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它们统称为“黑人反公众”——一个日常谈话发生的空间，黑人的身份被定义、协商，并经常受到争议。这个博士论文研究项目将集中在黑人宗教空间和种族身份的形成，联系，以及在两个看似不同的黑人宗教组织的两个食物项目空间内发生的争论。伊斯兰民族组织在南乔治亚州布朗伍德镇拥有穆罕默德农场；其宗旨是为美国所有黑人提供食物。麦街浸信会教堂经营着一个传统的紧急食品项目，主要服务于亚特兰大奥本大道附近的无家可归者和低收入居民。该项目将通过以下方式扩展种族和种族化公共空间的学术研究：(1)调查黑人宗教空间中发生的种族认同形成；(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外展项目在可识别空间中定义黑人身份；(4)探索差异和共性如何有助于定义一个种族化的人群。博士候选人将使用多种方法对两组的食物项目进行比较调查，进行访谈，参与者观察和档案研究，以检查项目是如何以及在什么背景下发展起来的，以及志愿者看待日常行动和食物工作总体目标的方式。与其他志愿者一起的第一手经验将有助于了解两个食品项目的空间配置，以及对群体种族认同和社区凝聚力发展的影响。收集到的数据将被编码并使用批评话语分析进行文本分析。这项研究的结果将增加对种族认同的基本理解，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中演变和竞争。黑人社区的学者和领袖经常把存在于许多黑人教堂中的社会激进主义描述为一种“未知现象”，在很大程度上被白人社会所忽视。该项目有望为种族、地方和社区的概念提供新的线索，但也会使其复杂化。认识和调查这些宗教空间中黑人之间的重要讨论和日常谈话有望揭示它们是未来地理研究的重要场所。除了提供关于种族、宗教和食物的新学术见解外，该项目还应广泛影响黑人宗教组织在流行文化和媒体中的讨论方式，特别是对这些空间中发生的行为的误解和简化。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.