HOW SCIENTIFIC PRACTICES FORMED DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY IN AFRICAN AMERICAN AND BLACK COMMUNITIES: Literature Review

 

How Scientific Practices Formed Developmental Psychology in African American and Black Communities: 

An overview of the practice and application of development in learning environments

Rhyus Goldman

Pitzer College  

Abstract

This paper examines published articles on how scientific practices formed developmental psychology in African American and Black communities. It takes a closer look at communal, intergroup, and interpersonal learning (Hurley, 2009) and how that informs to students' learning methods. The formation of group identity (Sanchez, 2016) within young Black and African boys occurs through the creation of tight bonds. The paper also delves into the early stages of how Black and African Americans were treated through the scientific practices within the field of developmental psychology. Lastly, it looks at how all three factors play into effect within the socialization of developing children through specific and circumstantial understanding of individuals' backgrounds. The major themes that this paper will discuss are, Impact of Scientific Practices on Developmental Psychology (Harris, 2014), Community and Group Learning, Formation of Group Identity and Support (Sanchez, 2016), Historical Context and Social Identity, Cultural Considerations in Development (Segret, 2020) Challenges and Call to Action.

Keywords: Developmental Psychology, Scientific Practices, Group Learning

The Effects of How Scientific Practices Formed Developmental Psychology in African American and Black Communities: An overview of the practice and application of developmental psychology

African and Black people were brought to and shaped the United States of America against their will and consideration of their personhood. Enslavement created true social division among people based on race and class that served as a catalyst for the exploitation and racialization of people in America today. Three hundred years of purposeful mistreatment, silencing, and truth distortion up to the present moment in the Black diaspora can be examined through the practice and application of developmental psychology.Contemporary psychologists examine the ways that stages in modern development work in cultural attunement, sensitivity, and humility, Njoroge and Tobón, 2020, work in group learning, Hurley, 2009, as well as findings of emotional intimacy among boys, Sanchez, 2016. Racist stereotypes are perpetuated and contribute to the systemic racism ingrained in society, which is why these psychologists’ findings are so important towards understanding the impact of scientific practices on developmental psychology. This has led to research on how to better account for the developmental processes encompassing the complex dynamics of group learning and its interaction with students' ethnocultural backgrounds, particularly in African American contexts (Sanchez, 2016). There is a compelling need to further apply this research into practice within learning environments.

Despite the challenges, there is a call to action for educators, scholars, and practitioners to understand and address the unique needs of African American children by considering the complex interplay of historical and contextual factors in their development. This is especially true when considering the deep-rooted entanglement of scientific practices, particularly in the field of psychiatry (Seget, 2020) with the historical and social context of African American and Black communities. Yet throughout the adversity that African and Black children faced, in the past, and continue to face in the present moment, there is constant work being done to challenge the racist and classist notions of how scientific knowledge can be conducted. In this literature review, examples will be provided on how scientific practices inform and shape the constructed and applied information of developmental psychology within African American and Black communities. (Njoroge and Tobón, 2020)

Literature Review

Effects on Developmental Psychology in Learning Environments

Research has found that there are different ways of teaching in which a student can acquire skills that will make them more adept in their school experience and the future. Ethno-Cultural differences from one's background are a major reason to which some students succeed in some classroom environments and others don't. (Hurley, 2009) Communal, intergroup, and interpersonal learning are the three major pillars for how classes are taught. Many students do not learn within an environment that would work best for them, creating a narrative that an individual, as a student, is not as adept as their peers who thrive under the system that they are taught in. African American and Black students show that within-group variation in communalism (Hurley, 2009) creates a better narrative of how situational and cultural experience can give insight on developmental processes during childhood. The study finds that cooperative learning (Hurley, 2009) is shown to have higher consistency with communal tendencies for African Americans. The Hurley, 2009 study reminded us that “we do not mean to offer communal learning as a singular solution for any problem.” However, it does provide indicators towards educators meeting their students' needs by understanding the circumstance at which they come from, and implementing a more intricate way of helping their students develop. (Harris, 2014)  

Effects on Developmental Psychology in Practice

Close emotional relationships are a key factor and foundational to understanding the science of the development of a sense of self for young Black and African Americans. This comes through the development of creating a safe space, within that space individuals find social support, group identity, and thus lead to bonding and friendship (Sanchez, 2016). Specifically, when young African American students were paired with an older mentor, they created relationships with rapport building by doing activities and getting to know each other. “The five processes that led to close mentoring relationships were (a) rapport-building activities, (b) safe space, (c) mutual support, (d) group identity, and (e) trust.” (Sanchez, 2016) Through this mentoring an effective safe space was built where relationships that were similar to family could support group identity. The participants felt secure that they could trust each other, thus fostering shared experience and insight could be learned and afrimed, bolstering group identity. The “Brotherhood” created constructs that are harder to find when one guards themselves off and is not completely comfortable when trust is not established. The safe space that was created in the mentoring program allowed room for one to be unapologetic due to the social support that was reinforced by the bond that was formed. The study concludes by stating, “Focusing efforts to resist traditional conventions of masculinity and defy negative stereotypes about boys of color by helping them create safe havens to have emotional intimacy with other adolescent boys would be beneficial for their healthy development” (Santos, 2013).

