{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/129758"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/129758","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Looking back to look forward in the spirit: Quaring the Black Mecca through oral histories","abstract":"Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'Closed Access', the embargo will last until 2027-05-01","abstract_html":"Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'Closed Access', the embargo will last until 2027-05-01","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Studamire, Dante R."],"institution":"University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrshp","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Moton, Theopolies","Dixson, Adrienne D","Span, Christopher","Zamani-Gallaher, Eboni"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2025,"date_issued":"2025-04-30","date_published":"2025-04-30","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:05Z","subjects":["Black queer men","higher education","oral history","life narrative","Quare Theory","disidentification","intersectionality","Atlanta","Black Mecca","spatial politics","worldmaking","cultural memory"],"languages":["en","eng"],"rights":["Copyright 2025 Dante Studamire"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/2142/129758","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Moton, Theopolies","Dixson, Adrienne D","Span, Christopher","Zamani-Gallaher, Eboni"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Studamire, Dante R."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2025-04-30","2025-05"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text","Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrshp"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Ph.D."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Black queer men","higher education","oral history","life narrative","Quare Theory","disidentification","intersectionality","Atlanta","Black Mecca","spatial politics","worldmaking","cultural memory"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en","eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2025 Dante Studamire"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/2142/129758"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'Closed Access', the embargo will last until 2027-05-01","The student, Dante Studamire, accepted the attached license on 2025-04-30 at 14:20.","The student, Dante Studamire, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2025-04-30 at 14:21.","This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2025-04-30 at 16:50.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #22116 on 2025-10-19 at 19:54:49","This dissertation, Looking Back to Look Forward in the Spirit: Quaring the Black Mecca through Oral Histories, examines the collegiate experiences of five Black queer men—Charles, Darryl, Tony, Mario, and Devereaux—who attended college in Atlanta during the 1990s. Using oral history and life narrative methods grounded in Quare Theory, this study explores how these men navigated higher education while negotiating the sociopolitical complexities of Atlanta as both a historically Black metropolis and an aspirational “Black Mecca.” Through their narratives, this project illuminates how narrators crafted affirming spaces amid institutional silence and structural violence, reimagined belonging, and enacted Black queer worldmaking practices that challenged heteronormative and classed expectations, all while thriving through their collegiate experiences. By positioning memory and story as critical data, this dissertation intervenes in education policy, Black queer studies, and cultural memory scholarship. It interrogates institutional complicity in the erasure of Black queer presence, while highlighting how these men’s political consciousness, resistance, and community-building practices created pathways of possibility for future generations. The study also critiques dominant framings of Atlanta as universally liberatory, instead offering a quared lens that reveals the exclusions, performances, and liberatory enactments that marked Black queer life in the city. Ultimately, this research suggests formalizing contemporary genres of study within higher education, expanding how we understand agency, space, and resistance in institutional and urban contexts."]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Looking back to look forward in the spirit: Quaring the Black Mecca through oral histories"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Moton, Theopolies","Dixson, Adrienne D","Span, Christopher","Zamani-Gallaher, Eboni"],"dc:creator":["Studamire, Dante R."],"dc:date":["2025-04-30","2025-05"],"dc:description":["Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'Closed Access', the embargo will last until 2027-05-01","The student, Dante Studamire, accepted the attached license on 2025-04-30 at 14:20.","The student, Dante Studamire, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2025-04-30 at 14:21.","This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2025-04-30 at 16:50.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #22116 on 2025-10-19 at 19:54:49","This dissertation, Looking Back to Look Forward in the Spirit: Quaring the Black Mecca through Oral Histories, examines the collegiate experiences of five Black queer men—Charles, Darryl, Tony, Mario, and Devereaux—who attended college in Atlanta during the 1990s. Using oral history and life narrative methods grounded in Quare Theory, this study explores how these men navigated higher education while negotiating the sociopolitical complexities of Atlanta as both a historically Black metropolis and an aspirational “Black Mecca.” Through their narratives, this project illuminates how narrators crafted affirming spaces amid institutional silence and structural violence, reimagined belonging, and enacted Black queer worldmaking practices that challenged heteronormative and classed expectations, all while thriving through their collegiate experiences. By positioning memory and story as critical data, this dissertation intervenes in education policy, Black queer studies, and cultural memory scholarship. It interrogates institutional complicity in the erasure of Black queer presence, while highlighting how these men’s political consciousness, resistance, and community-building practices created pathways of possibility for future generations. The study also critiques dominant framings of Atlanta as universally liberatory, instead offering a quared lens that reveals the exclusions, performances, and liberatory enactments that marked Black queer life in the city. Ultimately, this research suggests formalizing contemporary genres of study within higher education, expanding how we understand agency, space, and resistance in institutional and urban contexts."],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["https://hdl.handle.net/2142/129758"],"dc:language":["en","eng"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 2025 Dante Studamire"],"dc:subject":["Black queer men","higher education","oral history","life narrative","Quare Theory","disidentification","intersectionality","Atlanta","Black Mecca","spatial politics","worldmaking","cultural memory"],"dc:title":["Looking back to look forward in the spirit: Quaring the Black Mecca through oral histories"],"dc:type":["text","Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrshp"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Ph.D."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:05Z"}