Introducing: Iresha Katurah Picot

There are several African American women schoars at Temple University charting new paths on the legacy of many great African American women thinkers. Iresha Katurah Picot is one them. I became familiar with her work and brilliance when we took a class together in Urban Studies/Geography called "Race, Class, and Gender in the City." The following is an excerpt of a paper that she is currently working on. So, read it and let me know what you think. Also, visit her myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/mentallyenlighten.

Being a Black woman means being caught in a web of multiple and synergetic oppressions and not being heard when one actually challenge unitary, xenophobic and chauvinistic notions of Women’s oppression. That is why in 2004, Black feminist and scholar, Beverly Guy-Sheftall asked the pivotal question in Harold Cruse’s The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual Reconsidered, “Where are the Black Female intellectuals” and how can they address these issues of the erasure of Black females in academia? Guy-Sheftall believed that both Women Studies and Black Studies (also academia as a whole) were excluding Black Woman’s voices and work from the academic public discourse. Consequently, this exclusion was crippling the Black female intellectual to speak and be heard on issues of Black female oppression. Although Black Female intellectuals have a viable concern for a lack of visibility in academia, Black female intellectuals have also become increasingly identified with the academy or the cultural elite. Too few are involved with the ongoing process of having Black women in different socioeconomic backgrounds and from various intellectual genres being heard. In Michele Wallace’s article “Variations of Negation and the Heresy of Black Feminist Creativity”, Wallace argues that there is a radical disconnection between what Black Women create and what society considers being viable knowledge. Wallace observes that the intellectual production of Black feminist has not successfully challenged what she calls the “exclusionary parlor games of canon formation and the production of knowledge”. Her essay contends that the cultural elite and Black Feminists themselves are responsible for the lack of integrating and bringing various forms of Black Woman’s cultural and intellectual expressions to the forefront. One of those viable genres is Hip Hop and the Black Women that linguistically brings about varied stances of Black Womanhood to the mainstream public discourse. The purpose of my research is to acknowledge and examine a new intellectual discourse (Hip Hop pedagogy) on how Black Female rappers text (their lyrics, music, work) and their visibility offers ways in which Black Female Intellectuals can express their independence, self-agency, and self-reliance in both the academia and non-traditional ways of education.

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Works Cited

Guy-Sheftall, Beverly. “Where are the Black Female Intellectuals” in Harold Cruses” The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual Reconsidered”. (New York: Routledge, 2004) 223-229

Wallace, Michelle. “Art for Whose Sake?” Women’s Review of Books, October 8

Keyes, Cheryl. Empowering Self, Making Choices, Creating Spaces: Black Female Identity via Rap Music Performances. The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 113, No. 449 (Summer, 2000) 255-269

Rose, Tricia. Black Noise: rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America. (Wesleyan University Press, 1994): 12

. . . intellectual road traveled . . . a geneology . . .

I have been a student most of all of my life. Navigating intellectual spaces have been the worst parts though, causing much distress and heatache. So, I torture myself by staying here and even defining myself by the academy. Inspite of this, my life of and within the academy has provided for me a road map - among many other things - for all that may occur in the future. Additionally, this life has given me a great stock of intellectual mentors along the way. Below is the list of folks I've come to know over the years (this list is not exhaustive). Not pictured below is Dr. Kerry Vachta. However, I will explain her influences below. So, the following is sort-of my intellectual geneology. This list is in the order in which I was introduced to their work.

Huey P. Newton I became hip to as a sophomore in high school. At that point in time, I was beginning to embrace a concept of blackness that most people around me did not. I began putting me fist in the air as an exclamation to everything deemed worthy. I wore my pic in my baby-Afro just to piss off the principal (he threatened to take it from me so many times). Anyways, Huey forced to me to begin thinking about the conditions of Black folk and the means through which we would have to take to alleviate those conditions.

When I first entered undergrad back in 1997, Dr. Blanche Radford Curry was the first professor I had to embrace me as a young budding "scholar." From my freshman year till now she has been quite an influence (she even wrote a recommentation for me to get into the Ph.D. program at Temple almost four or five years after the last class I've taken with her). Dr. Radford Curry is philosopher who does a lot of work in feminist and African American Studies. Her areas of interests are Social and Political Philosophy, Moral and Social Value Inquiry, Multicultural Theory, Feminist PhilosophySocial and Political Philosophy, Moral and Social Value Inquiry, Multicultural Theory, and Feminist Philosophy. For my minor concentration in Philosophy I took most of my course with her: Critical Thinking, Introduction to Philosophy, African American Philosophy, and Introduction to Ethics. She was the first to introduce the notion of feminism to me as freshman and I've been doing a little bit here and there with various aspects of feminist theory in my work. (I worked with Dr. Radford Curry all four years at Fayetteville State. She is huge part of my life in the academy. Largely, it was here who inspired me to enter graduate school on this path toward a Ph.D.)

