Boston Review

How do we deal with uncertainty? An anthropologist ruminates:https://bostonreview.net/articles/seeking-certainty-in-uncertain-times/ …

“Greg Tate was far more generous and expansive than hordes of his Black radical fans can ever contend with. His brand of Black Consciousness was wide and a work-in-progress. It reverberated with complex and receptive humanity.”https://bostonreview.net/articles/the-invisible-hand-of-greg-tate/ …

"Today #Camus is commonly cast as a philosopher of consensus. He actually was a divisive figure in his lifetime, suffering regular attacks from all sides of the political spectrum." Camus died #OnThisDay in 1960:https://bostonreview.net/articles/mugambi-jouet-reading-camus-age-pandemic-and-polarization/# …

Existentially, #storytelling and #writing resemble occult technologies such a prayer, divination, and dream interpretation. They can transform our sense of who we are and help recover agency in the face of experiences that render us powerless:https://bostonreview.net/articles/seeking-certainty-in-uncertain-times/ …

“We cannot honestly think of the United States, or what I prefer to think of as Global Negro Cities, of the last thirty-five years without thinking of the invisible hand of Greg Tate.” — @bonganimadondo in conversation with Robin Kelley:https://bostonreview.net/articles/the-invisible-hand-of-greg-tate/ …

“What appeared to be submission to a higher power was a prelude to regaining control over one’s fate.” An anthropologist recalls his visit to a diviner in Sierra Leone, and what it can teach us about finding hope during times of great uncertainty:https://bostonreview.net/articles/seeking-certainty-in-uncertain-times/ …

“Had the amount of obituaries, ink containers, and trees chopped dedicated to 'remembering' him in death been expressed in love or financial modes in his lifetime, Greg Tate would have died a fat, wealthy, blessed man.”https://bostonreview.net/articles/the-invisible-hand-of-greg-tate/ …

T. S. Eliot died #OnThisDay 57 years ago. Here's Seamus Heaney on the power of Eliot's words:https://bostonreview.net/articles/influences-the-power-of-t-s-eliot-by-seamus-heaney/ …

In the face of the #pandemic and climate change, uncertainty has become increasingly oppressive. But humans use a blend of practical, ritual, and conceptual tools to create hope in even the most hopeless situations:https://bostonreview.net/articles/seeking-certainty-in-uncertain-times/ …

“Greg Tate was unmatched. Pure punk.” Robin D. G. Kelley and Bongani Madondo honor Greg Tate's life, work, and legacy:https://bostonreview.net/articles/the-invisible-hand-of-greg-tate/ …

“We tell ourselves stories in order to live.” — Joan Didion Indeed, recounting and reworking events can help recover a sense of ourselves as actors and agents in the face of experiences that render us insignificant, unrecognized, or powerless:https://bostonreview.net/articles/seeking-certainty-in-uncertain-times/ …

“If I were to single out a writer who impacted on me deeply, Greg Tate comes to mind. He does to hip hop and rock writing what the poet Amiri Baraka’s Yoruba/Zulu/Mandinka spirit-guides did to the blues verse.” — @bonganimadondohttps://bostonreview.net/articles/the-invisible-hand-of-greg-tate/ …

“In a soft voice he addressed the stones, informing them of the reason I had come. Then he gathered up a handful and began to chant.” An anthropologist reflects on West African divination as a case study in hope during times of great uncertainty:https://bostonreview.net/articles/seeking-certainty-in-uncertain-times/ …

“He was a modern-day Jules Verne taking you on a journey to the unknown. This was the Greg Tate I knew, a person who resided at the center of the earth.” — Robin Kelley in a new conversation with Bongani Madondo on the life and legacy of Greg Tate:https://bostonreview.net/articles/the-invisible-hand-of-greg-tate/ …

The Plague not only addressed a virus, but democracy, health care, the death penalty and police brutality. #Camus is a thinker for our age. He died #OnThisDay in 1960.https://bostonreview.net/articles/mugambi-jouet-reading-camus-age-pandemic-and-polarization/# …

“Greg Tate showed us a different way to write about the culture—one that respected the artist without being either ingratiating or catering to the industry.” — Robin Kelley:https://bostonreview.net/articles/the-invisible-hand-of-greg-tate/ …