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

黑人讨论黑人社区关心的问题的空间和机构包括黑人宗教空间、理发店和美容院等。 研究这些空间的学者将他们统称为“黑人反公众”--一个日常谈话发生的空间，黑人身份被定义，谈判，经常有争议。 这个博士论文的研究项目将集中在黑人宗教空间和种族身份的形成，联系，并在两个看似不同的黑人宗教组织的两个食品计划的空间内发生的歧视。 伊斯兰民族在南格鲁吉亚乡村的布朗伍德镇拥有穆罕默德农场;其宣称的目的是养活美国所有的黑人。 小麦街浸信会教堂经营着一个传统的紧急食品计划，主要为无家可归的人和低收入居民在亚特兰大附近的奥本大道。 该项目将通过以下方式扩大种族和种族化公共空间的学术研究：（1）调查发生在黑人宗教空间中的种族身份形成;（2）认识到黑人的宗教空间不仅包括黑人新教徒，还包括黑人民族主义宗教;（3）探索不同的黑人宗教团体如何利用社区食品推广计划在可识别的空间中定义黑人身份;以及（4）探讨差异和共同点如何有助于定义一个种族化的人群。 博士生将使用两组的食品计划，进行访谈，参与者观察和档案研究的多方法比较调查，以研究如何以及在什么情况下的程序已经开发以及志愿者查看日常的方式日常行动和他们的工作与食品的总体目标。 与其他志愿者一起的第一手经验将有助于了解这两个食物计划的空间配置，以及对这些群体发展种族认同和社区凝聚力的影响。 收集的数据将被编码和文本分析使用critical discourse analysis.本研究的结果将增加对种族身份的基本理解，种族和宗教问题如何指导食品计划的工作，以及种族和身份的含义如何在不同的地理空间演变和竞争。 黑人社区的学者和领导人经常将许多黑人教堂中存在的社会活动描述为一种“未知现象”，白色社会基本上没有注意到。 该项目预计将揭示新的光，但也复杂的种族，地方和社区的概念。 认识和调查这些宗教空间中黑人之间发生的重要讨论和日常谈话，预计将揭示它们是未来地理调查的重要场所。 除了提供关于种族，宗教和食物的新的学术见解，该项目还应该广泛影响黑人宗教组织在流行文化和媒体中的讨论方式，特别是经常分配给这些空间中发生的行动的误解和简化。 作为博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将提供支持，使有前途的学生建立一个强大的独立的研究生涯。

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.