Funk the Clock: Transgressing Time While Young, Perceptive, and Black

Funk the Clock challenges conventional sociological theories of time by revealing how time is racialized, how race is temporalized, and how racism takes time. It provides examples of Black youth constructing alternative temporalities that center their lived experiences and ensure their worldviews, tastes, and culture are most relevant and up to date.

Format: Hardback
Length: 294 pages
Publication date: 15 May 2024
Publisher: Cornell University Press

Funk the Clock is a book that challenges the traditional understanding of time and its relationship to race. It argues that Black youth are often denied a place in time and that this denial is a form of oppression. The book invites Black youth to give the finger to the hands of time and to follow their lead in constructing alternative temporalities that center their lived experiences and ensure their worldviews, tastes, and culture are most relevant and up to date.

Rahsaan Mahadeo's study of a youth center in Minneapolis provides examples of Black youth constructing alternative temporalities that center their lived experiences and ensure their worldviews, tastes, and culture are most relevant and up to date. These stories have the potential to stretch the sociological imagination to make the familiar (i.e., time) strange. Funk the Clock forges new directions in the study of race and time by upending what we think we know about time and centering Black youth as key collaborators in rewriting knowledge as we know it.

One of the key arguments of Funk the Clock is that time is racialized. Mahadeo argues that race is temporalized, and that racism takes time. This means that Black people are often treated as if they are living in the past or the future, rather than in the present. This can have a negative impact on their lives, as they may be denied opportunities, resources, and respect.

Funk the Clock also challenges conventional sociological theories of time. Mahadeo argues that these theories are empirically and theoretically unsustainable and that they need to be funked up/with. He provides examples of how Black youth are constructing alternative temporalities that center their lived experiences and ensure their worldviews, tastes, and culture are most relevant and up to date.

One of the ways that Black youth are constructing alternative temporalities is through the use of music. Music is a powerful tool that can help to shape our understanding of time and to connect us to our past and our future. Black youth use music to express their emotions, to connect with their peers, and to create a sense of community.

Funk the Clock also explores the ways in which race and time intersect with other social issues, such as gender, sexuality, and class. Mahadeo argues that these issues are often intertwined and that they can have a negative impact on Black youth's lives. He provides examples of how Black youth are working to address these issues and to create a more just and equitable society.

In conclusion, Funk the Clock is a book that challenges the traditional understanding of time and its relationship to race. It argues that Black youth are often denied a place in time and that this denial is a form of oppression. The book invites Black youth to give the finger to the hands of time and to follow their lead in constructing alternative temporalities that center their lived experiences and ensure their worldviews, tastes, and culture are most relevant and up to date. By upending what we think we know about time and centering Black youth as key collaborators in rewriting knowledge as we know it, Funk the Clock forges new directions in the study of race and time.

Weight: 907g
Dimension: 229 x 152 x 23 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781501774201