Troubling America's historical waters: Toward the transdisciplinary study of U.S. lynchings as an active present

Abstract

This review considers a range of literatures that facilitate a critical discussion of lynching and legacies of lynching as present realities of the 21st Century in the United States of America. Although scholars in this field generally pride themselves on being “apolitical,” America's pioneering lynching scholars and anti‐lynching advocates desired to eradicate lynching because it tangibly threatened the safety of Black, racially minoritized, and resource‐deprived communities inside and outside of the U.S. South. However, scholars selectively engage this history despite its relevance to the production of their research. Likewise, routine displays of white supremacist violence throughout the COVID‐19 pandemic—including the lynching of Ahmaud Arbery—are exacerbating the health and welfare of communities that are already experiencing other inequities. This review mobilizes the Transdisciplinary Frame to address these concerns. This frame leverages the interventionist and anti‐racist praxes that created the field of lynching scholarship to advance an emancipatory sociology and scientific knowledge through the study of lynching's legacies. Furthermore, the Transdisciplinary Frame galvanizes scholars to use innovative methods to explore how racially minoritized individuals and resource‐deprived communities in the 21st Century are grappling with safety concerns that may or may not be tied to legacies of U.S. lynching.