“I Do Not Have to Apologize for Reality” - Joy James on Contextualizing Angela Davis: The Agency and Identity of an Icon

Jul 11, 2024

Dr. Joy James discusses Angela Davis' iconic status and challenges faced in archival war. Reflects on personal connections to the Black Panther Party and collaborations beyond scholarship. Explores uncomfortable historical truths and complexities of revolutionary leadership. Discusses counterinsurgency tactics and the impact on societal narratives.

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INSIGHT

Honest Scholarship Over Hero Worship

Scholarship must confront uncomfortable realities without sanitizing facts about struggle.
Accepting contradictions and complexities is necessary to understand historical and ongoing political fights.

ANECDOTE

Bringing Prisoners and Scholars Together

Joy James shared how she brought political prisoners and scholars together for a panel at Brown University.
This event fostered discussions on Afro-pessimism and political struggles often absent from mainstream academic discourse.

INSIGHT

The Icon vs. The Real Angela Davis

Angela Davis symbolizes complex political realities beyond simple militant iconography.
Her image interacts dialectically with her active role in shaping it and her political positions.

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This is part two of a two-part discussion on two of Joy James' recent books. This part of the discussion is focused on Contextualizing Angela Davis: The Agency and Identity of an Icon Part one of the conversation was on New Bones Abolition: Captive Maternal Agency and the (After)Life of Erica Garner (Common Notions). MAKC Host Josh Briond is joined by special guest hosts Akua N and Noah Tesfaye for this conversation. Joy James is the Ebenezer Fitch Professor of the Humanities at Williams College. A political philosopher who works with organizers seeking social justice and an end to militarism, James is the editor of The Angela Y. Davis Reader; Imprisoned Intellectuals; and co-editor of The Black Feminist Reader. James’s most recent books include: In Pursuit of Revolutionary Love; New Bones Abolition: Captive Maternal Agency and the (After)Life of Erica Garner; and, Contextualizing Angela Davis: The Agency and Identity of an Icon. Her forthcoming volumes ENGAGE: Indigenous, Black, Afro-Indigenous Futures and Beyond Cop Cities will be published this summer and fall. James' website and instagram page (@captivematernalstruggles) which we are using to update and archive talks, events, essays, etc. Please feel free to follow and tag us/post collab when the episode is live. Akua N is a Chicago-based doctoral student in education policy studies, exploring the intersection of mass media, counterinsurgency, white supremacy, and schooling in capitalist contexts. Noah Tesfaye is a researcher and organizer based in the Bay Area. His work focuses on the political philosophy of the Republic of New Afrika and New Afrikan Independence Movement, particularly in its relationship to contemporary organizing around self-determination for Black people within the "United States." This episode is edited and produced by Aidan Elias Links: Steinem Papers Pendleton 2 (our episode with links on ways to support/connect) Sekou Odinga & James at the Death Penalty Conference: This is the exchange Prof. James mentioned with the young Black activist and the panel. I have linked the video below with the time stamps

The young activist question: (1:55:00)
Baba Sekou's Response: (2:08:00)
James' Response: (2:16:18)

How to Live (after we die): On Protest, Social Media, and queer Black death - Logos Journal Slave Rebel or Citizen (Inquest) Our roundtable on Kuwasi Balagoon Marcuse's Most Famous Student: Angela Davis On Critical Theory and German Idealism by Joy James Links for Book Purchasing: New Bones Abolition (2023) Contextualizing Angela Davis (2024) Beyond Cop Cities (August 2024)