall 2021, the project is divided into four cycles. Each cycle is devoted to a theme introduced by a keynote address, examined through a works-in-progress series, and explored through a culminating event that brings together scholars, students, artists and activists for generative exchange. The themes are:
- The Roots of Global Anti-Blackness
- The Mechanisms of Global Anti-Blackness
- Global Lived Experiences of Anti-Blackness
- Healing from Global Anti-Blackness
We invite others to get involved with the project by participating in our works-in-progress series and joining our keynote and culminating events each cycle. To receive updates about our upcoming events and calls for papers, please join the Insurgent Intersections mailing list below.
Please email