Dr. Susan Frazblau was also one of my professors at Fayetteville State University who has influenced me a great deal. She too is heavily engaged in feminist scholarship. Dr. Franzblau is a feminist social-developmental psychologist. I took many courses with her where I was able to make her my unofficial advisor. With her I took Social Psychology, Multicultural Psychology, 2 Independent Study Courses, and the Advanced Seminar in Sex and Gender. She, too, introduced me to many concepts and ideas dealing with feminism early on in my academic career. It was through her that I came to know and love the works of Audre Lorde.

What can I say about Audre Lorde? After reading "Zami" it changed my life in so many ways. Little did I know that that introduction proved quite useful while in grad school at Penn State. At Penn State I studied Community Psychology and Social Change with a minor concentration in Race, Class and Gender (all of which Lorde engages). Penn State groomed me well. Largely my advisor Dr. Kerry Vachta - the smartest person I know - engaged many conversations with me pushing me to deeper and greater understandings of Black Feminist ideology and other sociopolitical theoretical frameworks dealing with the area of urban community studies. Kerry held a MS in Ecological Community Psychology and Ph.D. in Urban Forestry. She advised my thesis project - "Walking the straight lines: Critical narratives of young African American male involvement in South Allison Hill" - and I took many classes with her to include Community Psychology: Theories and Issues, Participatory Action Research, Urban Sociology, and Race and Ethnicity. Today, she is one my best friends. I call her often to catch up on things. Now she's at Wayne State at the Urban Research Center.

I was introduced to Dr. Roderick Watts' work through Kerry in her Community Psychology course. His theory of sociopolitical development and critical consciousness I used in my thesis project. He's a Clinical-Community Psychologist at Georgia State University. Also, his work on young African American manhood development was (and is) influential in my work as well. I use many of his ideas in the courses I teach and in many of the papers I write at Temple.

After Elaine Brown spoke at Penn State apart of the Radical Lecture Series organized by one of my friends (Jason), I took to her and began following her work. At the time she was working on the case for Little B. She was so inspiring, I began organizing a little bit at Penn State around similar issues related to the incarceration and neglect of young Black males in urban America.

I don't have the space to say how much bell hooks influences me. So let me just say: "I LOVE BELL HOOKS!!!!!!!" Yes. That LOUD! I'll have to do a post solely about my love for her one day.

Well, anyone who considers themself a change agent of sorts has to know Paulo Freire - "Pedagogy of the Oppressed."

Freire and my friends (in various activist circles) at Penn State like Jason led me to Che. I started with Anderson's biography of Che. I fell in love with this man. I was so into Che that some of my friends at the time would often say jokingly to me when I found myself in some kind of problem: "What would Che do?" That's how much I wanted to be like him. One day in my post-Temple Ph.D. days I will teach a year long seminar on Che.

Also while at Penn State, I discovered Nathan Hare with the essay entitled "Will the Real Black Man Please Stand Up." At the time I was engaged in urban community studies and race and gender studies and little did I know that he had contributed a lot to each of those areas (although not many people like what he had/has to say). That is when I began following his work. And, now at Temple I am working of the project on the life and works of Nathan Hare. How 'bout those apples?

Dr. Kamini Grahame is a sociologist (ethnographer) at Penn State. I had the pleasure of taking a Women Studies course with her called Feminity/Masculinity. Many of the ideas for my thesis project I was able to develope in her class. Which is why she was on my thesis committee. Like most of the other professors I've worked with she, too, is a feminist scholar. How 'bout those apples. If you haven't noticed by now, I've been heavily influenced by feminist theory and ideology.

Dr. Shaun Gabbidon is a criminologist at Penn State. He, too, was on my thesis committee. He authored a study examining the impact of the Million Man March on young Black male college students attending Historically Black Colleges and Universitites. He was the only person I knew at Penn State doing or had done work related to Black men, so I asked him to be on my committee. He has written several books on race and crime. Many of those books he gave me free copies when I went back to Penn State some years after I graduated. I'm trying to invite him out to Temple, so we'll see how that goes.

Among so many interests, today, James Baldwin is a big deal. I am now working on a paper dealing with the Black Gay Biography where I am centering the Baldwin's narrative. The first book that I read by Baldwin was "Giovani's Room" during my second year (spring break) at Penn State. Then I read "Nobody Knows My Name" then "The Fire Next Time" then "The Evidence of Things Not Seen" then "No Name In the Street" then "Go Tell It on the Mountain" then "Another Country" . . . Anyway, the boy has changed my mind about him. So, we'll see where this takes me - maybe a book on this someday.

So, yeah, all those scholars and more have influenced me over the years. Hopefully, I will do them all justice!!!!!!!

