Wade in the Water: A Contemporary Metaphor
By Fred Arthur Bonner
Like most of the country, I spent much of early September following the
news coverage of Hurricane Katrina. The resulting debate called into question my own self-definition as an African-American. By society’s standards I have attained some measure of personal and professional success. Some might say that as a tenured professor, I am different from the people I watched on television trying to seek refuge in the New Orleans Superdome. I disagree. The lessons taken from this catastrophe are equally applicable to my life as an academic. Following are four key lessons I learned from the tragedy.
A Common Location Does Not Constitute a Community
The media began highlighting the obvious racial and economic disparities in and around New Orleans almost immediately. For those who lived outside the clutches of poverty, the economic hardship of neighborhoods such as the Lower Ninth Ward barely scraped their consciousness. Their contact with those that lived “on the other side of the tracks” was limited at best.
Similarly, faculty of color experience life in two parallel worlds. Black faculty are often viewed as having less intellectual capital or fewer assets to bring to the table. They are often relegated to teach introductory courses or courses that many of their White peers view as non-essential, such as diversity, multicultural or ethnic study courses.
We Are All Shaped by Our World Views
Many people viewed the Katrina tragedy as an opportunity for poorer New Orleans residents to escape what was perceived as less than ideal living conditions. Commentators envisioned a new life for this group. However, for some Katrina survivors, leaving New Orleans and starting life anew was more liability than luxury.
This is similar to the differences present between Black faculty and the academy. The things academe in general — and White faculty in particular — hold dear is often at odds with what many Black faculty view as important. The imagery, symbolism and rhythm that helps define the African world view is at best difficult, if not impossible, to capture within the academy’s beloved “theoretical framework.” Because these things occur outside of their cultural purview and often fail to meet their rigid definitions of scholarship, White faculty are tempted to disparage them as “anti-intellectual.”
