COVID-19 conspiracy rhetoric and other primal fantasies

Planet Lockdown, a documentary film, claims that the COVID-19 pandemic was manufactured by finance capitalists, Silicon Valley, and the pharmaceutical industry to microchip the population, consolidate global wealth, and enslave the population. Viral videos from the film have received tens of millions of engagements throughout social networks and media, constituting a major source of COVID-19 disinformation. This article argues that COVID-19 enslavement fantasies consummate white conservative fears of racial displacement, brought on by an impending demographic shift and greater visibility of antiracist activism throughout the early stages of the pandemic. I argue that Planet Lockdown's preoccupation with so-called "modern slavery" restages a national primal scene to resecure white power as perceptions of its dominance wanes: a fantasy of the origins of the liberal subject that omits that subject's relationship to slavery and anti-Blackness. By imagining slavery as a future threat to white selfhood rather than the structural organization of a society underwritten by anti-Blackness, COVID-19 conspiracy rhetoric facilitates a disavowal of the structural legacy of white supremacy. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Quarterly Journal of Speech is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Exploring Racial Microaggressions Toward Chinese Immigrant Women in Greater Boston During Covid

This study was an initial qualitative exploration to (a) capture varied experiences of racial microaggressions directed at Chinese immigrant women before and during Covid and (b) investigate different forms and levels of microaggressions based on socioeconomic status, age, and other characteristics. Racial microaggressions were examined by interviewing 12 foreign‐born, Chinese immigrant women aged 23 to 80 years old, with most of the participants identified as middle class or above. Building upon previous scholarship on racial and gendered microaggressions, an analytical framework was developed using 12 major themes to identify and interpret discriminatory behaviors. Our main findings suggest that the research sample encountered more blatant hate incidents and expressed heightened concern over their physical safety in the post‐Covid period. Young women, compared to their older counterparts, were more inclined to report microaggres-sion episodes and distinguish more subtle forms of discrimination. These findings could serve as preliminary evidence for future research. © 2023 by the author(s).

Racial Biofutures: COVID-19 and Black Futurity Otherwise

Through a consideration of COVID-19, this article offers a series of provocations in thinking about racial biofutures. First, it suggests that looking backwards through a lens of recursivity only allows us to see the same anti-black futures mapped out again and again, the repeated production of predictable futures – always – already precarious. Second, along with many others, I argue that we know this story of recursivity and that naming these repetitions is analytically reductive and politically deficient: this is a recursive trap. Third, the article argues that sociology must instead address productions or remakings of life that are embedded within (but move out of) these recursive logics: it must prioritise and elevate those practices and voices that labour to actualise living alternative futurity now.

'We are trying.' Portraits of black goodness in spite of anti-Black schooling

This dissertation explores everyday interactions and opportunities for teachers and families to collaborate in spite of forces that often put Black families and schools at odds in one predominantly Black elementary school. I examine interactions among Black families and teachers to consider how organizational norms, values, and routines influence the nature of these interactions. My exploration of interactions is guided by a framework that links anti-blackness, critical race theory, and institutional theory to examine how practices and policies enable or inhibit family engagement. Using portraiture and critical race methodology, I provide a rich portrait of one school community striving to engage families, reduce chronic absenteeism, and maintain staff moral amidst unprecedented changes spurred by COVID-19. Examining the day-to day realities within one school community revealed that there are routine practices and policies that constrain interactions among Black families and Black teachers. Yet, these practices and policies also enhanced interactions by prompting advocacy and subversive action. I conclude by contending that anti-Black schooling is habitual. I show how the enactment of race-neutral policies and practices led to anti-Black outcomes and I connect these policies and practices to the interactions that took place throughout one school community during the 2020-2021 school year. Ultimately, I assert that schooling for Black students, namely those in resource deprived schools, is rife with anti-blackness that demands Black people exude Black goodness to succeed, and at times, merely survive. This study contributes to research, policy, and practice conversations on segregated schooling, racialized organizations, and family-school relations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Racial Biofutures: COVID-19 and Black Futurity Otherwise

Through a consideration of COVID-19, this article offers a series of provocations in thinking about racial biofutures. First, it suggests that looking backwards through a lens of recursivity only allows us to see the same anti-black futures mapped out again and again, the repeated production of predictable futures – always – already precarious. Second, along with many others, I argue that we know this story of recursivity and that naming these repetitions is analytically reductive and politically deficient: this is a recursive trap. Third, the article argues that sociology must instead address productions or remakings of life that are embedded within (but move out of) these recursive logics: it must prioritise and elevate those practices and voices that labour to actualise living alternative futurity now. [ FROM AUTHOR]

'We are trying.' Portraits of black goodness in spite of anti-Black schooling

This dissertation explores everyday interactions and opportunities for teachers and families to collaborate in spite of forces that often put Black families and schools at odds in one predominantly Black elementary school. I examine interactions among Black families and teachers to consider how organizational norms, values, and routines influence the nature of these interactions. My exploration of interactions is guided by a framework that links anti-blackness, critical race theory, and institutional theory to examine how practices and policies enable or inhibit family engagement. Using portraiture and critical race methodology, I provide a rich portrait of one school community striving to engage families, reduce chronic absenteeism, and maintain staff moral amidst unprecedented changes spurred by COVID-19. Examining the day-to day realities within one school community revealed that there are routine practices and policies that constrain interactions among Black families and Black teachers. Yet, these practices and policies also enhanced interactions by prompting advocacy and subversive action. I conclude by contending that anti-Black schooling is habitual. I show how the enactment of race-neutral policies and practices led to anti-Black outcomes and I connect these policies and practices to the interactions that took place throughout one school community during the 2020-2021 school year. Ultimately, I assert that schooling for Black students, namely those in resource deprived schools, is rife with anti-blackness that demands Black people exude Black goodness to succeed, and at times, merely survive. This study contributes to research, policy, and practice conversations on segregated schooling, racialized organizations, and family-school relations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

The Syndemic of Race, Gender, and COVID-19: Culturally Comparative Reflections of Intersectional Discrimination

This essay explores how women scholars grapple with gender and racial inequality during a syndemic. Using a culturally comparative lens, two mother-scholars, one Afro-Boricua who identifies as Black and the other Thai who identifies as Asian, examine this topic through a comparative international womanist theoretical framework. This discussion provides a brief overview of the challenges faculty women of color have faced around the world in contemporary history. It also interrogates how the professional identities of these scholars inform their teaching, scholarship, and personal lives during a period fraught with anti-Blackness and anti-Asian hostility, gender bias, familial demands, and heightened fear and isolation. Through counter-narratives, their lived experiences are placed into a global context and insightful comparisons spotlight specific challenges that uniquely converge for women of color in the academy. This analytical discussion reflects trends in the field of comparative education by examining the impact of gender and racial discrimination on women scholars of color within political, economic, social, and cultural landscapes.