Effects of Forming Scientific Practices

Lacking acceptance or accounting of Black and African American experience in developmental psychology is an intentional construction to keep race and class hierarchy. Those who fit, and those who don't, it adds layers of complexity of love and the necessity of acceptance, community, and acceptance. In the beginning of the twentieth century, social dominance was enforced when America’s Jim Crow and the Nazi party in Germany would soon unite in an aryan embrace, and psychiatric patients were on the front lines of their race wars (Segret, 2020). Psychiatric patients were treated with little care if they were not a part of the aryan race. This predicated Social Dominance Orientation (Sidanius, Devereux, Pratto 1992), meaning within human social groups, there exist discernible group-based social hierarchies that vary across societies. Serget gives insight to the efforts of forming scientific practices of development by using Paul Gilroy’s study. Gilroy writes, “Understanding the history and culture of the African diaspora—so shaped by racial slavery and imperial conquest—required us all to rethink modernity’s times and spaces, in other words as Gilroy suggests to rethink modernity from the slave’s point of view.” (Gilroy, 1993) He writes about an African American man in 1910, Stork Hardly, who seemingly had epilepsy that was becoming worse and he was admitted to the psychiatry ward. When Hardly was being treated, he was asked about his happiness level, to which Hardly ironically laughed. The circumstances of his life highlight the systemic racism embedded within psychiatric institutions, where diagnoses were often influenced by racial biases and discriminatory practices. Moreover, it reveals how scientific ideas, such as eugenics, were utilized to justify and perpetuate white supremacist ideologies, further marginalizing and dehumanizing African Americans. Toni Morrison captures social identity theory, (Tajfel & Turner, 1979) as the need for self esteem leading to personal identity and group identity. In reflecting on this time period for African Americans, she writes, “You do not deserve love regardless of the suffering you have endured. You do not deserve love because somebody did you wrong. You do not deserve love just because you want it. You can only earn by practice and careful contemplation the right to express it and you have to learn how to accept it.” (Morrison, 2017) 

When reflecting on the work that Sanchez, 2016, and Hurley, 2009, have done by focusing on individual children, and also incorporating the work of future educators, scholars, and practitioners, one must become familiar with the political, historical, and contextual factors that influence the functioning and development of African American children (Harris, 2014). The falsehoods created by flawed scientific practices have stifled developmental psychology that can be deconstructed from the history of America’s Jim Crow and the Nazi party in Germany would soon unite in an aryan embrace, and psychiatric patients would be on the front lines of their race wars (Segret, 2020). Hurley, 2009 states that when educators learn to see their students’ cognitive and behavioral tendencies through an interpretational lens that takes into account the integrity of the children’s home- and community-based socialization experiences, we can hope to interrupt cycles of stereotyping and bias, shape pedagogies that capitalize on their existing strengths, and, in so affirming them, contribute in consistently positive ways to their social and emotional development as African Americans. This opposes and relates against these harmful malpractices that have plagued developmental psychology for Black and American American people.    

Strategies in Developmental Psychology

It is essential to understand the sensitive cultural differences that must be incorporated through children's early stages of development. Having a more nuanced understanding of the family’s cultural expectations will prevent misunderstanding and miscommunication (Njoroge and Tobón, 2020). When proper tools are in place that support a nuanced understanding of a student, like integrating cultural considerations into assessments and treatment planning, a foundational understanding that addresses individual and direct needs can be met. For a child's success, ultimately promoting optimal development and wellbeing across different cultural contexts is needed.

Passing: Ineffective Scientific Practices for Development

If a child comes from a background that is not conducive to the child , Harris expands that it could come from the situation in which they are raised, whether that be White adoptive or foster parents being ill equipped to socialize African American children about racial issues or the number of African American children residing in homes with incomes at or below the poverty level is a result of geographical factors (Harris, 2016). The Afrocentric Model of Personality (Laher, 2013) suggests that character adaptations are heavily affected by the treatment of a biological basis by external influences. It is more nuanced than nature versus nurture due to the many complexities of forming one's self concept and is refined through character adaptations. The conditions for the development of personality are formed by biological tendencies and norms which are created through particular life events that affect behavior and continue to shape adaptations towards ongoing personality development. This is why (Hurley, 2009) emphasizes that his findings are not singular solutions to the greater study of Black and African American development. 

Dynamics of Group Learning 

The studies by Sanchez, 2016, Hurley, 2009, Njoroge and Tobón, 2020, and Harris, 2014 align and prove that if there is a true understanding of how to socialize a student in a classroom environment, then the student will thrive. They agree that when the background a student comes from is circumstantially different from their peers, there is a need to get to know individual social and personal identities. Social support and perceived familial involvement are significant predicatetors for a child's self esteem or lack thereof. The studies that have been discussed in this paper have shown examples of personal and group achievement. When done successfully and inspite of societal factors, Black and African American students develop  positively. The collective research ultimately advocates for a nuanced approach to education that acknowledges and leverages cultural diversity, aiming to create equitable learning environments that empower students from all backgrounds to succeed.

Culture

Hurley, 2009 delves into why communalism appears to be a benefactor for African American students, but the meaningful take away that should be considered is community culture and the expansive structure that comes into effect within group learning. This pairs with the study that was conducted by Sanchez, 2016 in which the importance of creating close mentoring relationships, emphasizing bonding, reciprocal love, and responsibility. Both create positive factors towards the development of Black and African Americans despite negative environmental influences that stem from social and societal predispositions. 

