Inclusion by exclusion: Contextualizing the context of Black Joy

This paper explores the concept of Black Joy within the context of marketplace exclusion during the heightened racial capitalism of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using Lefebvre’s conceptualization of the production of space as an analytic framework and a netnographic methodology, it explores the role of the Verzuz platform, a pandemic-era livestreamed music battle series, in fostering Black Joy and radical marketplace inclusion through attentive exclusionary practices. Verzuz challenges traditional modes of marketplace inclusion, which approach space as abstract, by leveraging a social space schema, wherein the sociocultural and sociopoltical dimensions of space are acknowledged and addressed. The findings affirm and extend previous conceptualizations of Black Joy and demonstrate how locations of Black Joy can serve as heterotopian spaces that challenge hegemonic notions of blackness and empowers Black people to celebrate their cultural legacies. Verzuz’s radical form of marketplace inclusion can inform broader inclusion initiatives, emphasizing cultural specificity and attentive exclusionary practices.