Left of Black

Left of Black

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Left of Black is a weekly webcast hosted by Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal and produced by the John Hope Franklin Center of International and Interdisciplinary Studies at Duke University.

Mark Anthony Neal


    • Jan 26, 2015 LATEST EPISODE
    • infrequent NEW EPISODES
    • 35m AVG DURATION
    • 144 EPISODES


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    Latest episodes from Left of Black

    Season 5, Episode 14

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 26, 2015 27:17


    Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Liana and Jabari Asim. Liana Asim is a playwright and a librettist. Jabari Asim is an author, poet, and playwright.

    Season 5, Episode 13

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 26, 2015 42:20


    Mark Anthony Neal is joined in the studio by WISER-Duke writing fellows Neo Muyanga and Khadija Patel. Muyanga is a composer and musician who is working on a new libretto. Patel is a journalist writing about the Johannesburg suburb, Mayfair.

    Season 5, Episode 12

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 8, 2014 29:52


    Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal is join in studio by Harry Weinger to talk about producing from an archive and the Marvin Gaye archives. Weinger is a producer, writer and educator who is currently Vice President of A&R for Universal Music Enterprises. Weinger teaches at New York University.

    Season 5, Episode 11

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 3, 2014 26:06


    Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Jeffrey Q. McCune to discuss McCune's new book, “Sexual Discretion: Black Masculinity and the Politics of Passing”. McCune is an Associate Professor teaching Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and in the Performing Arts Department at Washington University in St. Louis.

    Season 5, Episode 10

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 3, 2014 21:35


    Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal is joined in studio with documentary filmmaker Stanley Nelson. Nelson is known for his films Freedom Riders, The Murder of Emmett Till, and, Sweet Honey in the Rock: Raise Your Voice.

    Season 5, Episode 9

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 17, 2014 30:13


    Mark Anthony Neal speaks with Derrick White about the Institute of the Black World. White is a visiting associate professor teaching in the Department of History at Dartmouth College. White is the author of "The Challenge of Blackness: The Institute of the Black World and Political Activism in the 1970s".

    Season 5, Episode 8

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 17, 2014 25:53


    Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Cora Daniels and John Jackson to talk about their new book, "Impolite Conversations: On Race, Politics, Sex, Money, and Religion". Daniels is an award-winning journalist and author. Professor Jackson is a cultural anthropologist, filmmaker, and the Dean of the School of Social Policy and Practice at the University of Pennsylvania.

    Season 5, Episode 7

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 3, 2014 17:40


    Mark Anthony Neal is joined by writer and filmmaker Felicia Pride to talk about the challenges involved with funding and distributing black media, and her new project, "Openended", and ABC's new sitcom "Blackish". Openended's IndieGoGo Campaign: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/what-s-after-the-end-again-let-s-make-openended

    Season 5, Episode 6

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 27, 2014 24:27


    Mark Anthony Neal sits down with Rev. Dr. Calvin Butts to talk about the state of Black ministry, New York politics, and music. Rev. Dr. Butts is the pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church and the president of the State University of New York at Old Westbury.

    Season 5, Episode 5

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 22, 2014 20:44


    Mark Anthony Neal sits down with Zandria F. Robinson to talk about her new book, "This Ain't Chicago: Race, Class, and Regional Identity in the Post-Soul South". Robinson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Memphis.

    Season 5, Episode 4

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 14, 2014 23:33


    Mark Anthony Neal is joined in the studio by Daryl Atkinson to talk about mass incarceration's impact on America, social justice in Durham, NC and anti-black violence. Atkinson is a senior staff attorney at the Southern Coalition for Social Justice. https://www.southerncoalition.org