Discussion

Throughout the literature, it is demonstrated how scientific practices have significantly impacted approaches in developmental psychology with African American and Black communities, an understanding of the challenges and experiences, and the crucial role of community support and acceptance in navigating systemic oppression. There is an emphasis on  Afrocentric themes of collective work and responsibility by making and maintaining positive social relationships through helping others while also nurturing one's own self view. The historical treatment of Black and African American individuals and communities through the field of developmental psychology​​, influenced by racial biases and eugenics, underscores the importances of the work that has been discussed by the contemporary scholars referenced in this paper to continue to apply positive adaptations despite negative environmental influences. The research clearly shows that taking ownership and precision of one’s own environment, as well as reflecting on one's own circumstances in relationship and community with others who share similar cultural experiences, provides a vital way to restore humanity and empower marginalized youth who are distinctly different and diverse. The need for this research to be further applied through practice within learning environments is imperative for the betterment of our society.

References

Sanchez, Bernadette, Kevin D. Pinkston, Adina C. Cooper, Carlos Luna, and Shelby T. Wyatt:

"One falls, we all fall: How boys of color develop close peer mentoring relationships." Applied Developmental Science (2016): 1-28. DOI: 10.1080/10888691.2016.1208092.

Hurley, Eric A., Brenda A. Allen, and A. Wade Boykin.

 "Culture and the Interaction of Student Ethnicity with Reward Structure in Group Learning." Cognition and Instruction (2009): 128-146. DOI: 10.1080/07370000902797346.

Harris, Yvette R., and James A. Graham. 

"Demographics: A Portrait of African American Children and African American Adolescents." The African American Child: Development and Challenges Account (n.d.): 1-18. 

Morrison, Toni. 

"The Origin of Others: Configuration of Others." In The Origin of Others, 55-74. Book Chapter 4

Njoroge, Wamjikū F.M., and Amalia Londoño Tobón. 

"Infant Psychiatry, Culture and Early Childhood." In Cultural Psychiatry With Children, Adolescents, and Families, 283-295. Book Chapter 17

Segrest, Mab. 

"Jim Crowed Psychiatric Modernity: Administration of Lunacy: Racism and the Haunting Psychiatry at Milledgeville Asylum." In Administration of Lunacy: Racism and the Haunting Psychiatry at Milledgeville Asylum, 116-125. Book Chapter 5

 

    

 

 

but what about ants

 

Stigmata and the Unnatural - Term Paper #2, ANT 320 - Anthropology of the Supernatural and the Paranormal

 Honestly this essay is really confusing and full of run on sentences and I don't really make a real argument but I also think that the prompt was badly presented so I don't know. Enjoy 

Prompt: Choose a supernatural event and explain what specific notion of “nature” is being superseded. Do you think this rupture actually took place? Why or why not?

Stigmata: Passionately Unnatural

Generally, supernatural “events” are things that people witness. Sometimes, however, people themselves – or, more precisely, their bodies – become the actual “event.” Such is the case with the so-called “stigmata” – the Greek word that means “marks,” “spots,” or “signs.” In Catholicism, the term “stigmata” refers to bodily marks, sores, or sensations of pain arising on one’s body that correspond to the wounds of the crucified Jesus Christ. They typically appear on the hands, feet, and side - the sites where Jesus was wounded during the crucifixion. When these marks appear on others, they are often believed by devout Christians to be signs of divine favor or of the “saintliness” of the individual on whom they appear (Britannica, 2024).  They are regarded as having spiritual significance, and those who have them are said to have “received” the stigmata. They are seen as having been granted or given the marks by a divine source as a sign of divine approval. 

Stigmata occurrences are rare, controversial, and subject to multiple interpretations. They are sometimes attributed to psychosomatic causes or are even suspected to be the product of deliberate hoaxing. In many cases, however, they are seen by some as genuine miracles. To understand the stigmata, and whether or not instances of stigmata demonstrate a rupture in human understanding of nature, we must examine specific cases of stigmata, as well as establish the specific notions of nature that we use as frameworks to understand science and religion. 

The most well-known and influential case of the stigmata was that of Saint Francis of Assisi in the 13th century. St. Francis is one of the two patron saints of Italy and is associated with a devotion to poverty and simplicity. Francis founded the Franciscan Order, based on his personal teachings of renunciation of wealth, service, and compassion; the Franciscan Order is now one of the largest orders in the Catholic Church (Leonard, 2023). St. Francis received the stigmata – the wounds of Christ – in 1224, during a period of his life marked by intense prayer and fasting. According to legend, as St Francis prayed one morning, a six-winged, crucified angel appeared to him. After this vision, St. Francis was left with wounds in his hands and feet – located in the same physical sites as the nails in Christs’ crucifixion – and in his side – in the site where a lance pierced Christ’s side as he hung on the cross, as depicted in the Gospel account. Several witnesses testified to having seen the marks on Francis’ body (Leonard, 2023). After his death in 1226, members of the Franciscan Order went to his deathbed to venerate his body, where they witnessed a new miracle: “they saw his flesh, which had hitherto been dark, gleaming with dazzling whiteness” (Robson, 2002, 262). The stigmata of St. Francis are a particularly sensational case because St. Francis’ body was publicly exposed for devotion after his death, allowing – indeed, encouraging – people to observe the wounds. To deny St. Francis’ stigmata would mean denouncing the words of thousands of witnesses, which has made this first case difficult to ignore.

