Intersectionality in the American South

Akua Naru's love for the African diaspora drives her to disrupt and intervene for good through the channel of her Hip Hop music and archival work of The Keeper’s Project. More specifically, the pantheon of black women writers like Toni Morrison, bell hooks, Zora Neal Hurston have provided Naru with a critical black feminist lens and language by which to read the world and retake spaces that push the contributions of black women to Hip Hop to the margins to the center. Living with the words of black feminists, Naru tells her story, helping us rethink the centrality of blackness for identity construction and the potentialities of love within Hip Hop through this podcast.Listen to Akua Naru's music here. Find out where she is performing next here. Follow us on instagram @intersectsouth or visit our website at https://sites.gsu.edu/intersectsouth/

Explore the Gullah-Geechee people's history, cultural identity, and preservation efforts in the face of modern development. Learn about the roots of the Gullah people, their diverse heritage, and the challenges they face in maintaining their African heritage. Discover the collaborative efforts between academics and Gullah-Geechee communities in preserving sacred spaces and cultural resources. Dive into initiatives like field schools for historical preservation and the importance of reclaiming narratives and honoring ancestors in preserving Black history.

On this episode of Intersectionality in the American South, Dr. Katie Acosta interviews Dr. Ashlyn Strozier about the challenges faced by Black folks who are trying to conceive,  birthing, or experiencing unwanted pregnancy. Listen as we unpack the health risks this population faces and that structural barriers that impede upon our reproductive rights.   Follow us on instagram @intersectsouth or visit our website at https://sites.gsu.edu/intersectsouth/

Imagine being incarcerated during the height of the pandemic and having limited access to information about the virus. Imagine being unable to socially isolated or visit with your loved ones.  On this episode,  Dr. Katie Acosta interviews civil rights attorney Whitney Knox Lee about her advocacy work with people who are incarcerated in the state of Georgia. Listen to Whitney Knox Lee's new podcast Impostrix here. Follow us on instagram @intersectsouth or visit our website at https://sites.gsu.edu/intersectsouth/

Poor choices led Patrick Rodriguez—Executive Director of a prison education program at Georgia State University—to extensive time in prison. However, his time in prison demythologized conceptions of the incarcerated as hopelessly depraved individuals as he found a community of “mentors” who wanted better for him and even advocated for him, enabling him to understand his choices and see a potential future beyond them. Consequently, that led to his role in prison education, seeking to end the stigma attached to incarcerated people, create space for collaboration, and reduce the return to prison pipeline through access to higher education. Follow us on instagram @intersectsouth or visit our website at https://sites.gsu.edu/intersectsouth/

Anthony Downer is an Equity Coordinator for the City Schools of Decatur. In his work, Downer advocates for a curriculum beyond the standards that encourages antiracist, culturally responsive, courageous teaching in the school system that can uplift black students. Recognizing students lack of contact with multicultural narratives and bureaucratic pushback against Critical Race Theory reinforces inequitable educational outcomes, he calls on teachers to not simply wait for systemic change but in an exercise of ingenuity to be and build what they are demanding. In the process, the podcast helps listeners learn how teachers can service black students today while they fight for something better tomorrow.Follow us on instagram @intersectsouth or visit our website at https://sites.gsu.edu/intersectsouth/

Beacon Hill Black Alliance is an organization of committed Decatur residents challenging the racist structures in Decatur, Ga. As Black history is American history, the white-washed monuments and symbols in Decatur say otherwise as Black and indigenous peoples historical presence are rendered absent while their contemporary presence is continually threatened by Decatur as it stands. However, through Beacon Hill’s Art for the People work, educational initiatives, and advocacy, they attempt to tell the untold and model how everyday ordinary people have power to exercise that can create social change. Follow us on instagram @intersectsouth or visit our website at https://sites.gsu.edu/intersectsouth/

Charity Woods Barnes—founder of the Reproductive Justice Resilience Project—re-centers women of color as fundamental in building a movement for reproductive justice that champions abortion rights yet goes beyond the abortion legality framework upended by Dobbs v. Jackson. Consequently, reproductive justice and resiliency are shown to go hand in hand among Black women, leading Barnes to call for balancing stories of oppression with stories of Black women’s strength. In this episode, she helps listeners to rethink advocacy for reproductive justice as a wholistic project, demanding one to both have and live out reproductive justice principles for the purpose of communal healing. Follow us on instagram @intersectsouth or visit our website at https://sites.gsu.edu/intersectsouth/

When Chickenheads Come Home To Roost was published in 1999, Joan Morgan used the vehicle of Hip Hop to birth a vision for Black feminism that would render her a “pioneer.” After 23 years, Morgan celebrates Hip-Hop’s formative role yet pushes beyond its bounds for a larger vision of Black feminist thought while continuing the work of conferring liberatory frameworks for black and brown women. In this episode, Morgan unpacks this by reckoning with her cultural impact, negotiating her whole self within the academy, making space for multiple feminisms within Black feminism, and sharing her work as a scholar-practitioner as she directs NYU’s Center for Black Visual Culture.Check out her work at NYU's Center for Black Visual Culture: https://cbvc.nyu.edu/Follow us on instagram @intersectsouth or visit our website at https://sites.gsu.edu/intersectsouth/

Exploring the intersectionality of oppression, this podcast discusses the impact of racism, sexism, classism, heterosexism, and anti-immigrant sentiment in the lives of Atlanta residents and BIPOC individuals in the South. They delve into the importance of self-care and joy as resistance, perspectives on healing, and the significance of finding joy amidst chaos.