Dr. Tanya L. Saunders is interested in the ways in which the African Diaspora throughout the Americas use the arts as a tool for social change. As a 2011-2012 Fulbright Scholar to Brazil they began work on their current project which analyzes Black Queer Activism in Brazil. This is a continuation of their research on arts-based social movements in the Americas. Dr. Saunders holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a Master of International Development Policy from the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.
Their book on Cuban Underground Hip Hop can be found here: http://goo.gl/fhqrBt. They also have a recently published chapter in No Tea, No Shade: New Writings in Black Queer Studies found here: https://goo.gl/RkS7c2. For those who read/speak Portuguese, check out their essay “Epistemologia negra sapatao como vetor de uma praxis humana libertaria” found here: https://goo.gl/WamUBM.
entering La Madriguera, an alternative arts space in Havana, and seeing two black women (Wanda an... more entering La Madriguera, an alternative arts space in Havana, and seeing two black women (Wanda and Odaymara Cuesta) pass by. Our eyes met, we paused, and then we slowly continued walking while looking at each other. And then, nearly in sync, we stopped and started chatting, I do not remember who deci ded to start inquiring about the other first. Aesthetically , the three of us were marked by black queer aesthetics: dashikis, Afros, dreadlocks, timberlands, sagging jeans. When we started to chat, we realized that a lot of people had told us about each other. Eleven years later, in 2013, I received a call from Las Krudas; they were invited to Brazil by Brazilian black feminist activists to participate in the 2013 AfroLatini-dades: Afro-American, Afro-Latina, Afro-Caribbean Festival in Brasilia
RESUMO: Nesse ensaio, a autora oferece algumas reflexões sobre como uma epistemologia negra sapat... more RESUMO: Nesse ensaio, a autora oferece algumas reflexões sobre como uma epistemologia negra sapatão pode ser um dos pontos produtivos para pensar uma teoria de liberação decolonial. A autora coloca que a definição do " Humano " está baseada no processo colonial através do qual a elite do mundo ocidental entrou no projeto de definir quem é um ser humano e quem não é. Usando uma pesquisa sobre o desenvolvimento das ideologias de raça, gênero e sexualidades não normativas, a autora mostra como o corpo da mulher negra era central na construção do sujeito " não humano " enquanto o homem branco, burguês, cristão cis e heterossexual formou a base do " humano ". Isso tem implicações profundas em como desenvolver, senão imaginar, a liberação. Abstract: In this essay, the author offers their reflections on how a Black lesbian epistemology can be a productive point in which to develop decolonial liberation theory. The author argues that the definition of " Human " is based on a process, colonial in origin, in which Western elites embarked on a project of defining who is human being and who is not. Using research about the development of the ideologies of race, gender and non-normative sexualities, the author shows how the bodies of Black women were central in the construction of the " non-human " subject, while the white, male, bourgeois, Christian, cis gendered heterosexual formed the ades of the " Human ". This has profund inplications for developing, and imagining liberation. Resumén: En este ensayo la autora oferece algunas reflexiones sobre como uma epistemologia negra puede ser uno de los puntos productivos para desarollar uma teoria decolonial de liberación. La autora señala que la definicion del " Humano " es basada en um processo com raíces em el processo colonial, en que el elite del mundo occidental empezó un proyecto de definir quién es un ser humano y quien no es. Usando uma investigación sobre el desarrollo de las ideologias de raza, género y sexualidades non-normativas, la autora muestra cómo el cuerpo de la mujer negra era central en la construcción del sujeto " non-humano " , en cuanto el hombre blanco, burgues, cristiano e heterosexual formó el base del " humano ". Esto tiene implicaciones profundas en el desarrollo, sino como imaginar, de la liberación.