    Season 5, Episode 3

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 6, 2014 27:05


    Mark Anthony Neal sits down with Karla FC Holloway to talk about her new book, 'Legal Fictions: Constituting Race, Composing Literature', interdisciplinarity within the academy, President Obama and John Hope Franklin. Professor Holloway is the James B. Duke Professor of English at Duke University. She also holds appointments in the Law School, Women's Studies and African & African American Studies. Professor Holloway's book, 'Legal Fictions' is available online: https://www.dukeupress.edu/Legal-Fictions/ http://www.amazon.com/Legal-Fictions-Constituting-Composing-Literature/dp/0822355957/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1412604294&sr=1-1&keywords=legal+fictions

    Season 5, Episode 2

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 2, 2014 23:10


    Mark Anthony Neal sits down with Walter Kimbrough, the president of Dillard University, to discuss the importance of HBCUs, leading as a member of Generation X, and the challenges facing black men today.

    Season 5, Episode 1

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 22, 2014 18:55


    Season 5, Episode 1 Mark Anthony Neal sits down in the studio with Rapsody to talk about her music, influences, and the gender dynamics in hip hop. Rapsody released her new single, 'Hard to Choose' last week, https://soundcloud.com/jamlaarmy/rapsody-hard-to-choose-prod-by-9th-wonder. Rapsody's forthcoming album 'Beauty and The Beast" will be released on October 7th, 2014.

    Season 4, Episode 31

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 21, 2014 25:25


    Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Alexis De Veaux to discuss her new novel, Yabo, the passion of learning, and a new generation take on feminism. De Veaux's novel Yabo is available at: http://www.redbonepress.com/products/yabo

    Season 4, Episode 30

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 22, 2014 19:30


    Mark Anthony Neal sits down with poet and Yale professor Elizabeth Alexander to discuss African American studies, and hip hop and poetry.

    Season 4, Episode 29

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 28, 2014 19:15


    Mark Anthony Neal speaks to Professor Ruth Nicole Brown about her new book, "Hear Our Truths: The Creative Potential of Black Girlhood". Professor Brown is an assistant professor of Gender and Women's Studies, African Studies, and the Ethnography of the University Initiative at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

    Season 4, Episode 28

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 21, 2014 17:59


    Mark Anthony Neal sits down with Professor Ali Colleen Neff to talk about her work with Senegalese praise poets, her book "Let the World Listen Right", and Mami Wata's influence on musical traditions. Professor Neff is a a visiting assistant professor at William and Mary College.

    Season 4, Episode 27

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 21, 2014 20:35


    Mark Anthony Neal sits down with Professor Emily Lordi to discuss her new book, "Black Resonance: Iconic Women Singers and African American Literature". Professor Lordi is an assistant professor in the English Department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

    Season 4, Episode 26

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 21, 2014 16:45


    Mark Anthony Neal sits down with The Art of Cool Festival's co-founder Cicely Mitchell. The Art of Cool takes place on April 25 & 26, 2014 in Durham, NC.

    Season 4, Episode 25

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 21, 2014 16:14


    Mark Anthony Neal is join by Erica Lorraine Williams to discuss her new book, "Sex Tourism in Bahia: Ambiguous Entanglements". Williams is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Spelman College.

    Season 4, Episode 24

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 21, 2014 17:24


    Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Julius Bailey and Regina Bradley to talk about the volume, "The Cultural Impact of Kanye West". Bailey edited the volume and Bradley contributed to the work.

    Season 4, Episode 23

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 21, 2014 33:51


    Mark Anthony Neal sits down with Professor Guthrie Ramsey Jr. to talk about his new book, "The Amazing Bud Powell", the late Amiri Baraka, and the state of music. Prof. Ramsey is the Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Term Professor of Music at the University of Pennsylvania.

    Season 4, Episode 22

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 21, 2014 21:55


    Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal sits down with Professor E. Patrick Johnson to talk about his play, Sweet Tea. Professor Johnson is the Carlos Montezuma Professor of Performance Studies and African American Studies at Northwestern University. Sweet Tea will be touring this spring at Williams College, Morehouse College, Spelman College, and Brown University.

