Skin In The Game: Black Participatory Action Research (BPR) and Black Anarchist Coalition Building for Anti-Black Racist Organizing

Abstract

Utilizing a Black Participatory Research (BPR) (Drame & Irby, 2016) methodology, this research convened 10 local Black organizers representing 5 organizations across amiskwacîwâskahikan (Edmonton) to co-investigate and improve our praxis and collective understanding of Black coalition building as a form of anti-Black resistance to anti-Black racism and structural violence. Guided by six emergent and related research questions, BPR data generation included educational sessions with 3 members of the BPR team, 3 focus groups, and 7 interviews with Key Informants. Data was analyzed collectively while drawing from select literature and respective and shared organizing experiences. Black radical theories centering Afropessimism (Wilderson, 2020) and Black Anarchism (Ervin, 2021) were deemed as inseparable tools for actioning Black personal collective resistances and survivals. BPR calls for an organic strategy of building coalition bonds across Black experiences and asserts that Black anarchist coalition is an essential ideology and pedagogical strategy for strengthening Black organizing and resistance work locally, regionally, and ultimately, for global Black survivals. Black Organizers in this project affirmed the need for a continued commitment for: (1) comprehensive political education; (2) adopting intersectional Black radical praxis; and (3) building community-wide power while prioritizing Black survivals. In realizing the necessity for new/alternative strategies of Black resistance, this project is ultimately concerned with understanding and contributing towards Black coalition formations to resist anti-Black racism and anti-Blackness in perpetuity.