Melanin Magic

Melanin Magic
Author: Dossé-Via Trenou
Publisher: Running Press Kids
Total Pages: 150
Release: 2024-10-15
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 0762484497

Welcome to Forest Magic School, where young mystics learn the basics of African spiritualty through astrology, plant magic, cowrie divination, breathwork, and the magic within melanin! There’s a portal you can enter that will you help you remember your magic. Join Yawa and Kossi as a forest scholar and begin your journey to discovering what African spirituality is all about. With the help of these almost-twins, their classmates, and their professors, you will learn about your magically melanated skin and how to harness the power within you to become more connected to your ancestors and to the universe. Forest Magic School teaches you how to connect with your ori through breathing and presence, to celebrate the four elements, and to become connected to mystical spirits, or Òrìṣàs. Learn to calculate your birth chart, to use plant magic for healing and personal growth, and feel empowered through proverbs, mantras, and symbols while celebrating what makes you special and a part of the cosmos. Through a beautifully woven narrative and with easy-to-digest prompts and thought questions throughout, this is the guide for any juvenile mystic seeking deeper knowledge about their heritage and the principles of African spirituality.

Virtual Influencers

Virtual Influencers
Author: Esperanza Miyake
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 207
Release: 2024-08-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1040097944

This book identifies the converging socio- cultural, economic, and technological conditions that have shaped, informed, and realised the identity of the contemporary virtual influencer, situating them at the intersection of social media, consumer culture, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and digital technologies. Through a critical analysis of virtual influencers and related media practices and discourses in an international context, each chapter investigates different themes relating to digitality and identity: virtual place and nationhood; virtual emotions and intimacy; im/ materialities of virtual everyday life; the biopolitics of virtual human-production; the necropolitics of pandemic virtuality; transmedial and mimetic virtualities; and the political economy of virtual influencers. The book argues that the virtual influencer represents the various ways in which contemporary identities have increasingly become naturalised with questions of virtuality, mediated by digital technologies across multiple realities. From practices relating to AI- driven, invasive data profiling needed for virtual influencer production to problematic online practices such as buying digital skin colour, the author examines how the virtual influencer’s aesthetic, social, and economic value obfuscates some of the darker aspects of their role as an extractivist technology of virtuality: one which regulates, oppresses, and/ or classifies bodies and datafied bodies that serve the visual, (bio)political, and digital economies of virtual capitalism. In the process, the book simultaneously offers a critique of the virtual influencer as a representational figure existing across multiple digital platforms, spaces, and times, and of how they may challenge, complicate, and reinforce normative ideologies surrounding gender, race, class, sexuality, age, and ableism. As such, the book sheds light on some of the more troubling realities of the virtual influencer’s existence, inasmuch as it celebrates their transformational potential, exploring the implications of both within an increasingly AI- driven, digital culture, society, and economy. Drawing from a wide range of disciplines, this book will appeal to scholars, researchers, and students working in the area(s) of: Popular Culture and Media; Internet, Digital and Social Media Studies; Data justice and Governance; Japanese Media Studies; Celebrity Studies; Fan Studies; Marketing and Consumer Studies; Sociology; Human– Computer Studies; and AI and Technology Studies.

Melanin Is Worth More Than Gold

Melanin Is Worth More Than Gold
Author: Nnamdi Azikiwe
Publisher: The Mhotep Corporation
Total Pages: 235
Release: 2020-05-16
Genre: Social Science
ISBN:

Who would have thought preparations for a March 2014 Sacred Libation Ceremony honoring one-hundred forty-eight African American women lynched in America would result in the observation melanin is worth more than gold? Dr. Frances Cress Welsing first told us the chemical melanin is produced through a process known as melanogenesis upon introduction of the chemical tyrosine to the enzyme tyrosinase. Melanin is found in such diverse places as bird feathers, animal fur, reptile scales, microorganisms, cephalopod ink, mushrooms and even fossils. Additionally, melanin is found in the hair, skin and eyes of people. Melanin is subjected to intense scientific scrutiny. Nevertheless, the highly educated people studying it had no idea melanin is worth more than gold. In June 2014 a post to the Keyamsha the Awakening blog openly declared melanin was worth $353 a gram and $300 a gram more than gold. Shortly afterwards, hoaxers began bombarding the blog with comments claiming "melanin thieves" were harvesting melanin from Black people. The hoax was easily falsified. The hoaxers made certain to never mention the company selling melanin extracted from the ink of sepia officinalis, the common cuttlefish. During the intervening years the melanin thieves hoaxers persisted in their efforts. In March 2017, the melanin thieves hoaxers launched a "Melanin Twitter bomb" involving the dollar value of melanin after publicity of black women and girls missing in Washington, D.C. was released. Their actions exposed a frailty in their psyche. They also reveal it is possible to wipe out false information involving melanin and take the melanin challenged inferiority complex (aka racism/white supremacy) along for the ride. It then became clear the time had come to enter the fray and dispel the myths about melanin. This book completely obliterates the false narrative of melanin. Perceiving facts from a melanin-centered perspective bestows upon us an expanded awareness of the world and our place in it. It helps provide the average person a means to immerse themselves in melaninology and emerge a "melaninologist." Essentially, we get to know ourselves. To date no other path for the public to independently verify, or falsify, outlandish claims regarding melanin being worth more than gold on their own without any "guru" to guide them have been made available. At this writing, melanin is worth over $395 a gram more than gold. In ancient Kemet (misnomered Egypt) such words were known as hekau or words of power with the ability to heal. For nearly one-hundred years, since August 13, 1920, melanin put the "B" in R.B.G. and the "Black" in Red, Black and Green as the flag of Africans, at home and abroad.. Those are hekau, also. Our Blood, Our Melanin and Africa unites us. More hekau. The Afro, official currency of the United States of Africa, also known as the African Union, is worth $2.22. We are swathed in hekau to such an extent Mchakato Wa Uponyaji (Swahili for the process of healing) has begun. All of which indicates we are living in a new era: the era when all the generations of man can be called blessed on a planet that works for everyone. This era demands we convene the Ubuntu Convention. That plebiscite sets the stage for drafting the Ubuntu Declaration. In emulating the success of the August 1920 Universal Negro Improvement Association convention, we deliberately create the world where we intend to live. The revival of the U.N.I.A. with 12 million dues-paying card-carrying members positions the organization to have a treasury flush with over $400 million liquid. All of which represents a quantum shift in awareness, perception and power underway as you read this. Through our own actions we bring about the total, complete, and absolute Redemption of Africa for all time.

