"For Us, By Us": Centering Black Language, Culture, and Community in Scholarly Publishing

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 9:45 am - Gold 3
  In Roundtable Session: Afrofuturism, Sankofa, and the Radical Imagination in Black Educational Thought

Abstract

This article introduces the Journal of Black Language and Culture (JBLAC), a new scholarly journal dedicated to centering Black linguistic practices, cultural expression, and community-rooted knowledge. Created in response to the systemic exclusion of Black scholars from colonial academic publishing, JBLAC is a space by and for us. This article also introduces the “FUBU” conceptual framework, a decolonialist framework that guides the journal both in theory and practice. This approach connects JBLAC to Black intellectual traditions and the pursuit of collective liberation. This paper provides a literature review that explores the ethos of FUBU (For Us, By Us) as a framework for understanding and reshaping scholarly publishing in ways that center and sustain Black communities.

Authors

• Mia Harris, Stanford University

• Ramon Stephens, Stanford University