    Season 4, Episode 21

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 25, 2014 30:10


    Mark Anthony Neal sits down with Stephane Dunn and Esther Iverem to talk about this year's Academy Awards and the current state of black film. Dunn is an Assistant Professor of English and the Co-Director of Cinema, Television, and Emerging Media Studies at Morehouse College. Iverem is the founder and editor of SeeingBlack.com.

    Season 4, Episode 20

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 25, 2014 21:19


    Mark Anthony Neal sits down with Revered Raphael Warnock to discuss his new book, "The Divided Mind of the Black Church: Theology, Piety, and Public Witness". Rev. Warnock is the senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, GA.

    Season 4, Episode 19

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 11, 2014 18:26


    Mark Anthony Neal joins Jawole Willa Jo Zollar at the Reynolds Industries Theater to talk about her dance troupe, Urban Bush Women. Urban Bush Women celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. The troupe spent two weeks in residency at Duke University this fall and will continue its tour through this summer. For more details: http://www.urbanbushwomen.org

    Season 4, Episode 18

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 11, 2014 19:33


    Mark Anthony Neal speaks to Professor Shana Redmond about her new book, "Anthem: Social Movements and the Sound of Solidarity in the African Diaspora." Prof. Redmond teaches in the American Studies and Ethnicity program at the University of Southern California.

    Season 4, Episode 17

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 3, 2014 35:46


    Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Professor Quincy T. Mills to discuss his book, "Cutting Along the Color Line: Black Barbers and Barber Shops in America". Professor Mills teaches history at Vassar College.

    Season 4, Episode 16

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 27, 2014 31:28


    Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Professor David Ikard to discuss his new book, "Blinded by the Whites: Why Race Still Matters in 21st-Century America".

    Season 4, Episode 15

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 27, 2014 36:40


    Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal sits down with Duke professor Claudia Milian to talk about her new book, "Latining America: Black-Brown Passages and the Coloring of Latino/a Studies" Later, Mark is joined by Lakeshia Coffey and Chaunesti Webb to discuss Webb's play, "I Love my Hair." "I Love my Hair" opens at the Manbites Dog Theater January 16, 2014, manbitesdogtheater.org.

    Season 4, Episode 14

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 27, 2014 33:57


    Mark Anthony Neal sits down to talk with Rickey Vincent about his new book, "Party Music: The Inside Story of the Black Panthers' Band and How Black Power Transformed Soul Music".

    Season 4, Episode 13

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 27, 2014 28:46


    Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal sits down to talk with Davarian Baldwin and Minnkah Makalani. Baldwin and Makalan are the editors of the new volume, Escape from New York: The New Negro Renaissance Beyond Harlem. Later in the episode, Mark is joined by Yaba Blay to feature her new work, (1) Drop: Shifting the Lens on Race.

    Season 4, Episode 12

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 27, 2014 34:07


    Mark Anthony Neal is joined by TheRoot.com writer David Swerdlick to discuss his response to Orville Lloyd Douglas' article "Why I hate being a black man", the impact of bi-racial relationships on pop culture and our president, and the future of modern journalism. Later in this episode, Mark is joined by Esther Armah to talk about her Emotional Justice Project and its new holiday campaign, The F-Word.

    Season 4, Episode 11

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 27, 2014 17:26


    Left of Black focuses on family on this Thanksgiving Week episode featuring Maya Freelon Asante, M.K. Asante, Chuck D and Gaye Theresa Johnson.

    Season 4, Episode 10

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 27, 2014 20:49


    Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Akinyele Umoja to talk about his new book, "We Will Shoot Back: Armed Resistance in the Mississippi Freedom Movement".

    Season 4, Episode 9

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 3, 2013 35:32


    Mark Anthony Neal is joined in studio with Cedric Harmon and Katina Parker to talk about work with Many Voices. Many Voices is a hub for the black church movement for gay and transgender justice. Later, Mark is joined by MK Asante to talk about his new memoir, Buck.

