Brazier, Ariana
(2021)
“Yea. I’m in my hood. No strap”: Black Child Play as Praxis & Community Sustenance.
Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
Based on three summers of intensive ethnographic research inside an Atlanta school cluster and neighborhood community, this dissertation analyzes the intersection of Black child play and protest in order to illuminate the way their play and joy are methods of developing and channeling collective responses to their everyday experiences of institutional anti-Blackness and intergenerational oppression. I consider how Black child play and Black joy are reflective of a relationship between ratchet, a term commonly used to define the precarious and fluid realities of poor and working class Blacks, and womanism, a community-oriented form of Black feminism situated within the everyday. More specifically, I forward a ratchet womanist lens to frame how Black child play sources the radically visionary/imaginative, self-sufficient, and community-oriented aspects of womanism in a politics of the body existing under state-sanctioned deprivation that normalizes the conditions of the Black Ghetto. The connection to our bodies is critical to human survival—ratchet is the practicing and conditioning of our bodies to intend towards creative, subversive, and sustainable usage especially in the presence of overwhelming struggle. Hence, a ratchet womanist lens compels us to examine how Black children come to know and be known by their larger communities, and the ways this knowledge informs their self- and social consciousness. Simultaneously, we must imagine how we—people who are not Black children—can live in such a way that Black children can own lovingly their Black child bodies.
Share
| Citation/Export: |
|
| Social Networking: |
|
Details
| Item Type: |
University of Pittsburgh ETD
|
| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
|
| ETD Committee: |
|
| Date: |
3 May 2021 |
| Date Type: |
Publication |
| Defense Date: |
19 February 2021 |
| Approval Date: |
3 May 2021 |
| Submission Date: |
27 January 2021 |
| Access Restriction: |
No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately. |
| Number of Pages: |
216 |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > English |
| Degree: |
PhD - Doctor of Philosophy |
| Thesis Type: |
Doctoral Dissertation |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
Play; Ratchet; Womanism; Black; Child; Afterlife |
| Date Deposited: |
03 May 2021 14:58 |
| Last Modified: |
03 Sep 2021 17:14 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/40199 |
Metrics
Monthly Views for the past 3 years
Plum Analytics
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |
![[feed]](/images/feed-icon-32x32.png){kind=icon}