Looking back to look forward in the spirit: Quaring the Black Mecca through oral histories

Studamire, Dante R.

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/129758 Copy

Description

Title

Looking back to look forward in the spirit: Quaring the Black Mecca through oral histories

Author(s)

Studamire, Dante R.

Issue Date

2025-04-30

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Moton, Theopolies

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Dixson, Adrienne D

Committee Member(s)

• Span, Christopher
• Zamani-Gallaher, Eboni

Department of Study

Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrshp

Discipline

Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrshp

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

Black queer men, higher education, oral history, life narrative, Quare Theory, disidentification, intersectionality, Atlanta, Black Mecca, spatial politics, worldmaking, cultural memory

Abstract

This dissertation, Looking Back to Look Forward in the Spirit: Quaring the Black Mecca through Oral Histories, examines the collegiate experiences of five Black queer men—Charles, Darryl, Tony, Mario, and Devereaux—who attended college in Atlanta during the 1990s. Using oral history and life narrative methods grounded in Quare Theory, this study explores how these men navigated higher education while negotiating the sociopolitical complexities of Atlanta as both a historically Black metropolis and an aspirational “Black Mecca.” Through their narratives, this project illuminates how narrators crafted affirming spaces amid institutional silence and structural violence, reimagined belonging, and enacted Black queer worldmaking practices that challenged heteronormative and classed expectations, all while thriving through their collegiate experiences. By positioning memory and story as critical data, this dissertation intervenes in education policy, Black queer studies, and cultural memory scholarship. It interrogates institutional complicity in the erasure of Black queer presence, while highlighting how these men’s political consciousness, resistance, and community-building practices created pathways of possibility for future generations. The study also critiques dominant framings of Atlanta as universally liberatory, instead offering a quared lens that reveals the exclusions, performances, and liberatory enactments that marked Black queer life in the city. Ultimately, this research suggests formalizing contemporary genres of study within higher education, expanding how we understand agency, space, and resistance in institutional and urban contexts.

Graduation Semester

2025-05

Type of Resource

Thesis

Handle URL

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/129758

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2025 Dante Studamire

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