X Marks the Spot…

I’m very grateful to have my new academic article on Malcolm X, “X Marks the Spot: Mapping Malcolm’s Encounters with Sudan,” appear in a Special Issue of the Journal of Africana Religions: The Meaning of Malcolm X for Africana Religions: Fifty Years On. This special issue can now be purchased on Amazon, and a summary of its contents is below. Recently, I wrote a Huffington Post piece about my experience of retracing part of Malcolm’s route in Africa and the Middle East with his old friends from Khartoum and Beirut: Following in the Footsteps of Malcolm X.

Since his violent death on February 21, 1965, the man who changed his name from Malcolm Little to Malcolm X and then finally to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz has stood at the symbolic center of global Africana debates about diasporic consciousness, political liberation, and strategies for Black empowerment. Half a century later, the intellectual and activist legacy of Malcolm X is also more important than ever for understanding the religions and the cultures of Africana people in the modern world. Featuring the work of scholars Maytha Alhassen, Saladin Ambar, Cedric Burrows, Juan Floyd-Thomas, Alex Lubin, Terrence Johnson, Emily O’Dell, Hussein Rashid, and Eboni Marshall Turman, this special issue of the Journal of Africana Religions breaks new ground in its analysis of the historical and contemporary meaning of Malik Shabazz. Its historical coverage of Shabazz’s trips to Great Britain, Egypt, France, Lebanon, and Sudan offer fresh perspectives on Malcolm X’s international religious and political connections. The significance of Shabazz’s legacy in the contemporary world is analyzed through his influence on British hip hop, Black theology, gender studies, English language instruction, ethics, and Black literature. This special issue commemorates a singularly important figure whose life continues to stimulate new directions in the study of Africana religions.