The author argues that hip-hop feminism has come to a point where it needs to take a transnationa... more The author argues that hip-hop feminism has come to a point where it needs to take a transnationalist turn if it is going to realize its potential to be a twenty-first century feminist praxis. The author highlights how people speaking from a U.S. American context inadvertently become a global referent for anti-oppression movements and subjectivities. Unfortunately, by virtue of being in one of the centers of global power, becoming a global referent of anti-oppression has the potential to distort and even render invisible the realities of Black women throughout the Americas. Through taking a transnational approach to hip-hop feminism, U.S. based advocates can increase the possibilities for hip-hop feminism to function as a politic of solidarity and mutual empowerment for Black women and girls throughout the Americas.
A study of the symbols employed by the Cuban underground hip-hop movement based on ethnographic d... more A study of the symbols employed by the Cuban underground hip-hop movement based on ethnographic data gathered in Havana from 1998 to 2006 situates the movement as one of a number of transnational Afro-diasporic cultural movements for social equality. Afro-Cuban young people’s commitment to socially conscious hip-hop links them to a larger history of African and Afro-diasporic activism in the arts.
Un estudio de los símbolos utilizados por el movimiento underground del hip-hop cubano, basado en datos recolectados en la Habana de 1998 a 2006, sitúa dicho movimiento dentro de una serie de corrientes culturales que, producidas por la diáspora africana transnacional, se desenvuelven a favor de la igualdad social. La entrega de la juventud afrocubana a la conciencia social del hip-hop se articula a una historia más amplia de activismo africano y la diaspora africana en las artes.
This essay analyzes the discursive intervention of the Cuban Underground hip-hop group, Las Kruda... more This essay analyzes the discursive intervention of the Cuban Underground hip-hop group, Las Krudas CUBENSI, whose members are Black feminist activists. From 1998 to 2006, their work in Cuba centered on challenging the oppressive discourses concerning Black women and Black lesbians within Cuban society. Las Krudas link Black women‘s, particularly Black lesbians‘, oppression to the ideological legacies of colonialism. I argue that Las Krudas‘ feminist discourse is a Black feminist critique because of their choice of art, particularly hip-hop, as a political aesthetic. Las Krudas‘ feminist discourse has become a key discourse within the hip-hop community. The data for this essay are drawn from ethnography, textual analysis, and interviews collected from 1998 to 2006.
The Cuban revolutionary state is known for its successes in giving women greater financial indepe... more The Cuban revolutionary state is known for its successes in giving women greater financial independence and more control over their reproductive capabilities. In recent years, the Cuban state has received international attention for its support of Cuba’s LGBT population, a population it once targeted for social exclusion. Despite increased rights for Afro-Cubans, women, and Cuba’s LGBT community, lesbians, especially black lesbians, continue to be one of Cuba’s most socially marginalized populations. I argue that there are several intersecting factors that produce this contradiction. These factors are culturally based discourses concerning race, gender, sexuality, the limitations of post-revolutionary citizenship discourse to address these forms of social inequality, and finally the economic downturn called the “Special Period.” This essay addresses how several women make sense of and navigate these social issues in their everyday lives.
Since 2003, mainstream American newspapers such as the
New York Times and the Los Angeles Times h... more Since 2003, mainstream American newspapers such as the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times have published featured pieces with titles such as ‘‘The Sexual Revolution in Contemporary Cuba.’’ The main argument of these pieces is that things have gotten so much better for Cuba’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) citizens that one simply has to walk through central Havana to see the large numbers of gays, men who have sex with men, and trasvestis (gay men who pass as women). Such public displays of nonheteronormativity may be interpreted as the successful progression of Cuba’s state-led ‘‘sexual revolution,’’ in which sexual citizenship has been expanded to include Cuba’s sexual minorities. Drawing on ethnographic, archival, and interview data collected between 1998 and 2006, this essay analyzes the social activism undertaken by the Havanabased, lesbian-run organization called OREMI, whose key founding members are women of African descent. It asks why the Cuban state has been unable to include all femaleborn citizens in Cuba’s sexual revolution, instead allowing lesbians to live in a particularly intense form of social isolation.
