ASU faculty, grad student contribute to new book on scholars of Black social thought
Released on Oct. 15, "Fifty Key Scholars in Black Social Thought" contains 50 chapters developed by 55 experts highlighting the oft-overlooked contributions of Black scholars to the field of sociology.
Among its contributors are Arizona State University School of Social Transformation faculty Mako Ward and Tracy Perkins, along with graduate student Nana Atakora Appiah-Padi.
Described as "a collaborative volume that uplifts and explores the intellectual activism and scholarly contributions of Black social thinkers," the book asks readers "to integrate the research of Black scholars into their teaching and research, and fundamentally, to rethink the dominant epistemological claims and philosophical underpinnings of the Western social sciences."
To learn more about the project and its significance, ASU News spoke to these contributors and co-editor Nazneen Khan.
Editor’s note: Answers have been edited for length and/or clarity.
Question: What are the theme(s) or message(s) conveyed in the book?
Khan: Literary and academic censorship of Black thinkers has long been a tool of oppression. This work protests the rising wave of anti-Black censorship and, we hope, will serve as a resource for intellectual activism and deepened commitment to curricular transformation. The message conveyed in this book is teach, read and continue building insurgent sociology.
Q:With 50 authors/editors, how did each person contribute; what was the process?
Khan: “Fifty Key Scholars in Black Social Thought” is comprised of an introductory chapter in addition to 50 chapters, each focusing on a groundbreaking Black scholar. The majority of chapters were sole-authored, but a few of them were written by multiple authors. In total, 55 individuals contributed to this collaborative volume!
Q: Were there any personal experiences or events that influenced your writing?
Ge
I’m interested in breaking stereotypes: Sabyn Javeri
Sabyn Javeri in New Delhi recently. Photo: Shireen Quadri
THE PUNCH: How about fiction writers themselves? Aren’t they more open to it?
SABYN JAVERI: Well, writers like Omar Shahid and Shandana Minhas have been very supportive. In Pakistan, there are now two kinds of waves — of Pakistani authors who actually live in Pakistan and the international authors who write about Pakistan. So, I think there is a bit of a division there. It’ll be interesting to see how that gap has bridged. I have got a lot of support from Pakistani writers who actually live in Pakistan. I haven’t heard much from any of the international writers. In fact, I didn’t even get a blurb from any Pakistani writer. Eventually, Indian and American and British writers gave me a blurb. So, I don’t know what that says. This divide also crops up from the themes that writers choose to write about. Authors in Pakistan write about the Pakistan that they observe while authors who live abroad write on themes that matters to the international audience.
THE PUNCH: You have been writing short stories. A novel needs a different kind of rigour. How did you prepare yourself for this?
SABYN JAVERI: It was quite daunting. I tricked myself into doing this. I told myself I was not going to write a novel, but write a scene. All I had to do was construct it, weave it all together. I think writing is a craft and I’m very interested in it. I had a very systematic approach to it and stayed disciplined. I don’t think that the creative process is something very mystical. In fact, my research is about debunking the myth of the muse. I feel that we are very influenced by our surrounding and conditioning. That’s what creativity is about — interpretation of that environment.
THE PUNCH: Tell us about some of the stuff you read while you were working on this novel?
SABYN JAVERI: When I was doing research for my PhD, it kind of stayed somewhe
Exclusive! ‘Qalb’ actress Neha Nazneen Shakil: This film is a romantic entertainer on all accounts, but beyond that lies a deeper theme of love
Neha NazneenShakil, as her Instagram bio reads, is ‘born in Kerala and raised around the world’. Born to an IAS officer, Neha has spent her developing years in various parts of the nation. However, her unwavering love for Kerala stood intact, and that’s perhaps why destiny drove her to Malayalam cinema. The debutant is headlining ‘Qalb’ along with her co-actor Ranjith Sajeev.In an exclusive conversation with ETimes, Neha Nazneen Shakil gets candid about her debut film ‘Qalb’, directed by Sajid Yahiya. Your Instagram bio reads, ‘Born in Kerala, raised around the world’. Tell us more about yourselves. What inspired you to become an actor? My father is in government service. He is an IAS officer, and his job meant that our family shifted places every three years. Relocating often meant a new school and, sometimes, a new country. So I joke that I've been raised around the world. This constant change also introduces you to different kinds of people and cultures. That has perhaps inspired me to become an actor. While in college, I started to work on music videos, and that’s where I learned how to act for the camera. During that time, I felt that performing in front of the camera came quite naturally to me. How did you land this film, ‘Qalb’? I am interested in Sufi music and have been uploading some videos of me singing on my Instagram profile for a few years now. I believe the team noticed those videos and asked me to come to Kochi for the audition. I immediately took that leap. It was my first audition, and I was beyond nervous. But once the scene started, I found my space and performed. I was contacted a few months later and told that the project was on and that I was the female lead! Tell us more about the character you're playing in ‘Qalb’ and what resonated with you about that character. I'm playing t
About Me: With
Nazneen Khan was born into a
The cover of Sabyn Javeri’s long awaited debut novel is striking. Two women in headscarves and sunglasses emerge out of bright splashes of colour. Look a little closer and you’ll realise some of that colour is blood. If anything, the cover is an indication that the writer has set out to write a novel that dares to be different. Javeri admits that part of her motivation to write a political thriller came from the fact that it is not often regarded as a ‘woman’s genre’. The novel, of course, completely destroys this assumption. It is also a rare example of a story that is both fun to read - in the way that a political thriller should be - but also poses some weighty questions.
Most conversations that revolve around Nobody Killed Herfocus on identifying who Rani Shah is based on. Is Javeri really writing about the life of Benazir Bhutto? Does she have information about BB that the rest of us somehow didn’t manage to get our hands on? Or is she writing about another female Muslim leader? These speculations have resulted in some accusations of misrepresentation - which Javeri shrugs off, reminding us that she did not set out to write a biography. Nobody Killed Heris, after all, a fictional exploration of politics.
Nobody Killed Her is a far cry from the simplistic narratives that we generally encounter on the subject of South Asian women and politics
Conversations about Rani Shah and who she reallyis prevent us from reflecting upon other aspects of the novel that deserve our attention. In fact, I would say that Rani Shah isn’t even the most interesting character in the novel. Sure, she knows how to make her presence felt. She is beautiful and she is assertive but these are predictable traits considering how much privilege she comes from. She is also too changeable to pin down as the novel hands her several roles which she constantly tries to fill. Rani strives to be a symbol of power and progress but can we really ever understand the people who we put up