There have also been modern instances of the stigmata reported in various places around the world. One such case occurred in Woonsocket, Rhode Island in 1927. Marie Rose Ferron, the tenth child of a devout Catholic family, had many profound spiritual experiences throughout her life. These experiences often came with physical manifestations, one of which was the stigmata. Ferron’s stigmata first appeared briefly in 1926; by Lent of 1927, the marks routinely appeared every Friday (Dallaire, 2010). Lent – the forty-day period of fasting and prayerful contemplation that precedes Easter – is the religious “season” leading up to Good Friday and Easter, the days marking the crucifixion and then resurrection of Jesus. As such, it is particularly associated with the suffering of Christ, and with the stigmata. 

Therese Neumann’s stigmata provides another, highly controversial, modern example of this phenomenon. This German woman, who died in 1962, claimed over the course of her life to have experienced a number of physical “miracles” – of being cured of blindness and of appendicitis without medical intervention, and, ultimately, of receiving the stigmata (Vogl, 1987).

The common thread through most instances of stigmata is the controversy that marks their public reception.This controversy stems from the place of stigmata – or lack thereof – in the natural order. The sense that the world around us is governed by nature and a natural order is a  concept of great importance to humans. Throughout history, across regions and cultures, humans have turned to nature to regulate conduct and to explain human behaviors. As historian Lorraine Daston explains in her book Against Nature, “in various and dispersed traditions, nature has been upheld as the pattern of all values: the Good, the True, and the Beautiful” (Daston, 3). Natural order is of particular importance because of our epistemological impulse or desire to classify things or, as Daston puts it, the “human cognitive necessity of lumping things into categories” (Daston, 10). Without notions of nature, we wouldn’t be able to classify events as either natural or supernatural, preventing us from fulfilling our desire to categorize phenomena we encounter – and, significantly, preventing us from being able to understand things as being “miraculous” or outside the norms of the natural order. By definition, within this framework, if something violates the natural order, this can imply only one of two things: that our understanding of the natural order needs to be updated and modified, or that the violation is miraculous. Indeed, the very concept of a “miracle” depends on our having a shared understanding of an order that it violates.

    Many different notions of nature are used as frameworks through which humans understand natural order. Universal natural laws are one such notion. These laws define a specific order that exists everywhere and without exception. Under a purely scientific notion of nature, universal natural laws cannot be suspended. Gravity, to give just one example, is considered an immutable fact. Stigmata by definition are a suspension of a scientific notion of nature, and of the laws it implies. Stigmata violate our understanding of pain perception: individuals who experience stigmata often report feeling intense pain associated with the wounds, yet there may be no physiological explanation for this pain. This challenges the conventional understanding of nature, suggesting an unnatural or supernatural intervention – yet scientific frameworks do not accept supernatural interventions, causing a rupture. Stigmata transcend the natural order by manifesting physical wounds on the body without natural cause, violating “rules” of normal physiological processes.   

To further refine human notions of nature, we can, again, turn to Daston’s Against Nature. As Daston describes them, “specific natures” are based on the characteristic form of different things in nature. These specific natures determine how these elements look and behave. The appearance and behavior of a certain species can only be altered by “constraining or ‘doing violence to’ specific nature” (Daston, 8). Stigmata defy concepts of specific natures because they demonstrate the alteration of one’s physical appearance without any apparent act of violence or even physical touch. Specific natures guarantee an order, a path of development – in this case, the developmental stages in which wounds heal – and stigmata defy this order. 

Thanks to this human preoccupation with nature and classification, it follows that there are certain emotions evoked by ruptures in nature (ie. encounters with the unnatural, or the supernatural): “An extreme state that we suffer rather than merely feel that register[s] a breach of order” (Daston, 31). These emotions range from horror to awe. Stigmata do evoke intense emotions, emotions Daston would call “the passions of the unnatural.” Individuals who have received the stigmata are often overwhelmed with emotions; many stigmatics are left in ecstasy and euphoria. These intense emotions noted in stigmatic people – as they experience the passions of the unnatural –  further demonstrate that stigmata represent ruptures in and from nature.

For stigmata to be considered natural in scientific notions of the natural order, they are explained not as divine religious experiences potentially but as psychological conditions that cause stigmatics to experience physical sensations mimicking the wounds of Christ – or cause them to believe that they are experiencing these sensations. Psychosomatic illnesses are physical symptoms that are thought to be caused by psychological factors such as stress or trauma (Freud, 1982). Stigmata could be seen as psychosomatic symptoms arising from intense religious fervor or unresolved psychological issues, for instance. Scientists may argue that St. Francis’ stigmata is a case of mass hysteria, in which individuals convinced each other of having seen the stigmata. Or perhaps St. Francis believed he had received the stigmata due to psychosis brought on by intense fasting. One might say that Therese Neumann was mentally ill, and not touched by God. A scientific notion of nature would never explain the stigmata through religion, thus not accepting stigmata as they are understood by stigmatics themselves – divine miracles. 

