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MA/PhD Theses Abstracts of Current Students & Alumni |
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Phillips, Evelyn N. 1993. An Ethnohistorical Analysis of the Political Economy of the African-Americans in St.Petersburg, Florida.
Abstract: African Americans in St. Petersburg as elsewhere in the United States i the 1980s, encountered an unforeseen problem. Crack cocaine and the violence associated with it usurped the lives of many of their youths. Intergenerational discontinuities estranged the youth from the values of their elders and created chaos in the neighborhoods. Although public officials and community leaders launched "Just Say No" and "Drug-Free" campaigns, the lives of many African American youth ended in death or jail sentences. The social history of African Americans in St. Petersburg from 1920 to 1990 was documented in order to understand some of the probable causes fo the city's youth crisis. Archival documents and the life histories of thirty-two adults, most over the age of 65 years were explored. These collateral evidences and eye-witness accounts revealed the dialectics of ethnicity, racisn tourism and development. Since the 1920s, the city of St. Petersburg has consistently pursued a policy of segregation. Using laws and development schemes, the city's leader have attempted to restrict African American contact with tourists and maintain a strict division of labor. Public policies led to the destruction and disintegration Methodist Town and Gas Plant -- two of the oldest African American settlement in St. Petersburg. These forces, combined with desegregation of schools, also disrupted the enculturation of African American youths. A political economy of racism and tourism has influenced African Americans and their youths' sense c place and belonging in St. Petersburg. To inform youths of their cultural legacy, the collected data werereconstituted into an ethnic heritage program -- La Churasano (culture in Mandinka) -- for adole~_~nts beh_N~en aaes 1 1 vears and 17 vears. This studv found that among the adolescent participants, the identity of African American youths under age fifteen years is more adversely influenced by stereotypical images of African Americans than older youths. Finally, this work includes a discussion of the implications of applying native anthropology. This analysis is a reflection of what it means to be an African American anthropologist studying African Americans. This dissertation is a documentation of the lives of African Americans in St. Petersburg, an identification of their indigenous cosmology, and a summary of the development and implementation of a community-based enculturation model. It shows that the present crisis existing among African American youth is linked to the historical legacy of African Americans in St. Petersburg.
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