Ep. 68 - Identity, Power, & the Invention of Race ft. CA Davis

Bourbon 'n BrownTown

BrownTown listens, learns, and breaks down the myths and histories of racial identity with CA Davis, filmmaker, digital storyteller, and creator of a LATTO Thought -- an immersive audio documentary that dismantles post-racial myths about mixed race identities.

CA begins this special conversation outlining how he came to create a LATTO Thought and centering many of the misconceptions we commonly associate to race -- both more known biological myths as well as social myths in the way we construct our views on race and in our very language. BrownTown and CA share their experiences growing up creating, presenting, and experiencing their racial identity in the world and how it plays out as adults.

As CA notes, "depending on the time, place, space, and economics of where you are in the world, race is never the same." People aren't mixed. History is. Through imperialism, war, mass movements, geography, relationships with the land, and countless other historical praxis, race is a complex, nuanced, ever-evolving phenomenon. BrownTown and CA sift in and out of related (and seemingly unrelated topics) from the Census, respectability politics and code-switching, intersectionality, the American government as an empire (see: the Death Star), and recent events like the Atlanta spa shootings, Megan Markle and the Royal Family, and the January 6th Insurrection at the U.S. Capitol (1, 2, 3, 4, 5).

At the end of the day, we know race to be a creation and effective tool for white supremacy. The better we understand that, the better we can dismantle it. Let's get to work. Originally recorded March 25, 2021.

GUEST

CA is the creator and host of a LATTO Thought — an immersive audio documentary series that dismantles post-racial myths about mixed race identities. By day, he is a digital storyteller at Northwestern University where he turns academic research into films, podcasts, and media elements integral to larger digital humanities projects. Outside of NU, he is a filmmaker, editor, and, more recently, audio documentarian focused on racial consciousness and social justice.

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Follow CA on his site CADavis.me, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter!

Follow and listen to a LATTO Thought Podcast on your application of choice; learn more at LATTOthought.com; follow on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter; and toss the bag on Patreon!

Mentioned in the episode:

• NPR’s Code Switched “Racial Imposter Syndrome”
• The work of Native American scholars Kim TallBear and Jodi A. Byrd
• The work of Guy Emerson Mount
• Wilmington Insurrection of 1898 (1, 2, 3)
• Nathaniel Butler, Black slave trader

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CREDITS: Intro audio from a LATTO Thought Podcast, "takin' it back" episode. Outro song The Dreamer by Anderson .Paak (ft. Talib Kweli & Timan Family Choir). Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro with assistance from Kiera Battles. Episode photo by Joe Martinez.

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