Chris Tinson

Biography
Christopher Tinson, assistant professor of African American studies, earned a Ph.D. from the W.E.B. Du Bois department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He holds an M.A. in Ethnic Studies from San Francisco State University and a B.A. from California State University, Dominguez Hills.

Professor Tinson's interdisciplinary research and teaching interests include black radical traditions, pan-Africanism and black internationalism, Hip-Hop culture, race and sports, and media studies.

His recently taught courses include: Black Radicalism in the U.S. and Beyond, 1960s and 1970s and Framing Blackness: African Americans and Mass Media in the U.S. In addition to offering an introductory African American studies course, his new courses include: Warfare in the American Homeland: Policing, Imprisonment and the Politics of Control; and More Than A Check: African Americans and the Politics of Reparations.

Education
Doctor of Philosophy Afro-American Studies, University of May 2010 Massachusetts Amherst - Dissertation: The Fight for Freedom Must be Fought on All Fronts: The Liberator Magazine and Black Radicalism, 1960-1971

Master of Arts Afro-American Studies, University of February 2007 Massachusetts Amherst

May 2003 Ethnic Studies, San Francisco State University with Distinction

Bachelor of Arts Africana Studies &amp; English Literature May 1999

Courses



What is Africa to me?: Black Diasporic Encounters



Warfare in the American Homeland: Policing, Imprisonment and the Politics of Control



CSI 216: Framing Blackness: African Americans and Mass Media in the 20th Century, S2011 SS236: The Black Seventies, Fall 2010 SS120: Introduction to African American Studies, Spring 2010 SS228: African Americans and the Politics of Reparations, Spring 2010

Current Projects
“We have nothing to lose:” The Improvisation of Black Studies at Hampshire, 40 Years later 

Black Studies programs, departments, and institutes around the country are celebrating their fortieth anniversaries. With Hampshire also recognizing that same milestone, black studies and Hampshire College are mutually reflective of significant shifts in the American system of higher education. The importance of these achievements notwithstanding, it is of significance to note that both black studies and Hampshire college shared (at least on the surface) a concern for meeting educational and social needs of students in this country and indeed from around the world. In the brief time we have today, I will speak to Hampshire College’s engagement with black studies, with a particular emphasis on the early history. Identifying key members of the faculty and the early course offerings at HC and throughout the five colleges will help to situate Hampshire’s adoption of black studies courses within that history.

'''“Harlem, New York! Harlem, Detroit! Harlem, Birmingham!” Liberator Magazine and the Chronicling of Translocal Activism, 1963-1967'''

The four years between 1963 and 1967 were years of growth for the Liberator magazine. Dan Watts’ generous editorial policy allowed the journal to attract a new cadre of staff writers such as Askia Touré and Larry Neal to bolster the magazine’s circulation of black radical perspectives, which supplemented the writings of Harold Cruse, Carlos Russell, Selma Sparks and others. This paper argues that the Liberator served as a critical space of translocal political activity. Through formal and informal distribution networks it was able to connect local struggles in New York, to those in Birmingham, Detroit, Los Angeles, and Accra, Ghana, expanding the circles of activism it grew out of and establishing new connections of its own. Aside from the numerous articles it published, including political, social and aesthetic commentary, Liberator also frequently opened its pages to readers and subscribers from around the country, expanding political debate beyond core activists and writers on its editorial staff. In this way, the magazine’s format and its generous publishing policy gave voice to and participated in the building of community networks of criticism and activism. Drawing on published and unpublished sources and interviews this paper holds Liberator magazine as a critical example in the shaping of a radical print culture in the 1960s.

Community Involvement
PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

National Council for Black Studies, 1999-Present

Association for the Study of African-American Life and History, 2004-Present

Organization of American Historians, 2004-2008

COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION

Workshop Facilitator, “Triggering Change: Strategies for Self and Community Empowerment,” Alliance to Develop Power (ADP) Youth Retreat, Springfield, MA, August 11, 2010

Guest Speaker, “How We Organize: Creativity, Commitment and Community,” Project 2050 Legacy Retreat, Hampshire College, August 9, 2010

Featured Speaker, “Hip-Hop’s Political Visions,” Kopkind Colony, Guilford, Vermont, July 23, 2010 Guest Speaker, The High School of Science and Technology, Springfield, MA, July 23, 2010

Board Member, Friends of the Holyoke Public Library, Elected May 2010

Lead Organizer, “Triggering Change 2: Hip Hop, Community Engagement, and Sites of Empowerment” Conference, Hampshire College, April 23-24, 2010

People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond “Undoing Racism Workshop,” Springfield, MA, November 6-8, 2009

National Conference Planning Committee Member, “Free Minds, Free People 2011,” October 2009-Present

Facilitator, Education for Liberation Politics, Arts, and Culture Series, Food For Thought Books, Amherst, October-November 2009

Guest Speaker, After School Connections Program, Holyoke High School, October 19, 2009

Mentor, First Generation Community-Based Arts Program, August 2009-Present

Master of Ceremonies, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Celebration, Northampton High School, January 19, 2009

Workshop Co-Facilitator, “Triggering Change: Thinking Critically about the Impact of Incarceration on Black and Brown Youth,” Hampshire College, October 17, 2008

Co-Organizer and Panel Moderator, North Star Community Book Festival, Springfield, MA, October 11, 2008

Agape Community’s Annual St. Francis Day Celebration, “Breaking the Silence: Unheard Voices in an Election Year”, Ware, MA, October 4, 2008

Lead Organizer, Triggering Change: Hip-Hop, Media Justice and Social Responsibility, UMass, Amherst, April 25-26, 2008

Youth, Hip-Hop and Media Reform Workshop, Hampshire Educational Collaborative, Northampton, MA, April 13, 2007

North Carolina State University Ghana Humanities Program, Summer 2005

MEDIA

Interviewed for Okayplayer’s (Jazz, Soul, Hip-Hop) “Revivalist” Column, “Hip-Hop DIY ‘High Art’ Achiever” by Bouyan Gao, January 2, 2011. http://revivalist.okayplayer.com/2011/01/05/hip-hop-diy-%E2%80%98high-art%E2%80%99-achiever/

Interviewed for Black Agenda Report/VoxUnion Column by Dr. Jared Ball, “Black Studies and the Canary in Our National Mine,” December 14, 2010. http://www.voxunion.com/?p=3254

Panelist, “We Ourselves,” hosted by Dr. Jared Ball, WPFW 89.3 Pacifica Radio, Washington DC, November 5, 2010

Interviewed for “Ten Things The Past Can Teach Us Today,” The Nation, September 2, 2010, (On-line); September 20, 2010 (Print).

Panelist, Free Speech TV with Herb Boyd, United States Social Forum, Detroit, Michigan, June 22-26, 2010.

Radio Show featured: “TRGGR-ing Change: A locally based national collaborative uses Hip-Hop to educate, inspire and revolutionize.” The Valley Advocate, January 10, 2007

Host, TRGGR Radio, WMUA 91.1FM, Amherst, MA 2006—Present

Board of Directors Member and Secretary, Valley Free Radio, 2006—2007

Co-Founder and Editor, TRGGR: A Journal of Grassroots Intellectual Thought (in progress)