entering La Madriguera, an alternative arts space in Havana, and seeing two black women (Wanda an... more entering La Madriguera, an alternative arts space in Havana, and seeing two black women (Wanda and Odaymara Cuesta) pass by. Our eyes met, we paused, and then we slowly continued walking while looking at each other. And then, nearly in sync, we stopped and started chatting, I do not remember who deci ded to start inquiring about the other first. Aesthetically , the three of us were marked by black queer aesthetics: dashikis, Afros, dreadlocks, timberlands, sagging jeans. When we started to chat, we realized that a lot of people had told us about each other. Eleven years later, in 2013, I received a call from Las Krudas; they were invited to Brazil by Brazilian black feminist activists to participate in the 2013 AfroLatini-dades: Afro-American, Afro-Latina, Afro-Caribbean Festival in Brasilia
RESUMO: Nesse ensaio, a autora oferece algumas reflexões sobre como uma epistemologia negra sapat... more RESUMO: Nesse ensaio, a autora oferece algumas reflexões sobre como uma epistemologia negra sapatão pode ser um dos pontos produtivos para pensar uma teoria de liberação decolonial. A autora coloca que a definição do " Humano " está baseada no processo colonial através do qual a elite do mundo ocidental entrou no projeto de definir quem é um ser humano e quem não é. Usando uma pesquisa sobre o desenvolvimento das ideologias de raça, gênero e sexualidades não normativas, a autora mostra como o corpo da mulher negra era central na construção do sujeito " não humano " enquanto o homem branco, burguês, cristão cis e heterossexual formou a base do " humano ". Isso tem implicações profundas em como desenvolver, senão imaginar, a liberação. Abstract: In this essay, the author offers their reflections on how a Black lesbian epistemology can be a productive point in which to develop decolonial liberation theory. The author argues that the definition of " Human " is based on a process, colonial in origin, in which Western elites embarked on a project of defining who is human being and who is not. Using research about the development of the ideologies of race, gender and non-normative sexualities, the author shows how the bodies of Black women were central in the construction of the " non-human " subject, while the white, male, bourgeois, Christian, cis gendered heterosexual formed the ades of the " Human ". This has profund inplications for developing, and imagining liberation. Resumén: En este ensayo la autora oferece algunas reflexiones sobre como uma epistemologia negra puede ser uno de los puntos productivos para desarollar uma teoria decolonial de liberación. La autora señala que la definicion del " Humano " es basada en um processo com raíces em el processo colonial, en que el elite del mundo occidental empezó un proyecto de definir quién es un ser humano y quien no es. Usando uma investigación sobre el desarrollo de las ideologias de raza, género y sexualidades non-normativas, la autora muestra cómo el cuerpo de la mujer negra era central en la construcción del sujeto " non-humano " , en cuanto el hombre blanco, burgues, cristiano e heterosexual formó el base del " humano ". Esto tiene implicaciones profundas en el desarrollo, sino como imaginar, de la liberación.
The author argues that hip-hop feminism has come to a point where it needs to take a transnationa... more The author argues that hip-hop feminism has come to a point where it needs to take a transnationalist turn if it is going to realize its potential to be a twenty-first century feminist praxis. The author highlights how people speaking from a U.S. American context inadvertently become a global referent for anti-oppression movements and subjectivities. Unfortunately, by virtue of being in one of the centers of global power, becoming a global referent of anti-oppression has the potential to distort and even render invisible the realities of Black women throughout the Americas. Through taking a transnational approach to hip-hop feminism, U.S. based advocates can increase the possibilities for hip-hop feminism to function as a politic of solidarity and mutual empowerment for Black women and girls throughout the Americas.
A study of the symbols employed by the Cuban underground hip-hop movement based on ethnographic d... more A study of the symbols employed by the Cuban underground hip-hop movement based on ethnographic data gathered in Havana from 1998 to 2006 situates the movement as one of a number of transnational Afro-diasporic cultural movements for social equality. Afro-Cuban young people’s commitment to socially conscious hip-hop links them to a larger history of African and Afro-diasporic activism in the arts.