While stigmata demonstrate a rupture in nature as understood by scientific frameworks, they are certainly possible, and natural, in religious notions of nature. Christian notions of nature position God as not only having the ability to create laws of nature, but also to suspend such laws. Miracles, such as stigmata, are considered natural as divine intervention is a normal part of the religious natural order. It is also accepted in Christianity that these miracles are more likely to happen in moments of intense prayer or spirituality, as is the case for many stigmatics – Ferron’s stigmata were particularly present during Lent, and St. Francis’ during devoted fasting and prayer – their stigmata appear during their periods of asceticism or religiously significant moments. 

Many scholars have attempted to untangle the boundaries between different frameworks of nature. The scientific notions I have described are often favored in the “disenchanted” and secularized West, and treated as absolute. Religion is sometimes regarded as fiction, and not to be used as the basis for natural laws. Religious beliefs are often associated with irrationality and intolerance (Asad, 1). While the religious notion of nature is certainly biased and insufficient, the scientific notion is also imperfect. For something to be natural in the scientific sense, it has to be replicable, quantifiable, and be “possible” under proven laws of physics and nature, meaning that there are a restricted set of experiences that are admissible into the scientific paradigm, and stigmata are not among them. Scientific notions of nature can also be biased, as anthropologist Stanley Jeyaraja Tambiah describes: “Science, too, has not escaped this taint of being tarred by interest groups and political power” (Tambiah, 2). Just as religious beliefs can be shaped by social, cultural, and political contexts, scientific research may also be subject to biases or agendas driven by funding sources, institutional pressures, or ideological influences.

As I have argued, stigmata provoke a rupture in scientific notions of nature. Conversely, they are natural under certain religious notions. There exists, however, a third possibility, one that lies between a rupture and a lack of rupture. A possibility that indigenous author Vine Deloria Jr. would describe as misinterpretation – not “misexperience.” The framework that Deloria describes would not position stigmata as anomalies and they would be accepted as natural: “some things are accepted because there is value in the very mystery they present” (Deloria, 46). By some, they could be interpreted as religious phenomena, and by others, through a Freudian analysis, may be treated as a hysteric condition with somatic symptoms. Regardless of the interpretation, however, by Deloria’s notions of the natural, stigmata would be accepted as real experiences, and would not be dismissed or subjected to skepticism.

Interpretations of stigmata are further complicated by the sources available to study them. The contemporary image of stigmata is highly influenced by art history, as well as by written descriptions from religious texts. That is to say, understandings of stigmata are cooperations between belief as well as artistic and literary interpretation. Other factors, ones of cultural biases, religious belief, and personal experience, also impact individual interpretations of the stigmata. Ultimately, stigmata represent significant ruptures in scientific notions of nature, while being considered natural under certain religious frameworks. These different interpretations of stigmata beg the question: is there truly a difference between a hysteric person developing somatic symptoms, and a true religious experience? Is the imagined experience of pain vastly different from the experience of pain invoked by a “real” injury? Perhaps we can take inspiration from Deloria’s frameworks, and learn to simply revel in the mystery put forth by stigmata, without needing to classify them as “real” natural experiences, or as mis-experienced unnatural events. Perhaps ultimately, the real “miracle” is that the range of human experience is such that it allows for multiple frameworks of interpretation for extraordinary events.

Bibliography 

Asad, Talal. Formations of the Secular. Stanford University Press, 2003. Accessed through 

Canvas.

Dallaire, Glenn. Marie Rose Ferron –American Mystic, Stigmatic and Visionary (1902-1936). 

Mystics of the Church, 2010. https://www.mysticsofthechurch.com/2010/03/marie-rose-ferron-american-mystic.html

Daston, Lorraine. Against Nature. MIT Press, 2019.

Deloria, Vine Jr. Spirit and Reason. Fulcrum Publishing, 1999. Accessed through Canvas.

Foley, Leonard. The Stigmata of St. Francis. Franciscan Media, 2023.

https://www.franciscanmedia.org/franciscan-tradition-and-resources/the-stigmata-of-st-francis/

Freud, Sigmund. Studies on Hysteria (“Fräulein Elisabeth von R.”). Basic Books Classic, 1982. 

Accessed through Canvas. 

Robson, Michael. St. Francis of Assisi: The Legend and the Life. Continuum, 2002. 

Tambiah, Stanley Jeyaraja. Magic, Science, Religion, and the Scope of Rationality. Accessed 

through Canvas.

The editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. Stigmata. Britannica.com, 2024

https://www.britannica.com/topic/stigmata

Vogl, Adalbert A. Therese Neumann: Mystic and Stigmatist. Tan Books and Publishers, 1987. 

Accessed Online, LibKey.

Biographical Sketch of Angela Davis

 Rhyus Goldman

4/23/2024

Biography Project: Angela Davis

Angela Davis Connection of Vietnam and Civil Rights Movements Towards Present Day Israel Palestine War

The connection between the Vietnam American war that took place over the course of the civil rights movement and the war that Israel is waging on Palestine in this current moment is extremely reminiscent of one another and linked by American Imperialism. Whether that be the peaceful protest met with unlawful violence from the dominating side, the United States empire aiding and complicit in the violence, or the sheer strength of one side being highly more militarized than the other. However, looking back to the war in Vietnam, there was a persistent misunderstanding of the nature of the conflict and a failure to adapt. US commanders consistently tried to force the war to conform to their operational framework, rather than truly understanding the essence of the conflict. “The war had cost the lives of more than 1.5 million Vietnamese combatants and civilians, as well as over 58,000 U.S. troops. But the war had caused another, more intangible casualty: the loss of consensus, confidence, and a sense of moral high ground in American political culture.” (SOURCE) 

