This panel of Black Diaspora Feminist scholars whose values rest on a legacy of resistance and solidarity demonstrates how Black women political scientists' global presence disrupts political science's homogeneity as an academic field, and it acts as a catalyst to transform the discipline, ensuring that scholarship is ethical and accountable to society. The panel seeks to provide critical information about how Black women create spaces that address challenges identified by the "Political Science in the 21st Century" Task Force Report commissioned by Dianne Pinderhughes, the first Black woman president of the American Political Science Association (APSA) and the International Political Science Association.
Panelists also profoundly dive into the origins of Political Science in the United States as addressed in the task force report commissioned by the second Black woman president of the APSA, Paula D. McClain, “Systemic Inequality in the Discipline.”
The presenters recognize that the longevity and relevance of political science as a discipline rests upon scholars first acknowledging inequality and injustices by exposing truths about the discipline, politics, governments, and institutions and working to bring social change. Yet, we should understand how intersectionality and the lived experiences of those partly responsible for exposing these truths often impose harm upon them by ignoring and erasing their existence.
Black Diaspora Feminists on Countering Mainstream Political Science explores the personal journeys of several Black women who study and teach politics and power across the globe. In these witty and heart-wrenching personal stories, the panel explores how Black Diaspora feminists utilize theory, community, self-care, and joy to overcome obstacles in disrupting an academic field never intended to view them as subjects worthy of study and certainly not as purveyors of information as scholars.
The panel examines Black women's unique experiences and contributions to the academic discipline of political science. It also highlights their success stories and how they practiced creative resistance and self-care while navigating the discipline's hegemonic demands.