Under a Black Star: A Conversation and Performance of the Maroon Impulse

What does Belonging mean to Chicagoans whose family has history of movement and survival? The Center invites an audience to explore how autonomy translates across borders and political boundaries. In Under a Black Star, Dr. Amari Johnson explores what he defines as the “maroon impulse” among the BlackStar Community in the Algiers neighborhood of New Orleans. According to Dr. Johnson, "instead of appealing to the city, they built the community they desired by employing legacies of marronage: disengagement, flight, and reengagement." This event will encourage discussions around community and belonging; and will include an exciting performance of Soular Rock, coined by Amari and his performance ensemble Amari Rebel & the Movement. About Amari Johnson/ Amari Rebel & The Movement: Amari “Rebel” Johnson is a musician and filmmaker combining scholarship and art in service of the African Diasporic practice of autonomous community creation, or what he has termed the “maroon impulse.” Amari holds a PhD in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Texas at Austin and is the author of Under a Black Star: the Maroon Impulse in New Orleans (Minnesota 2025). https://www.upress.umn.edu/9781517916541/under-a-black-star/#:~:text=Author%2B Amari Rebel & the Movement is a band of messengers blending rock, reggae, and hip-hop into a sound that has reached audiences throughout the United States, Africa, Europe, and the Caribbean. They call it Soular Rock. Each show is an invitation to join them in an experiment in Freedom. https://www.amarirebel.com/