Introduction

Africans and those in the African diaspora have long histories of facing human rights abuses. All too often, race and racism coincide with these various instances of injustice, ranging from colonial abuses to their contemporary offshoots. Academics have thoroughly discussed such notorious examples as South African apartheid or the Rwandan genocide. However, new scholarship explores emerging trends in discrimination, with special emphasis on gendered rights and the rights of vulnerable and minority populations in the African diaspora. This volume addresses these emerging themes as they intersect with notions of race and methods of resistance. Discussions regarding discrimination experienced by Africans or those living in the African diaspora are almost exclusively focused around racial and ethnic constructs. As a result, understanding changing notions of race and identity is essential to understanding how people of color negotiated colonial encounters, independence movements, and post-colonial experiences. This volume seeks to address these ideas and their connections to social justice, discrimination, and movements for equality. The contributors further intend to explore various ways Africans, and their descendants, achieved agency despite the long history of discrimination. People of African descent frequently experience racial discrimination and disadvantage. However, Africans do not experience injustice opaquely. Ample evidence exists that illustrates their ability to work within these discriminatory frameworks to limit the control of their oppressors or even discard it completely. Africans employ their agency in a diverse set of situations and under a variety of conditions, displaying tenacity of spirit and the resiliency of the human condition. By examining human rights and race in conjunction with case studies of resistance, a more robust and complete picture of the diasporic experience becomes evident. The novelty of this volume is the juxtaposition of these three themes within the context of Africa and its diaspora. Several works have addressed these themes, but not all three in conjunction and not including an analysis of all people of African descent. Manning Marable’s 2006 collection of previously published works has an extensive range covering Africa and the diaspora.1 Chapter topics discuss race, class, and gender, in addition to ethnicity. However, its goal is to create an all-inclusive, local American coalition that engages

democratic strategies to change society, with emphasis on creating a common forum through which to address issues of economic oppression. Our volume differs significantly from Marable’s in that it sees the intersections of the geographic regions where people of African heritage live, rather than discontiguous categories of “American” and “Third World.” Additionally, our volume addresses the ways in which a variety of different rights movements, besides the economic focus of Marable, intersect with issues of race and methods of resistance. Similarly, Curtis Stokes’ 2009 collection of essays, Race and Human Rights, brings together scholars discussing race in relationship to human rights.2 Stokes’ main focus is people of African heritage, but he also discusses other populations in Iraq and the United States. Stokes’ volume differs significantly from our collection, in that he focuses on the War on Terror, immigration, and affirmative action. Stokes’ goal was to examine the debate between individualistic and collective notions of human rights. Our volume pushes past this debate to deal with case studies of race and resistance within their particular social justice contexts. Faye Harrison’s 2005 volume shares our volume’s goal of illuminating the connections between race and human rights; however, our volume extends this analysis by discussing ways in which people have challenged oppression.3 Additionally, Harrison’s volume heavily emphasizes gender and the ramifications of 9/11, a significant difference from our more broadly-themed volume that focuses on the intricacies of human rights, racist oppression, and the ways people of African descent confront them. Likewise, Obioma Nnaemeka and Joy Ngozi Ezeilo’s 2005 edited volume heavily focuses on gendered rights issues.4 This volume seeks to stretch beyond this boundary to broaden the discourse on discrimination against people of African descent. The intention is not to dissect the debates surrounding human rights, race, or resistance, but rather to integrate these three themes in order to reveal overlapping and intersecting points. By examining these concepts simultaneously in one volume, we can begin to see emerging themes of resistance as it has existed and evolved over time throughout Africa and the diaspora.