Africana Studies for Students Who Are Not of the African Diaspora: Navigating Race and Caste and Growing Consciousness in Silicon Valley

• In Event: Black Education in the Crosshairs of Local Struggles

Abstract

This panel session at the National Conference for Black Studies (NCBS) delves into the pivotal issue of Africana Studies for Students Who Are Not of the African Diaspora: that is, how do Silicon Valley residents navigate race and caste and grow consciousness, especially as the Black diaspora only accounts for 3% of the population? What is the best way to activate non-Black and/or white students in addressing the problem of whiteness and the harm this construct has caused society?
In this highly competitive and technically advanced environment, non-Black and/or white students often grapple with recognizing their complicity in perpetuating anti-Blackness. After all, they are progressives who are resident in a progressive city, county, and state. California is blue, isn’t it? Its constituents are mostly woke and white, or so goes the coastal Pacific’s self-image and branding. And those who are neither white or Black operate to bring themselves and the proletariat the progress and prosperity they deserve - or do they?
How do the Black students who participate in Africana studies feel about all of this? How do their experiences and perceptions bring them into conversations with new social structures and mandated classrooms, courtesy of legislation like AB1460?

Author

• Carmen Kennedy-Saleh, African American Studies at San Jose State University