How many questions does Bridget Drinka ask per minute?

Try this. Add up the number of questions you raised in a recent presentation and combine that with the number of questions you heard posed in presentations by two additional presenters. Got it? Ok.

I'm willing to wager that the combined total number of questions from those three presentations are less than the total number of questions Professor Bridget Drinka posed during the course of her single presentation on June 18, for our AALCI Fellows. Put another way, she asks more questions than we do.

I've studied and written about Professor Drinka's presentation style for years now trying to figure out what makes her so effective conveying ideas and engaging the students in our program. Is it her knowledge as a historical linguist and her skills as a data artist? Is it her expertise as a map maker? It's likely all of that, but more.

Black women, posing, and selfies

AALCI Fellows Ayesha, Fullamusu, and Tia, Take #1

AALCI Fellows Ayesha, Fullamusu, and Tia, Take #2

One of the cool, unexpected outcomes of AALCI this summer was getting to observe a few of the Fellows taking these varied approaches to selfies. Seems like a small, trivial matter, right? Actually, it was a serious medium for self and communal expression among these young sisters, especially Fullamusu, Bianca, and Tia.

Each of them had different, distinct styles for presenting themselves on their phones. Tia, a lyrical artist and rap enthusiast, would often pose with an exaggerated tough, mean look. Fullamusu was inclined to take on multiple, exuberant, hyped-up happy faces. Bianca sought to project a regal appearance; she would stand straight and poised, usually enlisting someone else to use her phone to snap the image.

Taken together, they produced a diverse mix of three photographer-photo subjects. I was glad to be a witness.

AALCI in New York City 2015

We traveled with our 6th cohort for our annual scholarly excursion to New York City. 

During our time in the city, we visited: a major exhibition featuring painter Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, an exhibit on hip hop at the Museum of the City of New York, the African Burial Ground, and an exhibit on Basquiat at the Brooklyn Museum. Oh, and of course, we also visited the Strand Bookstore.

A few images from the trip.

Design Notes: Ayesha Malik

By Ayesha Malik

I emblazoned my poster with a fusion of two worlds: Hip Hop and Islam. I decided upon the green-yellow color scheme because green is considered the traditional color of Islam and I felt yellow would complement the green well, in terms of providing contrast. I labored, very meticulously, on the title of my poster, "Islam, Hip Hop's (Un)official Religion" because I wanted to illuminate the intersection of these two distinct realms. Being a typography geek, I chose to hand-draw and hand-cut my title. I chose an Arabic script-inspired font for the title, as Arabic is the language of Islam.

Asia Mott's Poster Presentation

Related:
• Design notes: Asia Mott
• Poster Presentation
• AALCI 2015
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Ayesha Malik's Poster Presentation

I, first, demonstrate the uniqueness of my work by explicating how Islam played a role in the development of Hip Hop as a cultural movement, from a linguistic perspective. Islamic ideology evoked lyrical inspiration for many artists who are part of the Hip Hop canon (e.g., Wu-Tang Clan, Jay Z, Lauryn Hill, Yasiin Bey, Talib Kweli). Despite this, the incorporation of Islamic references into Hip Hop Nation Language (HHNL) is scarcely studied.

Continuing from there, I included the four distinctive patterns of Islamic influence in HHNL that my research discusses: (1) word formation in acronyms and backronyms like “C.R.E.A.M.” (Cash Rules Everything Around Me) and "ALLAH” (Arm, Leg, Leg, Arm, Head); (2) slang such as “peace, God” and “wassup, G”; (3) the use of spoken Islamic Arabic features and inclusion of Quranic verses; and (4) speech acts that reflect Islamic teachings in songs like Lupe Fiasco’s “Muhammad Walks.” Next, I discuss the implications of this project and how this research would be significant in the world beyond academia. I explain how the stereotypes and attitudes associated with both Islam and Hip Hop are dangerous, while also discussing Islamic HHNL as a form of conscious discourse and an expression of community and identity. Lastly, I explain the way in which I conduct my research and include an example of what my data set might look like. I examine Islamic influences in the lyrics of various Hip Hop artists who have a direct religious affiliation to Islam or an associated act. I also use videos of interviews with some of these artists discussing their use of Islamic influences for additional data. --Ayesha Malik

Related:
• Poster Presentation
• AALCI 2015
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Jay Hotrum's Poster Presentation

I’m in the beginning stages of my project and I intend to spend a lot of time researching this subject when I get back home to California.

