greetings earthlings

I have been reconfiguring my understanding of and relationship with the concept of “space” for my whole life, but particularly over the past few months. Despite the obvious theme of this blog based on its title, the “space” I am referring to is not located in a galaxy far, far away. The “space” that I have been immersed in as of late is an interior space located as Baldwin once wrote, “in a region in my mind.”

My own dissertation research project covers a lot of ground, across multiple spheres of everyday life, from the streets of Atlanta to the World Wide Web. I am primarily interested in how people navigate multiple spaces synchronously on a daily basis and maintain a sense of self while doing so. It is easy to hear that I study Black social media influencers and categorize my work as a study of the Internet or social media platforms, but that would be an oversimplification and honestly, a misunderstanding. I once participated in the oversimplification of my own work because I did not have the language to translate my intuitions and intentions in a way that would make them read as legible to other people. This project, much like me, is a work-in-progress. This work is unlike anything you have seen before. That much I know.

As an anthropologist who in many ways has always felt like an alien of sorts, I am more interested in understanding the inner workings of everyday people than the business operations of social media platforms. My project doesn’t change when platform heads change because what this work ultimately focuses on are issues of Black interiority, duality, and yes, intersectionality. I am interested in better understanding the ways that we, as Black people are able to shape-shift across worlds as a means of survival and liberation. My project isn’t about the ways in which we have been marginalized or by whom. It is about our ongoing experimental application of a liberatory consciousness to our relationship with labor even when we’ve been bounded by limits imposed on our freedoms.

Over the past few months, I have had an amazing opportunity to take more control over how, where, and when I engage with the world. With no school or work managers to answer to, for the first time in my life I have found a semblance of freedom. For the first time in my life, I am my own boss. That said, this blog post is not a story of burnout although I have indeed been burnt. This is a story of how I am now beginning to rise from the ashes to simply “do me,” but for real this time. Arguably, there is no better place to rise from the ashes and enter a “Renaissance” (hi, Beyonce) than in Atlanta, GA. The city seal of Atlanta depicts the mythological bird, the Pheonix, who is cyclically reborn from the ashes. Atlanta’s city seal also prominently features the word “Resurgens” which is latin for “rising again.” Rise is just what I plan to do in the Anuliverse. Afterall, I need a higher vantage point from which to observe you Earthlings…for anthropological purposes, of course.

Here in the Anuliverse, you can look forward to a mix of short-form and long-form dispatches from a region in my mind whenever I feel like sharing. Some posts may be related to my doctoral research and some posts may simply be related to things that I am thinking about or media that I have consumed and want to share with you. Those of you who were fans of my now-defunct weekly newsletter, “The Intersection,” (2015-2019) will appreciate this. It’s kind of like “The Intersection 2.0,” but less frequent.

Welcome to the Anuliverse, my digital doorstep. Please don’t wear no shoes in my house.