Doctoral Dissertation Research: Defining Racial Identity and Addressing Hunger Through Black Religious Food Programs

University Of Georgia Research Foundation Inc, Athens GA

Investigators

Abstract

The spaces and institutions where blacks discuss matters of concern to the black community include black religious spaces, barbershops, and beauty salons among others. Scholars who study these spaces refer to them collectively as "the black counterpublic" -- a space where everyday talk occurs and black identity is defined, negotiated, and often contested. This doctoral dissertation research project will focus on black religious spaces and the racial identity formation, linkages, and contestations that occur within the spaces of two food programs in two seemingly distinct black religious organizations. The Nation of Islam owns Muhammad Farms in the rural South Georgia town of Bronwood; its stated purpose is to feed all black people in the United States. Wheat Street Baptist Church operates a traditional emergency food program that primarily serves homeless people and low-income residents in the Atlanta neighborhood of Auburn Avenue. This project will expand scholarship on race and racialized public spaces by (1) investigating the racial identity formation that occurs in black religious spaces; (2) recognizing that religious spaces among blacks are not just comprised of black Protestants but also include black nationalist religions; (3) exploring how different black religious groups use community food outreach programs to define black identity in identifiable spaces; and (4) exploring how both differences and commonalities contribute to defining a racialized group of people. The doctoral candidate will use a multi-method comparative investigation of the two groups' food programs, conducting interviews, participant observation, and archival research to examine how and in what context the programs have developed as well as the manner in which volunteers view the day-to-day actions and overall goals of their work with food. First-hand experiences alongside other volunteers will help generate understanding of the spatial configuration of the two food programs, and the implications for the groups' development of racial identity and community coherence. The data collected will be coded and textually analyzed using critical discourse analysis. The results of this study will add to basic understanding about racial identity, how questions of race and religion guide the work of food programs, and how meanings of race and identity evolve and compete across different geographic spaces. Scholars and leaders in the black community often have described the social activism that exists in many black churches as an "unknown phenomenon" that goes largely unnoticed by white society. The project is expected to shed new light on but also complicate notions of race, place, and community. Recognizing and investigating the important discussions and everyday talk that occurs among blacks in these religious spaces is expected to reveal them to be important sites for future geographic inquiry. In addition to providing new scholarly insights about race, religion and food, the project should broadly impact how black religious organizations are discussed in popular culture and the media, particularly the misconceptions and simplification often assigned to actions occurring in these spaces. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.