February is Black History Month and KXCI is delighted to once again partner with the University of Arizona College of Humanities and Africana Studies Program in presenting a series of guest DJ sessions featuring the musical selections and unique academic perspectives of UA professors. Each week we’ll be welcoming another esteemed professor from the University of Arizona’s Africana Studies Department to guest DJ during The Home Stretch. Professors will share music reflecting their areas of academic expertise and discuss those intersections with host Hannah Levin. All sessions will air at 5 pm (MST).
Dr. Jerome Dotson is an Assistant Professor in the UA’s Africana Studies Program. A native of Atlanta, Georgia and a graduate of Morehouse College, he holds a Ph.D. in U.S. history and an M.A. in African American Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research and teaching interests focus on the African American history, Southern food ways, hip hop, folklore and politics of the body. Currently, he is working on a book-length manuscript exploring the ways eating and diet have animated Black radicalism in the 19th and 20th centuries. The manuscript is tentatively titled: “No Pork on My Fork: Race, Dietary Reform and Body Politics, 1830-1990. “No Pork on My Fork” interrogates the cultural, social, and political significance of food consumption through an interrogation of the metonymic relationship between the black body and pork from slavery through 1990s Hip Hop.
Dr. Bayo Ijagbemi is a Professor of Practice in the UA’s Africana Studies Program. He had his undergraduate and some graduate studies in Nigeria before moving to the United States. He received his M.A. in Art History and Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Arizona. His diverse academic trainings in history, ethnography, development studies, and anthropology enable him to research within a wide range of topics, including culture, material culture, society, environment and resource management, urbanization, development, food and livelihood security, gender relations, globalization, and their various points of intersection. In addition to his academic training, his educational and research experiences — which cut across culture groups in west Africa, North America, and southern Africa — have prepared him for research and teaching in socio-cultural anthropology as it relates to social and economic changes across societies and cultures.
Dr. Sanchez is primarily interested in racial representations in the media and in the study of African American history and culture. She worked for a number of years as an editor, broadcast journalist and as a media information specialist. She is also the first president of the Tucson Chapter Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society (founded by Gloria Smith), an active member of the Tucson Black Film Club and is a member of the Womens Progressive and Civic Club. She has served as a State President of the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs. Dr. Sanchez has a doctorate in Comparative Cultural and Literary studies; her masters degree focused on visual culture/art history while her undergraduate studies included Radio and Television. She has lectured in Tucson and other cities on Black history, racial representations in film, and on African American family history and genealogy. Her wide-ranging background in broadcast and written journalism as well as in public affairs has included overseas assignments in the U.S. Army and a stint in the Arizona National Guard. Her academic writings have been published in two anthologies; she has created political videos and has written and edited books and newsletters for community based associations. In addition to classes in Africana Studies, Dr. Sanchez has also taught art history and art appreciation courses.
Yuxuf Abana, a published poet, writer, musician, and soccer player was born in Ghana, West Africa where he earned a triple major Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature, Philosophy, and History. He later moved to Iowa State University, and the University of Arizona, where he graduated with a MA in English, and a Ph. D in 19th Century British Romanticism & Its Implication In The Africana Experience. He is also a graduate of the School of Theory & Criticism at Cornell University. Dr. Abana’s research interests are Teaching College Writing, Theories of Slave Writing, Race & Literary Theory, Jazz, Blues and the Africana Experience, The Africana Novel and the Western World, and is currently developing a manuscript on the concept of realism in reading Africana literature. Dr. Abana, in addition to his academic commitments, serves on the Board of the Dancing In The Streets Dance Company (a performance company for underprivileged and handicapped kids), and serves as a cook, once a month, for the Primavera Men’s Homeless Shelter in South Tucson.
