Thinking From Black: A Lexicon invites readers to approach language not as a fixed system of definitions, but as an evolving field of memory, imagination and collective expression.
Edited by Tina Campt, Kaiama L. Glover, Canisia Lubrin, Tavia Nyong'o, Christina Sharpe and Alexander Ghedi Weheliye, the 2026 volume brings together thinkers connected to the Practicing Refusal Collective. Since 2015, the group has created interdisciplinary conversations around Black life, culture and intellectual practice.
A Diasporic Vocabulary of Possibility
The book takes inspiration from the idea that language carries rhythm, history and lived experience beyond conventional grammar. Its entries explore chosen words and phrases through essays, poetic reflections and critical perspectives, allowing meaning to remain open rather than final.
Described as a diasporic glossary, the collection moves beyond the structure of a traditional reference book. It considers how Black thought can be shaped through sound, ceremony, movement, creativity and speculative imagination. Each contribution offers a distinct point of entry while encouraging readers to form their own connections across disciplines.
By gathering artists, poets, historians and scholars in one publication, Thinking From Black presents language as a shared cultural practice. The project emphasizes that vocabulary can do more than explain the world: it can generate new ways of seeing, relating and creating.
This approach may help shape future cultural studies and publishing by making room for more plural, experimental and community-rooted forms of knowledge.