The war that is being fought in Palestine now could have been predicted by the United Nations actions and lack thereof in the previous seventy years. According to Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP), Palestine, Israel, and the Arab-Israeli Conflict: A Primer By Joel Beinin and Lisa Hajjar, “On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly voted to partition Palestine into two states, one Jewish and the other Arab. The UN partition plan divided the country so that each state would have a majority of its own.” The West Bank and the Gaza Strip emerged as separate political entities following the 1949 armistice that delineated the boundaries of the newly established Jewish state of Israel from the remaining territories of Mandate Palestine. From 1948 to 1967 the West Bank included East Jerusalem, both being extremely important portions of land as to the geography of existence and religion, which was then divided, complicating citizenship, and established communities. Britain obtained a mandate over this land that gave way to Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem and the West Bank. In October 1973, on Yom Kippur, Egypt and Syria executed a surprise attack over land disputes that caught the Israeli forces off guard, achieving some success for the Arab nation at the time. However, this moment led to the American Empire being truly involved in this conflict by providing aid and intervention to Israel. This led to the United States Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, pursuing a diplomatic strategy that somewhat resolved the current events “while avoiding negotiations on more difficult issues, including the fate of the West Bank and Gaza. This strategy also positioned the United States as the sole mediator and most significant external actor in the conflict, a position it has sought to maintain ever since.” (SOURCE) This led to current debates of who has control of the land when the intention was to not have Israeli maintain control even though the government has seized it. 

The Israeli government has become a mechanism of oppression to Palestinians everyday life whether through apartheid, oppression, or death and destruction. Intifada, is the shaking off of Israeli domination The first Intifada, in December 1987 was the Palestinian population in the West Bank and Gaza starting mass uprising against the Israeli occupation, it came into fruition by mobilization of organizations and institutions that had developed under Israeli occupation. This concept tracks well with the treatment that Angela Davis endured during the late 1960s and 1970s. A poster by the Free Angela Davis Coalition made when Davis was arrested, stating “the purpose of this conspiracy is to isolate and destroy those groups struggling to turn this country from its present course of racist exploitation and war-for-profit.” (SOURCE) In 1969, Angela Davis' words spoke truth into an unseeable but sadly predictable future that “another Vietnam is (going to be) created”  due to the economic system of capitalist oppression by American Imperialism. In Palestine, this is constantly felt and seen through the processes of dehumanization, explosion of people from their land, and the extermination of an ethnic group. “More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to local health officials. The latest strikes came within hours after the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill to provide Israel with $26.3 billion in assistance. (April 21, 2024)” (SOURCE) The United States government continues to prove Davis right by continuing to aid Israel, the economy can only successfully produce revenue when participating in war or wartime efforts.   

There are many similarities between the United States war in Vietnam and Israel's war on Palestine. Israel, like America in the 1960s, has far superior weapons and much stronger economic position, as well as claiming to fight off a way of thought for their favor. Similar to the United States fighting off communism in Vietnam, Israel is holding claim to being the Jewish Holy Land by fighting off those who do not fit in. The major similarity of both is based in the pursuit of gaining land that is occupied by someone else already. The purpose for both sides is to make sure they have security over the area. The major difference between the United States war in Vietnam and Israel's war on Palestine, is the same thing that makes them so linked, land that it is fought on. In America's war on Vietnam, the superior weapons did not make a great difference. America did succeed in gaining proximity to Vietnam, In Aloha, Vietnam: Race and Empire in Hawai‘i’s Vietnam War by Simeon Man, the texts states, “US military training exercises and weapons testing generated a growing arsenal for the war in Vietnam,” with the construction of the fiftieth state in Hawaii. The United States was trying to limit the distance by occupying land that had been acquired previously. Yet the distance from homebase combined with “failure in Vietnam was rooted in a misunderstanding of the type of conflict and a failure to adapt. US commanders continually attempted to make the war fit their understanding of operations, not a true understanding of the conflict itself.” (SOURCE) Leading to the loss of the war, shaking the country down to its foundations and core values. However, Israel does understand the conflict, Israel has been adapting to the land the country is situated on for the past seventy six years. Since it became a country in 1948, Israel has received over 300 billion dollars in aid from the United States. This was effective for two reasons, the time that Israel has had to use that money and it being a more solid investment than the 176 billion dollars spent in an unraveling war. By the end of the Vietnam war, it was proved that the United States was not as powerful an empire that it thought it was, losing far more than they tried to gain, which shifted the social and political view of the country as a whole. Angela Davis spoke in 1969 at a Black Panther meeting about how the military effort in Vietnam was becoming relevant in everyday life back on United States land, she states, “I think that they are really preparing for this now. It's evident that the terror is becoming not just isolated instances of police brutality here and there but the terror is becoming an everyday instrument of the institutions of this country.” (SOURCE) 