. . . the official closing of summer . . .

this past summer was ok to say the least. i had a lot of fun and was quite productive. productive in that i was able to read like 12 books and a couple of journal articles. i almost completed writing a journal article (i'm still working on it) and two encyclopedia entries (still have to finish those as well). but the following is just a (re)presentation of the highlights.

kicked off the summer with a b-day dinner on June 19th at Carrabas with close friends. however, the actual day of my b-day (june 21) i spent in D.C.

here, dionne and me hanging at the washington monument

also while in DC i was able to attend a festival celebrating global cultures

hung-out on the gates of the environmental protection agency

after a week and some days celebrating my b-day in DC i had to come back to philly. so, naturally, me Jenn and Mona decided to spend quality time at fairmont park

there we found this guy running up and down the hill, alone. wow!

across the street from where we found relaxation was the underground railroad museum. how 'bout those apples! didn't know that it was there.

i decided to hang in a tree just for fun and discovered that i wasn't as young nor as strong as i use to be.

then i went on a road trip to plano, texas. actually, i help my friend relocate from dc to tx. this is what the back woods of virginia look like.

more back wood images of virginia. however, i like this though.

just outside of nashville, i think, we found this. we did not stop therefore it is unnamed

then we were confronted with navigation. no, not like everyone else. we used the good old fashion atlas/maps/and road signs. who needs a gsp systems anyway!

arkansas was a disgustingly hot humid sticky yuckky place. but we survived nonetheless

this area was kind of interesting. although we did not go to the park. the little town itself was just nothing but a "corner" store with gas tanks. lol. no i'm just kidding. we saw nothing but cops. we guessed that they were living up to the standards of their like named municipality, philadelphia.

it took us about two and a-half days to get to plano, texas. we arrived on a saturday morning around 4AM. we had to rise again at 9AM to get tot he leasing office by 10:30AM. i was exhausted but managed to give a little smile before leaving the hotel. oh, hilton's are the best!

after the leasing office, we got the apartment and unloaded the uhaul in about an hour and a-half. me, dionne, and her father (charles) drove that thing with the car attached filled to capacity. i took the late night shifts from about 10PM to 3/4AM over the course of those two days. it was great, but we were really tired. troopers!

we had help unpacking though. nekeith dropped by to offer an extra pair of hands. look at us all grown-up like: me (the phd student who desires to be a junkie), dionne (M.Ed., the professional math teacher/change agent), and nekeith (M.S., the college professor). we've been friends for more that 10 years now since we met in undergrad at fayetteville state university. now they are both there in texas trying to get me to come. i just can't do texas. that place seems like another kind of country and it scares me. it looks nice but it scares me. lol!!!!!!!

the next day we (me and charles) woke up at 4AM to leave. he went back to boston and me to philly. my flight back to philly was fine. no problems, except for this kid that made noise the entire trip. he was seated in the row in front of me. in spite of that, i was able to read much of herb boyd's book "baldwin's harlem." i didn't like the book. it was almost a waste of time to read.

from the plane i was able to capture this foggy picture of the city. it was actually a beautiful sunny day.

still with very little rest just hours after i got off the plane me, jenn, and mona decided to hit-up fairmont park. there were lots of people there that day. lots of beautiful Black people. the above photo, i think, really sums up my summer: happy, peaceful, sunny, loving, friendly, and beautiful.

just as last summer i was given the chance to work at the charles l. blockson collection processing archival material and such. i love this job. it is the best.

it is tiring and draining though. but i love it.

odom came from queens a couple of times. she's great to be around too!

i took many pictures this past summer. most of them i tried very hard to appear somewhat sexy. i have a lot of nude pics as well. (let me know and maybe i'll share some of them.)

i also had to avoid many strange kisses from strange girls. LOL!!!! just kidding mona. this was taken on one of the many nights that we (the usual crew) got together for good meal, good drinks, good laughs, and togetherness. 'cause all we got (most of the time) is each other. i'll love you all always. let's keep it poppin'

so, i'll end this post just as it began on my b-day. Carrabas is one of my favorite spots to have dinner and wine (Ruby Tuesday's is the other) with friends. i lost some friends this summer, but gain a world of folks who were already in my life but only needed a little bit of cultivation. this was also a summer that challenged me in every department of my life. i spent much of it bothered by other people's expectations of me (eventhough i always maintained that i am my own man). you have to be careful who you invite into your life. for if you invite the wrong people you're bound to lose yourself in them and their mess. but, sunny days out-shined the gloomy. and i had a blast. i'm rested and is ready to begin another year at Temple no matter what it costs me. I am going to fight for what i want and better not anyone get in my way 'cause i got a world of beautiful friends who got my back when i need a shoulder to lean on. no they will not fight my battles for me, but they will keep me stocked with the weaponry needed to get through it all. it was a good summer. hell! it was a great summer!

now, i'm left to make meaning and memories of it all!