A Melanin Masterpiece

A Melanin Masterpiece
Author: Ashley Kurns
Publisher: Lulu.com
Total Pages: 118
Release: 2019-02-21
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0359428991

This book embodies what it truly means to be proud of being an African-American. The African-American culture is comprised of unique and powerful aspects that are personal to each King and Queen, and through this book, you'll find yourself one step closer to truly appreciating the beauty and excellence built within us.

Life be Like that Sometimes

Life be Like that Sometimes
Author: Amanda Patricia
Publisher: Page Publishing Inc
Total Pages: 156
Release: 2022-04-08
Genre: Poetry
ISBN: 1662469918

Welcome to a collection of experiences and feelings that I’ve gone through so far in life, written in the form of poetry. If you can relate to anything I’ve written and that made you feel less alone, then everything was worth it. We’re in this together because life is like that sometimes and it’s better when we’re not alone.

Ode to an Ebony Rose

Ode to an Ebony Rose
Author: Dino Dhamphyr
Publisher: Dino Dhamphyr
Total Pages: 54
Release: 2023-02-01
Genre: Poetry
ISBN:

"Ode to an Ebony Rose" is a powerful and evocative collection of poems that explores the complexities and beauty of African American identity. From self-love and appreciation to the harsh realities of social injustice, this book is a tribute to the resilience and strength of the black community. With raw emotion and lyrical language, each poem in "Ode to an Ebony Rose" delves deep into the soul, painting vivid portraits of the African American experience. Whether it be a celebration of black beauty, an ode to the powerful women who came before us, or a call to action against the systemic inequalities that persist in society, this book offers a nuanced and poignant look at the world. Through its rich imagery and heartfelt words, "Ode to an Ebony Rose" invites readers to join in a chorus of hope, love, and empowerment. This book is a must-read for anyone seeking to better understand and appreciate the richness and diversity of the black experience. So come, take a journey with us, as we pay homage to the ebony rose that blooms amidst adversity and shines with beauty and grace.

Her Rantings

Her Rantings
Author: Teso Uwaibi
Publisher: Teso Uwaibi
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2018-12-21
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1999372611

A collection of memoirs, musings and ideas of a young cosmopolitan woman in her pursuit of enlightenment. It is an honest and utterly uncensored account of her voyage; each diary entry is an insight into the journey and experiences of her conscious awakening and quest to find truth. She is raw, organic, witty and completely unexpurgated in the way in which she shares her experience. Touching on race, religion, love, spirituality, friendship, relationships, history, self-discovery, purpose; ultimately, unearthing knowledge of self. Travel with her as she writes with pure emotions; ranging from joy to anger, happiness to sadness and confusion to clarity. Do not be afraid to unlearn false truths and start from scratch. Knowledge is power they say, this book illustrates that knowledge of self is nirvana.

Haitian Vodou Dahomey

Haitian Vodou Dahomey
Author: Mambo Sutuni
Publisher: Fallange Casimir
Total Pages: 169
Release: 2023-12-08
Genre: Art
ISBN:

Written by Mambo Sutuni, a young Haitian Vodou priestess — Haitian Vodou Dahomey: Vol 1 shares her insight and outlook of the spiritual world and her work with the Lwa. Vibrant images come to life in this astonishing photo journal and educational guide that introduces readers to the tradition. Mambo Sutuni's memoir shows a profound educational history of the ancestral line and the world of Vodou. And she’s just getting started! Haitian Vodou: Volume II is an extension of this book and ventures into the many other sides of this practice and its core spirits. Enjoy engaging, vibrant graphics and the ultimate encyclopedia for all things "Vodou”

Handbook of Positive Psychology in Schools

Handbook of Positive Psychology in Schools
Author: Kelly-Ann Allen
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 813
Release: 2022-02-24
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1000528456

The Handbook of Positive Psychology in Schools offers the most current and comprehensive insights into how positive psychology principles provide a framework for young people to become active agents in their own learning. The third edition of this groundbreaking volume assembles the latest global research identifying fundamental assets—hope, optimism, gratitude, self-efficacy, emotional regulation, among others—that support students’ learning and well-being. Chapters examining social-ecological perspectives on classroom quality and school climate provide best practice guidance on schoolwide policies and practices. These 35 new chapters explore positive psychology’s ongoing influence and advances on prevention, intervention, and assessment practices in schools.

Evaluation in Sport and Leisure

Evaluation in Sport and Leisure
Author: Andrew Adams
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 245
Release: 2022-08-12
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1000636135

Highlights the contextual architecture for evidence and evaluation in sport, leisure and wellbeing. Contemporary analyses from many viewpoints that clarify and illuminate key conceptual issues underpinning evidence and evaluation practice. Identifies innovative approaches to evidence and evaluation that address some of the tensions and underlying questions in sport leisure and wellbeing. Asks the reader to question accepted methodologies in making sense of, and rationalising, evaluation practice. Will bring together established and up and coming scholars and will be accessible for both academic and professional practice audiences.