Browsing by Author "Agozino, Onwubiko"

Now showing 1 - 11 of 11
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    Community Policing in Nigeria: Rationale, Principles, and Practice
    Onyeozili, Emmanuel C.; Agozino, Onwubiko; Agu, Augustine; Ibe, Patrick (Virginia Tech Publishing, 2021-06-30)
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    Crack-Powder Cocaine Disparity and Commodity Fetishism
    Agozino, Onwubiko (2021-11-01)
    This is a case study of discriminatory drug policy in the US from a political economy perspective. Convictions and sentencing for drugs offenses are far higher for African Americans than white Americans even though white people use more drugs than African Americans. Two kinds of cocaine usage are bifurcated in penal policy – cocaine powder, more expensive and used more by whites and the affluent, and crack cocaine, cheaper and hence used more by the poor and by African American users (though two-thirds of those who use crack are white). The theory of commodity fetishism in the legal form will be applied to offer an original insight into this problem and the innovative abolitionist solution consistent with the theory.
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    A 'Demonstration Plot' for Equality: A Qualitative Analysis of Clarence Jordan and Koinonia Farm
    McLaughlin, Laura Shay (Virginia Tech, 2016-06-20)
    The purpose of this study is to explore the biography of a white, Southern Baptist-reared Clarence Jordan and his goals in the creation of Koinonia Farm. This thesis explicitly evaluates these motives through the examination of archival material—specifically Jordan’s sermons and speeches—that uncovers Jordan’s own words and testimony. This thesis answers the following questions: (1) What was Clarence Jordan’s aim in founding Koinonia Farm and continuing to implement it over time? (2) How did he go about methodically achieving his aim? And (3) How effectively were the objectives achieved as reflected in measurable outcomes—did Jordan’s sermons frame his position so as to make Koinonia Farm work over its lifetime? Additionally, this thesis challenges the methods of Clarence Jordan and Koinonia Farm in the way they employ the agricultural and industrial educational models as a means of liberation and uplift for African Americans and poor whites in Sumter County, Georgia.
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    A Discourse Analysis of the Centered and Critical Scholar-Activism of Martin Luther King Jr.
    Keatts, Quenton (Virginia Tech, 2010-11-12)
    The purpose of this project is to investigate the often neglected research concerning the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his scholar-activism. This project is intended to look for evidence of intellectual leadership within King's writings in an effort to classify King within the Scholar-Activist paradigm in Africana Studies. Further, the aim is to examine Martin Luther King, Jr. from the critical and centered Scholar-Activist paradigm of Africana Studies based on an analysis of his writings to determine whether his works should be included in or excluded from the canon of Africana Studies. Molefi Asante, Maulana Karenga, and Terry Kershaw, three of the most respected scholars in the field of Africana Studies, seemingly ascribe differing levels of status to King's accomplishments and value within African American history (Asante, 1990; Karenga, 2002). Such a debate grounds this project. Does King measure up to the Scholar-Activist paradigm? Whether he does or does not, should the paradigm be expanded and redefined to include King, or is it acceptable as is? King's six book length writings demonstrate a consistency of themes, which include eight major foci: (1) Economic Justice; (2) Racial Equality/Integration; (3) Existentialism; (4) Social Activism/Service; (5) Theology/Activism; (6) Revolution/Leadership; (7) Black Ideology/Liberation/Black Theology; and (8) Anti-Militarism/Anti-Poverty. This author concludes that diversity of methodological approaches within Africana Studies is normal and that King's writings should be considered for inclusion into its canons. King meets all of Terry Kershaw's requirements for inclusion in the scholar-activist paradigm.
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    A Narrative Inquiry of Black Leader Self-Determination for Urban Food Justice:  A Critical Race Theory Perspective
    Bass, Robert Tyrone (Virginia Tech, 2019-07-12)
    Leaders within the black community are among the most important assets for black people in America. Given all that black Americans have experienced and still endure from social, economic, and political disenfranchisement, it is necessary to explore the values, beliefs, experiences, and practices of current leaders or those organizing for food justice with youth in black communities. This research explored the experiences of self-determination and empowerment of African American community organizers and educators, providing community-based educational opportunities to youth. It also sought to understand the values, beliefs, and experiences of the participant leaders pertaining to community empowerment, youth development, and food justice. A critical race theory (Bell, 1987; Crenshaw, 1989; Delgado and Stefancic, 2012) lens was utilized to conduct a narrative analysis of 10 black leaders in the Triad area of North Carolina. The researcher inquiry involved a narrative interview, using narrative inquiry practices (Saldana, 2016) that were both audio and visually recorded. Narrative inquiry is a methodological tool for capturing and co-interpreting the personal stories of people, their personal experiences and their interpretations (Clandinin, 2007). A narrative videography was developed to reach a wider audience and include the direct experiences of black leaders. Upon completion of the data-collection process, the leaders were brought together to view the video and discuss excerpts from their narratives in a single focus group. The study itself explored each leaders' views on what food justice looks like in their community, how self-determination influences their approach to black youth development for food justice, and their experiences of racial and micro-aggressive barriers to their work. It was found that the participants were very knowledgeable about what they needed to secure food justice in their communities. It was also found that the leaders often experienced racism and sometimes it was internalized racism, which often led them to the work with black youth empowerment and community food justice.
