Angelica J. Allen is an Assistant Professor and Co-director of Africana Studies at Chapman University. She received her Ph.D. in African and African Diaspora Studies from the University of Texas at Austin and holds an MA in Africana Studies from New York University. Her book project is titled, “Afro-Amerasians: Blackness in the Philippine Imaginary,” which explores a community in the Philippines known as the Black Amerasians, a population born from the union of African American military men and Filipina women. As both a member of the Black Amerasian community and a scholar of that community’s experiences, Angelica’s goal is to develop a research project dedicated to advancing social justice by granting more visibility to Black Amerasian perspectives. She is a visual artist and has been awarded fellowships from the Ford Foundation, and the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies.

Charissa Threat is an Associate Professor of History at Chapman University where she teaches courses in United States and African American history. Her research interests are in race and gender in twentieth century U.S. history, civil rights, community activism, and civil-military relations. Her first book, Nursing Civil Rights: Gender and Race in the Army Nurse Corps (University of Illinois Press, 2015), won the 2017 Lavinia L. Dock Book Award from the American Association for the History of Nursing for outstanding research and writing on the history of nursing. She is also the author of several book chapters, most recently, “’Patriotism is Neither Masculine or Feminine”: Gender and the Work of War” in the Routledge History of Gender, War and the US Military, Kara D. Vuic, ed. (Routledge Press, 2017).  She is currently at work on her second book, "Sweethearts and Pin-Ups." It is a history that examines home-front activities, wartime participation, and investigates intimate relations among African American women and men in the context of the Second World War. 

Engaging the World: Leading the Conversation on the Significance of Race is a ten-part podcast series of informed and enriching dialogues to help us better understand our world – how we got here, who we are, and where we are going as a society. This series engages in conversations with scholars, artists, filmmakers, and activists to investigate racial inequality, systemic racism, racial terrorism, and racial justice and reconciliation. Through education, art, and storytelling, we can all learn to be allies and engage the world to help evolve to a place of compassion and social equity.

Guests: Angelica J. Allen and Charissa Threat
Host: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by Public Podcasting in partnership with Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Chapman University.