Learning from a Postracial Moment: Notes from The University of Bielefeld

[By Maryemma Graham]

Bielefeld University in the western part of Germany seemed an unlikely place to make a discovery.  Teaching for 30 years, facing a new group of students on a regular basis is common practice for me. As far as I was concerned, my trip to the University of Bielefeld for an intensive 4 day seminar “Gender and Memoir” entailed another set of prepared lectures, knowing that I was going to a meet interesting students whose comprehension of what I had to say would come by way of translation.  I had also prepared myself also to expect little of the nuance that comes when there is apparent cultural and/or ethnic reciprocity, even if the discussions are at a high level of sophistication.  What could really happen in such a short span of time, I thought to myself.

I was pleasantly surprised to find otherwise: fully engaged students, highly proficient speakers and readers of the literature I had proposed we read, and a entirely new set of questions and interpretations—as a result of the range of disciplines the students represented. We have something to learn from those who read literature with fresh new eyes, free from the predispositions that living in racialized America brings.

But this is not about those questions and interpretation, but about something else far more valuable that I learned.

Third Annual Black Aesthetics as Politics: Call for Presentations

Black ExistentialismS: Situating Black Existential Philosophy

February 15, 2013

Submission Deadline: December 1, 2012

Send Submissions and Inquiries to hailej1@duq.edu

 

Celebrating the diversity of understandings, explanations, and explorations into the meaning of blackness within cultural, political, philosophical, and aesthetic life, Duquesne University in conjunction with the Black Aesthetics and Politics series invites participants from a wide range of disciplines and mediums to this year’s topic, Black ExistentialismS: Situating Black Existential Philosophy.

 

Featuring:

Ytasha Womack author of Post‐Black: How a Generation is

Redefining African American Identity

Jaamil Olawale Kosoko of The Philadiction Movement

Staycee Pearl of Staycee Pearl Dance Project
 

 

Eddie S. Glaude, Jr. and Custodial Clowns

[By Jerry W. Ward]

Several times during his September 20, 2012 lecture on “The Crisis of Black Leadership” at the University of Kansas, Eddie Glaude, author of In a Shade of Blue: Pragmatism and the Politics of Black America (2007), used the phrases “custodial politics” and “democratic perfectionism.” “Democratic perfection” is so critical a concept in political theory that it is virtually invisible in the everyday practices of American politics.  The high visibility of “custodial politics,” on the other hand, is an agonizing pain in the butt.

Eddie Glaude: Prophetic Witness and Black Leadership

[By Goyland Williams]

I was fortunate to witness two powerful and thought-provoking lectures given by Eddie Glaude Jr., the William S. Todd Professor of Religion and African-American Studies at Princeton University. The first lecture “The Crises of Black Leadership” was given on Thursday, September 20, 2012 and the second lecture “The Role of the Black Church in the age of Obama” was held in the community at Ninth Street Baptist Church.

In Glaude’s first lecture, “The Crisis of Black Leadership”, he makes his case for what he calls “prophetic pragmatism”- a pragmatism rooted in the Deweyian (John) tradition of American pragmatism and dipped in the waters of what Amiri Baraka calls “Blues People”. It is this blues sensibility that Professor Glaude believes can give voice to the suffering of “the least of these,” and one that challenges the ways in which blacks think about themselves, imagine their history, and how they conceive of their own actions.

The Black Arts Enterprise—Professor Howard Rambsy

[By Kenton Rambsy]

Besides sharing parents and a last name with Howard Rambsy II, I had the opportunity to share the stage and serve on a panel of respondents with him at Make It Funky III. This experience gave me the opportunity to view Howard as more than an older sibling, but to also gain a deeper sense of the work he is doing. More importantly, I have come to understand how it extends our conceptions of African American literature and performative culture.

Professor Adam Bradley’s lecture focused largely on the linguistic aspects hip-hop and offered explanations for how/why scholars can interpret rap music as if it were poetry. Bradley advocated for innovation in the sense of adapting new approaches and creating new standards to study hip-hop culture and relate it to the larger field of literature.