Un estudio de los símbolos utilizados por el movimiento underground del hip-hop cubano, basado en datos recolectados en la Habana de 1998 a 2006, sitúa dicho movimiento dentro de una serie de corrientes culturales que, producidas por la diáspora africana transnacional, se desenvuelven a favor de la igualdad social. La entrega de la juventud afrocubana a la conciencia social del hip-hop se articula a una historia más amplia de activismo africano y la diaspora africana en las artes.
This essay analyzes the discursive intervention of the Cuban Underground hip-hop group, Las Kruda... more This essay analyzes the discursive intervention of the Cuban Underground hip-hop group, Las Krudas CUBENSI, whose members are Black feminist activists. From 1998 to 2006, their work in Cuba centered on challenging the oppressive discourses concerning Black women and Black lesbians within Cuban society. Las Krudas link Black women‘s, particularly Black lesbians‘, oppression to the ideological legacies of colonialism. I argue that Las Krudas‘ feminist discourse is a Black feminist critique because of their choice of art, particularly hip-hop, as a political aesthetic. Las Krudas‘ feminist discourse has become a key discourse within the hip-hop community. The data for this essay are drawn from ethnography, textual analysis, and interviews collected from 1998 to 2006.
The Cuban revolutionary state is known for its successes in giving women greater financial indepe... more The Cuban revolutionary state is known for its successes in giving women greater financial independence and more control over their reproductive capabilities. In recent years, the Cuban state has received international attention for its support of Cuba’s LGBT population, a population it once targeted for social exclusion. Despite increased rights for Afro-Cubans, women, and Cuba’s LGBT community, lesbians, especially black lesbians, continue to be one of Cuba’s most socially marginalized populations. I argue that there are several intersecting factors that produce this contradiction. These factors are culturally based discourses concerning race, gender, sexuality, the limitations of post-revolutionary citizenship discourse to address these forms of social inequality, and finally the economic downturn called the “Special Period.” This essay addresses how several women make sense of and navigate these social issues in their everyday lives.
Since 2003, mainstream American newspapers such as the
New York Times and the Los Angeles Times h... more Since 2003, mainstream American newspapers such as the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times have published featured pieces with titles such as ‘‘The Sexual Revolution in Contemporary Cuba.’’ The main argument of these pieces is that things have gotten so much better for Cuba’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) citizens that one simply has to walk through central Havana to see the large numbers of gays, men who have sex with men, and trasvestis (gay men who pass as women). Such public displays of nonheteronormativity may be interpreted as the successful progression of Cuba’s state-led ‘‘sexual revolution,’’ in which sexual citizenship has been expanded to include Cuba’s sexual minorities. Drawing on ethnographic, archival, and interview data collected between 1998 and 2006, this essay analyzes the social activism undertaken by the Havanabased, lesbian-run organization called OREMI, whose key founding members are women of African descent. It asks why the Cuban state has been unable to include all femaleborn citizens in Cuba’s sexual revolution, instead allowing lesbians to live in a particularly intense form of social isolation.
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Papers by Tanya L. Saunders
Un estudio de los símbolos utilizados por el movimiento underground del hip-hop cubano, basado en datos recolectados en la Habana de 1998 a 2006, sitúa dicho movimiento dentro de una serie de corrientes culturales que, producidas por la diáspora africana transnacional, se desenvuelven a favor de la igualdad social. La entrega de la juventud afrocubana a la conciencia social del hip-hop se articula a una historia más amplia de activismo africano y la diaspora africana en las artes.
their work in Cuba centered on challenging the oppressive discourses concerning Black women and Black lesbians within Cuban society. Las Krudas link Black women‘s, particularly Black lesbians‘, oppression to the ideological legacies of colonialism. I argue that Las Krudas‘ feminist discourse is a Black feminist critique because of their choice of art, particularly hip-hop, as a political aesthetic. Las Krudas‘ feminist discourse has become a key discourse within the hip-hop community. The data for this essay are drawn from ethnography, textual analysis, and interviews collected from 1998 to 2006.