    Season 4, Episode 8

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 3, 2013 38:47


    Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Ericka Blount Danois to discuss her new book, "Love, Peace and Soul Behind the Scenes of America's Favorite Dance Show Soultrain: Classic Moments". In the second half of the show, Devorah Heitner sits down with Mark to talk about her new book, "Black Power TV".

    Season 4, Episode 7

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 7, 2013 22:51


    In this special Harvard Hiphop Archive episode, Mark Anthony Neal is join by Pulitzer Prize winning author Diane McWhorter to talk about her work surrounding the Civil Rights Movement in Alabama.

    Season 4, Episode 6

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 7, 2013 27:10


    On this special Harvard Hiphop Archive episode, Mark Anthony Neal sits down with Chris Emdin to talk about Hip Hop S.T.E.M education.

    Season 4, Episode 5

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 7, 2013 21:48


    Mark Anthony Neal sits down with Marcyliena Morgan, executive director of the HipHop Archive at Harvard University. This interview is the first of a special Left of Black series recorded on location at Harvard's HipHop Archive.

    Season 4, Episode 4

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 7, 2013 43:37


    Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Elaine Richardson to talk about her book, PHD to PhD: How Education Changed My Life. Later Mark is joined by some of the members of Brothers Writing to Live, Darnell Moore, Kai Green and Wade Davis to talk about their project.

    Season 4, Episode 3

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 18, 2013 39:03


    Left of Black host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal is joined, via Skype, by UC-Santa Barbara Professor Gaye Theresa Johnson, author of 'Spaces of Conflict, Sounds of Solidarity: Music, Race, and Spatial Entitlement in Los Angeles'.

    Season 4, Episode 2

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 18, 2013 16:13


    Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal is joined, via Skype, by writer, producer and director Stacey Muhammad. Muhammad discusses her new web-based drama For Colored Boys; The Serieswhich examines contemporary Black Masculinity through the lives of Benjamin Boyd, Sr. (Rob Morgan), who is returning “home” after years of incarceration, and his son Benjamin, Jr., portrayed by Julito McCullum (The Wire).

    Season 4, Episode 1

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 17, 2013 30:36


    Mark Anthony Neal sits down to talk with author Kiese Laymon. Laymon will discuss his two new published works, Long Division: a novel and How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America, a collect of essays.

    Season 3, Episode 30

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 17, 2013 24:29


    Mark Anthony Neal sits down with Tami Navarro and Alondra Nelson. The group talks about the new article "Sitting at the Kitchen Table: Fieldnotes from Women of Color in Anthropology" by Tami Navarro, Bianca Williams and Attiya Ahmed published in the August 2013 edition of Cultural Anthropology. Access the article here: http://www.culanth.org/supp...

    Season 3, Episode 29

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 17, 2013 29:53


    Mark Anthony Neal sits down with Camille A. Brown to talk about her new show, Mr. TOL E. RAncE. Check out where Camille A. Brown and Dancers is performing next at http://www.camilleabrown.org

    Season 3, Episode 28

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 17, 2013 38:43


    Alondra Nelson switches roles with Mark Anthony Neal as she interviews him about his new book, Looking for Leroy: Illegible Black Masculinities.

    Season 3, Episode 27

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 17, 2013 33:47


    Mark Anthony Neal talks with Francesca Royster about her new book, "Sounding Like a No-No: Queer Sounds and Eccentric Acts in the Post-Soul Era".

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    Season 3, Episode 26

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 17, 2013 30:43


    This week Mark Anthony Neal is joined by sci-fi series director, Keith Josef Adkins to talk about his new series The Abandon. Then Mark sits down to talk with Bettina Love about her new book, "Hip Hop's Li'l Sistas Speak: Negotiating Hip Hop Identities and Politics in the New South".

    Season 3, Episode 25

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 8, 2013 18:22


    Mark Anthony Neal sits down with Shola Lynch to talk about her latest documentary project, "Free Angela and All Political Prisoners".

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