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Muhammad Ali in Africana Cultural Memory

James L Conyers, Jr editor Christel N Temple editor

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Anthem Press

Published:11th Jan '22

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Muhammad Ali in Africana Cultural Memory cover

A comprehensive study of Muhammad Ali’s identity and superlative impact framed in terms of the discipline’s subfield of Africana cultural memory studies

Muhammad Ali in Africana Cultural Memory is a comprehensive study of Ali’s identity and superlative impact framed in terms of the discipline’s subfield of Africana cultural memory studies. This critical approach challenges us to itemize Ali’s influential legacy with precise conceptual value wherein his mythological structure is illuminated as an inheritance. 

One critical priority of the discipline of Africana studies is applied memory, specifically, how the record of the culture’s survival and agency reveals usable and reproducible knowledge and behavior. In terms of how Muhammad Ali, as an historical actor, has left an heroic legacy that bequeaths to us a sort of inheritance, the critical task at hand is to systematically explore this historical actor’s life, feats, philosophy, grit, worldview, and even his folkloric antihero to decipher his Africana cultural memory value. At the core of this edited collection is a commitment to enhance the cultural storytelling about Muhammad Ali and to critically itemize the lessons we garner from his life as allegory. The ancestral life is one that is remembered and recalled. The contributors’ research uncovers Ali’s local, national, and global encounters that are legacy worldviews. These perspectives give us direction for mining the critical depth of Ali’s encounters which map his memory in terms of culturally sustaining confidence, self-esteem, reinvention, immortalization, and empathy. These are the fertile seeds of Africana cultural memory which bloom into powerful markers and monuments of an epic life of hyperheroic activity relevant to cultural memory, sports, history, politics, health, and aesthetics.

“An anthology exploring the life, significance, and influence of Muhammad Ali is exciting. Ali has largely been framed as the greatest fighter ever to grace the ring and undeniably a cultural icon. However, such a simplistic narrative undermines Ali as the greatest athlete social activist in history rooted in the best of Africana cultural and political traditions. This anthology seeks to frame Ali as a complex and multi-faceted personality who has had one of the most profound impacts on social justice movements in the United States.” —Dr. Adisa Alkebulan, San Diego State University, US


“Muhammad Ali in Africana Cultural Memory succinctly describes how Ali challenged white hegemony in the sporting community and in the broader national and international arena. It explains how Ali defined social norms and fought for boxing championships as well as the right for self-actualization by crafting a highly intelligent theatrical presentation of self in and out of the ring. The book reminds us of Black Hope, cultural pride and the courage to help navigate the challenges that the intersection of life with race presents. That like Ali we can defend our rights to breathe and ‘float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.’”— Theresa Rajack Talley, Dalhousie University, Canada

ISBN: 9781785277191

Dimensions: 229mm x 153mm x 26mm

Weight: 454g

268 pages