Mullard, J.C.R. orcid.org/0000-0003-2712-6626 (2024) Authenticity and recognition: Theorising antiracist becomings and allyship in the time of COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter. Anthropological Theory, 24 (2). 111 -135. ISSN 1463-4996
Abstract
The confluence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the murder of George Floyd in America and a global Black Lives Matter response triggered anew the global struggle for racial justice. Using cyber, remote, and in-person ethnographic methods, this paper explores racial identity, allyship and processes of becoming during the spring and summer of 2020. Building on theories of ‘the struggle for recognition’, I situate becoming within the interplay of what I call epistemic, affective and reciprocal authenticity. Within this project, I address identity, redistribution and the reconfiguration of conceptual distinctions between justice and dignity. The analysis reflects a time of racial tension in a provincial Northeastern town in England, UK – a predominantly white and marginalised location. I amplify the personal testimonies, conversations and written words of three quite different activists to highlight the nuanced refractions of lived experience and a developing antiracism. These collaborators reveal how their antiracist becomings, in the light of 2020 events, incorporate affective, epistemic and reciprocal authenticities that bring to the fore new potentialities for racial justice, white allyship and recognition.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2023. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). |
Keywords: | Authenticity; recognition; racial consciousness; allyship; identity; COVID-19; Black Lives Matter; becomings; social movements |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Medicine and Health (Leeds) > School of Medicine (Leeds) > Leeds Institute of Health Sciences (Leeds) > Nuffield Centre for International Health and Development (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 27 Sep 2023 11:51 |
Last Modified: | 22 Nov 2024 11:01 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | SAGE |
Identification Number: | 10.1177/14634996231193608 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:203666 |