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    Pan Africanist Praxis Ina Belize
    Lee, Devon Lovelle (Virginia Tech, 2019-12-13)
    Pan Africanism is strategy that emerges through a history of surviving oppression, methodology to understand thought and action, and theory that tests findings against sociopolitical context. History, methodology and theory are used to develop the historical trajectory that responds to invasion, slavery, colonization and neocolonialism in Belize. As such, three manuscripts are offered to outline the historical narrative of Belizean Pan Africanism, autoethnographic insights for the study of Pan Africanism, and the sociopolitical context that contemporary Pan Africanism in Belize rises out of. Kurt Young defines Pan-Africanism as: "a fusing of affirmations of African identity with libratory efforts at the level of the masses (2009:7). The study and practice of Pan Africanism should therefore aligned in objectives and strategy to interrupt oppressive conditions that impact communities within the African Diaspora. This project, therefore, operationalizes scholar-activism in history, method and theory to outline strategic action and collective subversion as Pan Africanist Praxis in Belize.
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    Predictors of Drug Treatment Completion Among Black Women: A Black Feminist Intersectionality Approach
    Miller, Carla Denise (Virginia Tech, 2010-10-10)
    This study used a national sample of substance abuse treatment centers to analyze predictors of drug treatment completion among a sample of black women compared to white women, white men, and black men. Data are drawn from the Treatment Episode Data Set - Discharges (TEDS-D) 2006, which is representative of treatment programs in 42 states and the District of Columbia. The sample consisted of black (n= 356,701) and whites (n=926,216). Results indicated that race, gender, and level of education (social class variable) all had statistically significant associations with drug treatment completion. That is, when compared to all the other respondents in the study, (i.e., black men, white women, and white males) black women were less likely to complete drug treatment. This study also found that blacks were underrepresented in drug treatment programs when compared to whites. This disparity is even more prevalent for black women. Overall, analyzing group differences in treatment outcomes and sociodemographic characteristics, black women appeared to be socioeconomically worse off than black men, white women, and white men. In fact, black women had significantly lower rates of employment and were almost twice as likely to report that their income source was from public assistance. Black women were less likely to be married, employed full-time, and were significantly more likely to report using cocaine or crack at the time of admission and indicate that cocaine or crack was their problem drug. Finally, when compared to other groups, black women were less educated, had lower drug treatment completion outcomes, were more likely to receive public assistance, and have lower employment rates. Again, these findings are not surprising and are consistent with a multitude of literature on drug treatment outcomes.
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    Public Opinion, Press Coverage and the Pempho Banda Case: Contesting Sex Work Criminalization in Malawi's Developing Tourism Sector
    Kachipande, Sitingawawo Diana (Virginia Tech, 2019-07-09)
    When police arrested nineteen women in Dedza, Malawi hospitality locations in 2016, it was under the guise of the living on the earnings of prostitution laws. The women appealed and won their case, with the ruling judge noting that Malawian women are free to patronize any hospitality facilities or bars without fear of being arrested. The case, The Republic v. Pempho Banda and 18 Others, sparked a national debate over the social and legal status of sex workers in the southern African country. It also brought to light that efforts to stimulate tourism had inadvertently boosted the country's sex work industry. To move away from a reliance on agriculture and bolster socio-economic growth and its foreign exchange earnings, the country is positioning itself to gain a greater market share of visitors. However, as in many tourist destinations, the promise of sex attracts tourists, and sex is increasingly becoming a central offering of Malawi's tourism industry. Yet, Malawian sex workers continue to occupy a social status in which they are marginalized or mistreated by the general public and criminal justice system. This provides apt conditions for continued and increased human rights abuse against sex workers. This research explores the events, legal environment, media coverage, and public opinion surrounding this case and its relation to the tourism industry. The data is from interviews with actors in the criminal justice system, documents and an analysis of online media about the Pempho Banda et al. case. My dissertation highlights the complexities and contradictions surrounding sex work in Malawi. In doing so, I hope to intervene in the national debate surrounding sex workers so as to facilitate public opinions and policies that are more sex worker friendly and protective of their human rights.
