"What’s My Name?: Black Vernacular Intellectuals" by Grant Farred

On February 4 at 4:00 PM, Stroncature will host the presentation of What’s My Name?: Black Vernacular Intellectuals by Grant Farred (2003). The book has recently been published in Italian by Quodlibet (2025), translated by Valeria Dani.

Antonio Gramsci’s democratic vision famously proposed that “all men are intellectuals,” yet definitions of intellectual work remain largely confined to elite academic and institutional settings.

In this bold and original study, Grant Farred reimagines the figure of the intellectual through four iconic individuals from the African diaspora: American boxer Muhammad Ali, West Indian Marxist critic C. L. R. James, British cultural theorist Stuart Hall, and Jamaican musician Bob Marley. Building on Gramsci’s concept of the organic intellectual, Farred introduces the category of the vernacular intellectual—those who confront injustice not necessarily through formal academic channels, but from within the rhythms and realities of popular culture, public life, and political resistance.

Ali’s verbal brilliance and fearless dissent, no less than his boxing genius, shaped global perceptions of race, power, and identity. Marley’s music gave voice to anti-colonial struggle and spiritual emancipation, blending political clarity with lyrical and melodic force. Neither is typically called an “intellectual,” yet both performed deeply intellectual labor—reframing collective consciousness and challenging dominant ideologies.

By contrast, James and Hall occupy a liminal space: firmly rooted in academic traditions, but consistently attuned to the vernacular energies of sport, music, media, and diasporic experience. Their work bridges scholarly rigor and cultural urgency, interrogating colonial legacies and the ongoing realities of racism.

What’s My Name challenges conventional boundaries of intellectual legitimacy, offering a compelling and inclusive vision of thought and critique—one that unfolds not only in the university, but in the ring, on the stage, and across the airwaves.

Professor Elettra Stimilli and Professor Felice Ciamatti will be in conversation with the author. The event will be moderated by Riccardo Pennisi.

Registration is required to attend.