Make It Funky III—Professor Adam Bradley

[By Kenton Rambsy]

I tend to take for granted that I am not an expert on rap music in its entirety. I play the music daily, attend concerts regularly, and read nearly every hip-hop blogs, but, often times, I neglect to fully comprehend that what I understand hip-hop to be in its current state is actually the product of years-and-years of artistic and cultural movements. Professor Adam Bradley’s scholarship has provided me with a foundation to build upon as I interrogate issues of language and how its bearing on rap music has relevance to my literary studies.

The KU Organizer—Professor Tony Bolden

[By Kenton Rambsy]

Professor of African and African American Studies TonyBolden is certainly a social artifact at the University of Kansas. By social artifact, I mean a witness to numerous social and artistic developments in black culture, a poet, a critic of black writing, as well as a mentor to undergrad and graduate students.

Bolden is a leading figure on campus, responsible for organizing events that integrate classroom learning and real world experiences. His annual public forum, Make It Funky, saw its third iteration this year on November 10 here at KU. Following suit of his book Afro-Blue which interrogates African American poetry, Make It Funky III addressed the question “Is rap music poetry?” This event was probably the most successful, yet. So successful, that if you arrived to the event “on-time,” you probably had to stand because there were no more available seats

I had the privilege to participate in event as respondent to the featured lecturer Professor Adam Bradley. In Bolden’s own words, “I always include students in anything I plan. It offers a chance for everyone to learn. Students learn from the professors. Professors learn from the students. It’s a collaborative community.”

Other panelists included, Professor Howard Rambsy II (Associate Professor of English, SIUE), Professor Nicole Hodges-Persely (Assistant Professor of Theatre, KU), and Glen North (Poet and Education Program Manager of American Jazz Museum, KC). Each panelist presented an alternative perspective that identified overlaps between rap music and poetry. Ultimately, the panelists pushed for those in attendance to understand that scholars of poetry and fans of rap music engage in similar intellectual practices as they analyze and interpret lyrics of rap/lines of poetry.

Professor Bolden reminds us that there are still far more conversations to be had about the state of black writing and music. For instance, Professors Bolden and Maryemma Graham organized a follow-up conversation (via skype) with Professor Bradley. Professors at KU similar to Bolden and Graham remind students like me of the importance of continued engagement in black studies.

The links below offer a brief video recap of Make It Funky III.

Make It Funky III

Make It Funky III (Panel Overview)

Video Design Credit: Brandon Hill—University Kansas Student of Film and Media Studies

 [Related: A 2011 Recap of Public Events]

The event was also sponsored by Project on the History of Black Writing, the Provost’s Office of Diversity and Equity, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Hall Center and the Departments of English.

Ballers of the New School—Professor Thabiti Lewis

[By Kenton Rambsy]

Rock Chalk, Jayhawk! At the University of Kansas, athletic culture certainly influences the student body a great deal. Considering the very successful basketball team and other sports programs, students at KU have the unique opportunity to be firsthand spectators and critics of the Big 12 Conference and other Division I programs. In other words, the students can personally analyze the politics of sports culture and bear witness to the opportunities and challenges or the current system.

In an effort to engage the student body and consider the connections between sports, race, media, and politics, the HBW was the lead sponsor of “Can Michael Vick Be Forgiven? Race, Gender and Mythologies in American Sports Culture.” On October 24, 2011, Professor Thabiti Lewis gave a lecture that emphasized the active role the media plays in shaping the impressions of sports culture and, sometimes, creating misleading narratives surrounding black figures in particular.

A 2011 Recap of Public Events

[By Kenton Rambsy]

The year 2011 served as evidence that Black Studies is alive and well at the University of Kansas. There were a host of events on campus that emphasized the significance of integrating the study of black artistic culture with more traditional scholarship in the academy.

For the remainder of the week, the HBW will offer a video recap of events that the program either sponsored or co-sponsored to provide a glimpse of the innovative approaches professors and students are using at KU to engage the study of black culture.

January 18—
Black Literary Suite
Ballers of the New School—Professor Thabiti Lewis

January 19—
The KU Organizer—Professor Tony Bolden
Make It Funky III—Professor Adam Bradley
The Black Arts Enterprise—Professor Howard Rambsy II