Black Geographies of the Pacific

Justin Dunnavant
Anthropology
UC Los Angeles

Kaily Heitz
Geography
UC Los Angeles

Black Geographies in the Pacific draws from the intellectual strengths of scholars in California and the Pacific to think through the nuances of Black life, race, ecology, and place on the West Coast. Centering California as a distinct frontier within the U.S. imperial and settler-colonial project, we ask how the unique history and experiences of Black life in the West and wider Pacific orient radical, anti-capitalist futures. Building upon the work of the Black Geographies Collective at UCLA, this project convenes regional working groups and a symposium to explore three central themes: (1) Black ecological engagements and the politics of sustenance; (2) radical imaginaries of land reclamation and life beyond the racial state and capitalist property regimes; and (3) the relational geographies linking the U.S. West, the Caribbean, and the Pacific. Through community-engaged and interdisciplinary scholarship across UC campuses, these gatherings will bring together faculty, graduate students, and community partners to incubate collaborative methods that rethink sustainability, repair, and care within racial-capitalist settings. This initiative seeks to position California as a critical site for advancing Black Geographies in the Pacific world.