Cuba’s LGBT population, a population it once targeted for social exclusion. Despite increased rights for Afro-Cubans, women, and Cuba’s LGBT community, lesbians, especially black lesbians, continue to be one of Cuba’s most socially marginalized populations. I argue that there are several intersecting factors that produce this contradiction. These factors are culturally based discourses concerning race,
gender, sexuality, the limitations of post-revolutionary citizenship discourse to address these forms of social inequality, and finally the economic downturn called the “Special Period.” This essay addresses how several women make sense of and navigate these social issues in their everyday lives.
New York Times and the Los Angeles Times have published
featured pieces with titles such as ‘‘The Sexual Revolution in
Contemporary Cuba.’’ The main argument of these pieces is
that things have gotten so much better for Cuba’s lesbian,
gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) citizens that one
simply has to walk through central Havana to see the large
numbers of gays, men who have sex with men, and trasvestis
(gay men who pass as women). Such public displays of
nonheteronormativity may be interpreted as the successful
progression of Cuba’s state-led ‘‘sexual revolution,’’ in which
sexual citizenship has been expanded to include Cuba’s
sexual minorities. Drawing on ethnographic, archival, and
interview data collected between 1998 and 2006, this essay
analyzes the social activism undertaken by the Havanabased,
lesbian-run organization called OREMI, whose key
founding members are women of African descent. It asks
why the Cuban state has been unable to include all femaleborn
citizens in Cuba’s sexual revolution, instead allowing
lesbians to live in a particularly intense form of social
isolation.
Un estudio de los símbolos utilizados por el movimiento underground del hip-hop cubano, basado en datos recolectados en la Habana de 1998 a 2006, sitúa dicho movimiento dentro de una serie de corrientes culturales que, producidas por la diáspora africana transnacional, se desenvuelven a favor de la igualdad social. La entrega de la juventud afrocubana a la conciencia social del hip-hop se articula a una historia más amplia de activismo africano y la diaspora africana en las artes.
their work in Cuba centered on challenging the oppressive discourses concerning Black women and Black lesbians within Cuban society. Las Krudas link Black women‘s, particularly Black lesbians‘, oppression to the ideological legacies of colonialism. I argue that Las Krudas‘ feminist discourse is a Black feminist critique because of their choice of art, particularly hip-hop, as a political aesthetic. Las Krudas‘ feminist discourse has become a key discourse within the hip-hop community. The data for this essay are drawn from ethnography, textual analysis, and interviews collected from 1998 to 2006.
Cuba’s LGBT population, a population it once targeted for social exclusion. Despite increased rights for Afro-Cubans, women, and Cuba’s LGBT community, lesbians, especially black lesbians, continue to be one of Cuba’s most socially marginalized populations. I argue that there are several intersecting factors that produce this contradiction. These factors are culturally based discourses concerning race,
gender, sexuality, the limitations of post-revolutionary citizenship discourse to address these forms of social inequality, and finally the economic downturn called the “Special Period.” This essay addresses how several women make sense of and navigate these social issues in their everyday lives.
New York Times and the Los Angeles Times have published
featured pieces with titles such as ‘‘The Sexual Revolution in
Contemporary Cuba.’’ The main argument of these pieces is
that things have gotten so much better for Cuba’s lesbian,
gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) citizens that one
simply has to walk through central Havana to see the large
numbers of gays, men who have sex with men, and trasvestis
(gay men who pass as women). Such public displays of
nonheteronormativity may be interpreted as the successful
progression of Cuba’s state-led ‘‘sexual revolution,’’ in which
sexual citizenship has been expanded to include Cuba’s
sexual minorities. Drawing on ethnographic, archival, and
interview data collected between 1998 and 2006, this essay
analyzes the social activism undertaken by the Havanabased,
lesbian-run organization called OREMI, whose key
founding members are women of African descent. It asks
why the Cuban state has been unable to include all femaleborn
citizens in Cuba’s sexual revolution, instead allowing
lesbians to live in a particularly intense form of social
isolation.