Professor of Africana Studies Heather Merrill recently published “Being Italian: The Peculiar Journey of Blackness” in Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography. The essay appears online ahead of its inclusion in a special upcoming print issue of the journal.
Merrill says the essay draws on the work of the late geographer and social scientist Allan Pred and “expands on Pred’s work through an analysis of Blackness, place and belonging in Italy, offering an approach to the study of African Diaspora in Europe.”
Along with Katharyne Mitchell of the University of California, Santa Cruz, and Lisa Hoffman of the University of Washington, Tacoma, Merrill is a co-editor of the special issue, which is titled “Brute Facts: Hauntings, Racisms and Collective Amnesia.” She also co-authored its introduction, “Wake Up: The Urgent Appeal of Allan Pred,” with Hoffman and Mitchell. The introduction is also now available online.