The “terror is becoming an everyday instrument of the institutions of this country” that Angela Davis spoke of came back largely in the United States after the war in Vietnam when looking at America’s post Vietnam recovery. It is in complete parallel when looking at its oppressive, racist, sexist systems that make up this country, completely trying to stifle social rights that would and doom any movements to failure. The post war government shined bright light on the true sentiment of the foundation of what makes up the nation, United States Imperialism. “We can't talk about protesting the genocide of the Vietnamese” Davis says in the same speech, “people without at the same time doing something to stop the genocide that is, that liberation fighters in this country are being subjected to.” In Erica Edwards, The Other Side of Terror: Black Women and the Culture of US Empire “still, during the post-1968 decades of Black literary professionalization, Black women were writing, anthologizing, teaching, and organizing to keep the literature of Black feminists in circulation in ways that can only be understood as para or counterinstitutional.” These strategies that do not conform into systematic operation must be practiced and learned from those who have dedicated its or their lives to liberation, like Angela Davis who was actively acting in a counterinstitutional way in that time period and beyond. In a 2024 op-ed, Davis wrote for Hammer&Hope where she states, “Here in the United States, despite the McCarthyist strategies employed against those who call for freedom and justice for Palestine on campuses, in the entertainment industry, and elsewhere, we are in a new political moment, and we cannot — we must not — capitulate to those who represent the interests of racial capitalism and the legacies of colonialism.” (SOURCE) This is a call to action. We are in a new moment that resembles a disaster known all too well. This must be the time to recognize historical mistreatment and those elements that uphold your own relationship in systematic positionality. The true intention of where America's actions lie can be seen everywhere, only having the interest of generating the most monetary value can be achieved.  

There was extreme outrage due to the war in Vietnam from students, to artists, to scholars, because of the atrocities happening in Vietnam. Musicians released anti-Vietnam war music, such as Joni Mitchell’s The Fiddle and the Drum (1969) and John Lennon's Imagine (1971). Martin Luther King Jr. publicly morally opposed the war in 1967, and Angela Davis at a Black Panther Party speech on November 12, 1969, stated, “We have to talk about what's happening in Vietnam as being a symptom of something that's happening all over the world or something that's happening in this country. And in order for the anti-war movement to be effective it has to link up with the struggle for black and brown liberation in this country with the struggle of exploited white workers.” (SOURCE) Davis then further breaks down the systems of American imperialism in that same speech that has allowed for the bloody situation in apartheid Palestine today. She states that “this whole economy in this country is a war economy,” and it is propagated by the more weapons that America can produce. Davis follows up with, “what happens if the war in Vietnam ceases how is the economy going to stand unless another Vietnam is created.” Davis ends that portion with where the new Vietnam could be, wondering if it could be abroad or in the United States. In Aloha, Vietnam: Race and Empire in Hawai‘i’s Vietnam War by Simeon Man, the texts states, “On the surface, though, it would seem that the Vietnam War reaffirmed Hawai‘i’s national purpose as a bastion of US military power in the Pacific.” Davis continues by saying that “if the United States pulled the troops in Vietnam, although the violence wouldn't stop because it would transform into some other operation, America would be defeated by Vietnam.” Louis Menand, a New Yorker writer gives perspective to the failure that the United States endured in Vietnam, saying “historians argue about whether a given battle was a success or a failure, but, over-all, the military mission was catastrophic on many levels. The average age of American G.I.s in Vietnam was about twenty-two. By 1971, thousands of them were on opium or heroin, and more than three hundred incidents of fragging—officers wounded or killed by their own troops—were reported. Half a million Vietnam veterans would suffer from P.T.S.D., a higher proportion than for the Second World War.” (SOURCE) Angela Davis stated, “5000 miles away without fighting an armed war at home that just can't be done particularly when it's the most unpopular war in this nation's history and repression is coming home it's coming home to roost.” It is imperative to look at the stark similarities of Davis’ words and the new Vietnam that she was foreseeing of Israel's extreme war tactics on the Palestinian people and in comparison, to what that United States aimed to accomplish in Vietnam. It becomes clear that not only the “whole economy in this country is a war economy,” but the economy thrives off the exploitation of those who are easiest to be exploited. This can be seen by governamental infringements on one's personhood, inhumane labor practices caused by the corporations that's best interest is in thriving in America's economy, and the destruction and displacement of groups of people for more advantageous and lucrative for others. 

In August of 1970, Davis became the third woman ever placed on the FBI's Top 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list for crimes that she did not commit. She was on the run for the next two months before she was put in prison. President Richard Nixon congratulated the FBI on its "capture of the dangerous terrorist Angela Davis." Davis was eventually set free one year and four months later, after 200 local committees in the United States, 67 in foreign countries, and John Lennon and Yoko Ono helped through art towards the campaign with the song "Angela". In an interview from jail in 1972, the reporter asked Angela Davis if the time of the Black Panthers passed? Angela Davis responded clearly, “The Black Panthers still exist and the Black Panthers are still extremely active in the Oakland Community and all over the Country, I’m not sure if you are aware of what's happening now in the Black Panther party and the kinds of things that members of that party are doing now.” The reporter follows up by asking her to tell him. Davis responds, “First of all, if you're going to talk about a revolutionary situation you have to have people who are physically able wage revolution, physically able to organize, and physically able to do all that is done.” The reporter asks, “How do you get there, do you get there by confrontation, violence?” Violence and confrontation being a negative stereotype and trope used when having conversations about the Black Panther party. Angela Davis laughs through her words and says “Oh that's the question you're asking? That's the other thing, when you talk about revolution most people think violence, without realizing that the real content of any kind of revolutionary thrust lies in the principles and goals that you're striving for, not in the way you reach them. On the other hand, because of the way this society is organized, because of the violence that exists on the surface everywhere you have to expect that there is going to be such an explosion you have to expect things like that as reactions.” (SOURCE) 

