Season 4, Episode 6: Decolonize All The Things with Shay-Akil McLean
edna bonhomme interviewed Shay-Akil McLean, Ph.D. (@Hood_Biologist. Shay-Akil is a Queer Trans masculine & gender queer man racialized as Black, on stolen Indigenous land, an educator, organizer, writer, public intellectual, human biologist, anthropologist & sociologist. Shay-Akil earned his Ph.D. from the UIUC School of Integrative Biology’s Program for Ecology, Evolution, & Conservation (PEEC). Shay-Akil studies Du Boisian sociology, STS/HASTS, race/ism, human health demography, evolutionary genetics, & theoretical population genetics. He holds degrees in biological anthropology (BA & MA) & sociology (BA & MA) which he uses to study bioethics, medical ethics, philosophy of biology, population genetics, evolutionary theory, health inequities, & knowledge production. As a scholar, Shay-Akil studies how systems of human practices produce the differential distribution of health, illness, quality of life, and death. He is also the founder of the free political education website decolonizeallthethings.com & the free scientific ethics website decolonizeallthescience.com. Please also visit his Patreon page https://www.patreon.com/Hood_Biologist.
Donate if you can
Learn more about Dr. Shay-Akil McLean work on his Patreon page and if you can, please support his practice by donating:
https://www.patreon.com/Hood_Biologist
And find more ways to donate on his website: https://decolonizeallthethings.com/donate/
Biography
Dr. Shay-Akil McLean
Dr. Shay-Akil McLean
Dr. Shay-Akil McLean, Ph.D. (@Hood_Biologist) is a Queer Trans masculine & gender queer man racialized as Black, on stolen Indigenous land, an educator, organizer, writer, public intellectual, human biologist, anthropologist & sociologist. Shay-Akil earned his Ph.D. from the UIUC School of Integrative Biology’s Program for Ecology, Evolution, & Conservation (PEEC). Shay-Akil studies Du Boisian sociology, STS/HASTS, race/ism, human health demography, evolutionary genetics, & theoretical population genetics. He holds degrees in biological anthropology (BA & MA) & sociology (BA & MA) which he uses to study bioethics, medical ethics, philosophy of biology, population genetics, evolutionary theory, health inequities, & knowledge production. As a scholar, Shay-Akil studies how systems of human practices produce the differential distribution of health, illness, quality of life, and death. He is also the founder of the free political education website decolonizeallthethings.com & the free scientific ethics website decolonizeallthescience.com.
Shay-Akil’s Master’s work in biological anthropology looked at the effects of food insecurity, poverty, & racial residential segregation on the dental health of low-income Black people in the 4th poorest city in the United States. It is through this work that Shay-Akil began developing community-based grassroots interventions that focus on changing marginalized’s people’s relationships to knowledge & power.
The goal of Shay-Akil’s work is to create spaces for strategic gains toward organizing communities against the structural violence that heavily effects disease risk & life determinants. Shay-Akil has developed & facilitated workshops, teach-ins, Saturday school programs, designed curricula, & given guest lectures on a range of topics including:
Black Feminism & Hip Hop
Intersectionality & Controlling Images In Hip Hop
D.A.T.T.
D.A.T.T. is a political education website for the purposes of fostering digital spaces of de-colonization. The goal is for theories to match practice & progressively transform how we think about the world & live in it. Here Shay-Akil comments on anything from academia to theory, pop culture, social critique, & organizing but all with a critical analysis of settler colonialism. Shay-Akil posts reading lists, discussions of critical issues relating to marginalized communities, & tips on the role of political education in everyday decolonial practice. With D.A.T.T., Shay-Akil aims to provide a free platform for decolonial scholarship that provides people with political education & critical thinking resources to foster empowerment & critical awareness outside of the repressive confines of colonial norms & regimes of truth.
Links
FOR INQUIRIES, BOOKINGS, &/OR ACADEMIC CONSULTATION, CONTACT SHAY AKIL AT: decolonizeallthethings@gmail.com
Bibliography
Banks, Danielle Maya. 2020. “The 'Hood Biologist' Is Deconstructing How Racism Perpetuates Health Disparities In Black Communities. Here's How.” Blavity: News, October 19.
Du Bois, W. E. B. 1935 [1999]. Black Reconstruction in America 1860–1880. Free Press.
Du Bois, W. E. B. 1898. “The Study of the Negro Problems.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. Vol. 11 (Jan., 1898):1–23.
Du Bois, W.E.B. 1895. The Suppression of the African Slave Trade in the United States, 1638–1871. HU 90.330 VT, PhD dissertation, (2 vols).
Hinton, Elizabeth. 2021. “Unearthing the Roots of Black Rebellion.” New York Times. May 12.
Lewontin, Richard C. 1983. “Darwin’s Revolution.” New York Review of Books, June 16.
McKittrick, Katherine. 2021. Dear Science and Other Stories. Duke University Press.
McLean, SA. 2020. “Social Constructions, Historical Grounds.” Practicing Anthropology. 42(3):40–44.
See also Dr. Shay-Akil McLean’s “Intro to Political Liberation Reading List”
Prescod-Weinstein, Chanda. 2021. The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred. Bold Type Books.
Shell, CJ; K Dyson; TL Fuentes; Des Roches S; NC Harris; DS Miller; CA Woelfle-Erskine; MR Lambert. 2020. “The Ecological and Evolutionary Consequences of Systemic Racism in Urban Environments.” Science, Vol 369, Issue 6510. DOI: 10.1126/science.aay4497
Show Credits
Interview and Post-production
edna bonhomme
music
All music is from Freesounds.org (Creative Commons)
Thank you
A special thank you to Dr. Shay-Akil McLean!