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    Rates of Mental Illnesses, Nativity and Generational Status in the U.S.: Heterogeneity among Caribbean Born Blacks, Blacks of Caribbean Descent and U.S. Born Blacks
    Akoma, Efua Safiya (Virginia Tech, 2014-04-16)
    America has continued to be increasingly diverse in culture and ethnicities. As such, these diverse populations require those in health and mental health fields to adjust to the cultural differences that arise. Central to these conversations is the impact of the acculturation process on immigrant populations. Researchers posit the stress of immigration and the acculturation process leads to increased rates of mental illness (Lang, Munoz, Bernal and Sorenson 1982; Masten, Penland and Nayani 1994; Neff and Hoppe 1993). Assuming that the acculturation process impacts first generation immigrants most, this study investigated U.S. born Blacks with and without Caribbean descent and Caribbean born Blacks residing in the U.S. to determine if nativity status and generational status impacts rates of mental illness. Using the National Survey of American Life (NSAL) dataset which is one of three research projects conducted from 2001 to 2003 by the Program for Research on Black Americans (PBRA), as part of the Research Center for Group Dynamics project, analyses were conducted to determine if relationships existed for these groups. Results indicated that mental illness is dependent on country of origin and U.S. born Blacks do self-report mental illnesses significantly more than Caribbean Blacks. Caribbean Blacks who are first generation in the U.S. are significantly less likely to report mental illness than second generation Caribbean Blacks. Differences in gender, work, number of years living in the U.S., age at immigration and wealth and poverty indicators all show some relationships with mental illnesses.
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    Violent Actors and Embedded Power: Exploring the Evolving Roles of Dons in Jamaica  
    Blake, Damion Keith (Virginia Tech, 2012-12-11)
    The Jamaican don is a non-state actor who wields considerable power and control inside that nation's garrison communities. A don is a male figure, usually from the community in which he plays a leadership role. Garrisons in Jamaica have often emerged as neighborhoods that are don-ruled shadow versions of the official State. These are poor inner city communities characterized by homogeneous and, in some cases, over-voting patterns for one of Jamaica's two major political parties: the Peoples National Party (PNP) or the Jamaica Labor Party (JLP). This dissertation explores the major roles dons played in Jamaican garrisons. It focused on one community in the downtown metro area of one of the nation's cities. Additionally, it investigated the factors that account for the evolution of such roles performed by dons from the 1960s to the present. I used governance theories and the concept of embeddedness as an analytic framework to interpret the power and authority dons have in garrisons. Dons, as it turned out, perform four central roles in garrisons: security/protection, social welfare, partisan mobilization and law, order and conflict resolution via "jungle justice" measures. Different types of dons perform alternate mixes of these roles. The case study described here led me to develop a taxonomy of these informal community leaders by separating them into Mega, Area and Street Dons. I argue overall that dons are embedded governing authorities in Jamaican garrisons based on the socio-economic and political roles they carry out. By examining the responsibilities of dons in Jamaica, this analysis contributes to the literature on the activities of non-state criminal actors and their forms of influence on governance processes. The study suggests that it may now be appropriate to re-think the nature of governance and the actors we broadly assume are legitimate holders of power and authority in developing nation contexts.
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    Wealth and Worship: The Relationship Between Resources and Religiosity Among African Americans
    Keatts, Quenton L. (Virginia Tech, 2013-01-24)
    The purpose of this project is to investigate the correlation between wealth and religion, particularly focusing on how financial prosperity influences African American religiosity.  Wealth (specifically in the form of income) is the independent variable (addressing the larger concept of socioeconomic status, which is often abbreviated as SES) and religiosity (as measured by religious service attendance) is the dependent variable.  The aim of this work is to determine whether economic progress is in any way related to the spirituality or religiosity of African Americans. This project attempts to reexamine E. Franklin Frazier\'s thesis in Black Bourgeoisie.  More explicitly, it is focused on how class (and to some degree, status) as an independent variable influences religiosity among African Americans.  It takes a similar view of class distinctions, particularly analyzing the psyches and behaviors of the Black middle class as addressed in Black Bourgeoisie.  Frazier argued that Blacks who reached middle class status soon lose touch with the history of their race, ultimately turn their backs on longstanding cultural values, and opt for inclusion in White, middle class American culture.  These longstanding, neglected values include Black religious traditions and loyalty to the institution of the Black Church.  Thus, reaching middle class status for African Americans may mean that they have bought into the American ideal of capitalism, while simultaneously rejecting African American (or any) religious traditions. I conducted an analysis using data collected from the General Social Survey (GSS).  The sample is drawn from adult respondents who have participated in these surveys since 1972.  The data set includes the years 1972, 1980, 1988, 1996, 2004, and 2010.  The primary focus of this project is to determine whether there is statistically significance between income and religious service attendance among African Americans.