In that same interview she shares her experience of living in Los Angeles and being constantly stopped by police for no reason but her skin color. Davis, born in 1944, follows up by sharing her experience of growing up in Birmingham, Alabama and her friends being killed by bombs that were placed by racist incited by a local governmental official. Davis describes the emotion, that at all times you could possibly be attacked. This was propagated by the man in control of the city government promoting racial violence, which was of course expressed through shooting and bombing. Davis’ mother and a mother of Davis’ friend found dismembered body parts all over when going to a church that had been bombed. After that, she described that all the men in her neighborhood organized themselves into a nightly armed patrol so something like that wouldn't happen again. She ended the interview by claiming, “That is why when somebody asks me about violence, I just find it incredible, because what it means is that the person asking that question has no idea what black people have gone through, what black people have experienced in this country since the time the first black person was kidnapped from the shores of Africa.”

In Erica Edwards, The Other Side of Terror: Black Women and the Culture of US Empire she writes, “The memoirs and autobiographies of Black feminists of the post-civil-rights era, such as Assata Shakur, Angela Davis, Maya Angelou, and Paule Marshall, read as a catalogue of the unprotection that was the context for Black women’s writing, studying, defending, building, and organizing. At the same time as literature served as a record of state violence and Black women’s resistance, Black women’s writing bore a self-conscious relationship to the state’s affirmative relationship to racial, gender, and sexual difference.” For Davis, being a living example of her work, looking towards her life's exertions of expressions throughout her entire archive, specifically what she was expressing during the United States war on Vietnam and Israel's occupation of Palestine, because of the distinct similarities, it is necessary to try to make sense of these overwhelming global concerns of sovereignty. Davis continues to push the narratives that put her in the spotlight as a radical. She continues to express that reform is not the answer and it is actually the causation of keeping the system of American Imperialism ever growing. In the same speech from 1969 she says, “there has continually been the sentiment against the American imperialist aggressive policies throughout this world. Because we have been forced to see that the enemy is American imperialism.” 

Both the United States war in Vietnam and the war Israel is waging against Palestine are inextricably linked to American Imperialism. However, looking at Angela Davis, the impact of the work she and her peers have contributed towards the destruction and dismembering of the systematic American Imperialism has allowed for Palestinian liberation to forever be fought for. The death and destruction that America aimed and succeeded in doing in Vietnam has set a blueprint for Israel to achieve and surpass in Palestine, both powered by American Imperialism and lust for land. Davis is a political activist, and she has been a member of The Communist Party USA, L.A. SNCC, Black Panther Political Party, Black Panther Party, Socialist German Students’ Union, Black Women’s Health Project, and others too. It is imperative to Davis’ career to continue to drive towards civil rights. Davis has called for the United States to stop sending aid to Israel and for a permanent cease-fire. She speaks to the youth and questions why no matter what side of the political spectrum you are on, it is still a vote for Zionism. The public still lives with the domestic terror that Davis profoundly warned us about due to the fallout from the Vietnam war, which is enforced by American Imperialism every day. The public sees the terror enforced by American Imperialism everyday across the globe. Angela Davis states, “if you're going to talk about a revolutionary situation you have to have people who are physically able wage revolution, physically able to organize, and physically able to do all that is done”. Given the systems of racism and oppression that continue through American Imperialism and similar forms of history repeating itself, the youth today must look to Davis’ inspiration to unite and continue to resist opposition for everyone they can, and especially for those who physically cannot.           

References 

1. "Angela Davis on Palestinians in Gaza." Hammer and Hope. https://hammerandhope.org/article/angela-davis-palestinians-gaza.

2. "Vietnam War Protests." History.com. https://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/vietnam-war-protests.

3. "Police Take a Women's Liberation Protester into Custody at the House of Representatives." Digital Collections. University of Washington Libraries. https://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/digital/collection/protests/id/322.

4. "Angela Davis Interview from Jail." Alexander Street, https://video-alexanderstreet-com.ccl.idm.oclc.org/watch/angela-davis-interview-from-jail/details.

5. "Palestine-Israel Primer." Middle East Research and Information Project. https://merip.org/palestine-israel-primer/.

6. "Israel Strike in Rafah Kills 13; Gaza Death Toll Surpass 34,000." Politico Europe.  https://www.politico.eu/article/israel-strike-rafah-kill-13-gaza-death-toll-surpass-34000/.

7. Aloha, Vietnam: Race and Empire in Hawai‘i’s Vietnam War: Simeon Man: 2015

8. The Other Side of Terror: Black Women and the Culture of US Empire: Erica Edwards (2022)

9. Author Louis Menand. "What Went Wrong in Vietnam." The New Yorker, February 26, 2018. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/02/26/what-went-wrong-in-vietna

10. Jenna McMurtry, Anushe Engineer and Siena Swift, "Rethinking ‘The Eye of the Storm’: Angela Davis at Pomona." The Student Life, October 29, 2021. https://tsl.news/angela-davis-at-pomona/.

11. Freedom Is a Constant Struggle. Angela Davis: 2015 https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/45065373-freedom-is-a-constant-struggle.