I’m researching and identifying notable African American perspectives in the field of political science. So far, I’ve really been looking into issues related to Identity Politics, Racial divides, and diversity in the field of Political Science itself. I’m trying to learn about the scope of influence of such perspectives and how they affect the nature of the discipline of political science now and in the future. I’m interested in researching these perspectives to see which one or two perspectives will be especially useful for exploring as part of a major research project when I enter a PhD program. --Jay Hotrum

Related:
• Design notes: Jay Hotrum
• Poster Presentation
• AALCI 2015
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Bianca Young's Poster Presentation

My research focuses on Christian Hypocrisy in 19th century slave narratives. After evaluating the narratives of Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, Henry Box Brown, and Old Elizabeth, I have taken a strong interest in the role that religion plays in the telling of their individual life stories. Each of their narratives demonstrates how religion, specifically Christian hypocrisy, impacted their development of moral perspectives. --Bianca Young

Related:
• Design notes: Bianca Young 
• Poster Presentation
• AALCI 2015
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Fullamusu Bangura's Poster Presentation

Related:
• Design notes: Fullamusu Bangura 
• Poster Presentation
• AALCI 2015
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Tiasha Jefferson's Poster Presentation

Related:
• Design notes: Tiasha Jefferson 
• Poster Presentation
• AALCI 2015
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Design notes: Tiasha Jefferson

By Tiasha Jefferson

In preparation for my poster project I tried to maintain a focus on perspectives of women in male dominated arenas and how the women cope with their lack of public space through images that expressed gender differences. I incorporated an array of black women artist imagery that I felt expressed the perspectives of women in Hip Hop and appropriately reflected their truth. Queen Latifah, Mc Lyte, and Lauryn Hill were highlights of my poster as the expressed the different dimensions of hip hop identity. I incorporated the 4 major elements of hip hop, breaking, djing, emceeing and graffiti in my presentation along with books that
study the culture and its divisions.
 

 Related:
• AALCI 2015
 
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Poster Presentation

Today, our Fellows shared aspects of their developing research at our annual poster session.
 

Design Notes: Asia Mott

By Asia Mott

My poster resembles a garden to represent the basic and most substantial source of nutrition for enslaved Africans: vegetables. I first focused on sketching and designing a tree in order for the title of my project, “Eating Practices of Enslaved Africans”, to stem from the green leaves. Then, I chose to create depictions of specific vegetables that were main components of their meals, such as potatoes, cabbage, beans, and corn. Overall, the colorful layout of my poster represents a diverse garden and an energetic feeling one feels when her or his eating practices include a significant serving of vegetables.

Related:
• AALCI 2015
 
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Being M.L.K.G.

Michael Lee Kelly Gardin, AALCI coordinator, listens to presentation.

When your initials are M.L.K....G, the expectations are high. Like a mountaintop.

We call on you to do a million thises and thats. The room reservations. The flights. The housing
accommodations. The announcements. The check ins, the check ups, the double and triple checks. The copies. The copy cards. The extra paper. The computer codes. The etc. 

Dr. G. assists Fellow with poster project.

It doesn't stop there. You are, after all, "Dr." M.L.K.G., which is to say, we rely on your academic and intellectual expertise as well. "Would you read this?" "Can I tell you my idea?" "How does this sound?" "What else do I need to read?" "What else do I need to write?" "What else do I need to know?" You've encountered it all, and are expected to have answers and advice.

A Serious Supporter: Wanda Guntz

Wanda Guntz speaks with Joycelyn Moody at program in June 2013

Eventually, the folks who do encyclopedias might send out requests for photographs to accompany the definition of "serious supporter of the people." You already know whose image we're sending, right? Exactly. The good sister Wanda Guntz.

For a few years now, she's been one of our go-to people when our Fellows are giving presentations or just when we reach out for general support. She's always there. A phone call or email message away. 

Design notes: Fullamusu Bangura

By Fullamusu Bangura

For my poster, I wanted to focus on the different visual portrayals of Mami Wata to demonstrate how she changes depending on the culture and geographical location that produces her. I used blue and purple, both colors heavily associated with her because of her relationship with the sea. I also used circles because they stand out to me as a very organic shape, important because Mami Wata is considered a spiritual symbol tied to nature. By having the circles overlapping at the bottom, I aim to demonstrate the cultural overlap of the recognizable symbol of a standard mermaid and how things change when her racial and cultural identity comes into play.

Related:
• AALCI 2015
 
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Design notes: Bianca Young

By Bianca Young

As I began contemplating the design for my poster, I first decided to include more images than text. The particular images I chose presented bold messages that I felt conveyed my understanding of Christian hypocrisy in a more creative way than text could have. Organizing the key words in the center and with bright color was to purposely draw the reader's attention there as the starting point for relaying my summary of the poster. The purpose behind including the web diagram I created was to organize my argument and research into a form that would be quick to read and understand. Consuming the larger portion of the board with images and text related to hypocrisy was my way of conveying the strong interest I have in matters of deception.

Related:
• AALCI 2015
 
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Design notes: Jay Hotrum

By Jay Hotrum

The design is centered on the project's theme “Political Science and the State of the Discipline” and features the left panel with quotes from prominent African American political scientists, over a backdrop of significant photos from the Civil Rights Movement to show how public perspectives have shaped political events in the past. The pictures highlight the movement as well as the results, featuring rallies by Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., and eventually President Lyndon B. Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act into law in 1964. This is meant to symbolize how legislative change can be realized through a series of events, including public protest, that shape the scope of politics in the future as well.

The center panel focuses on a series of books written about perspectives on politics and political science, as well as different philosophies pertaining to these political perspectives. The backdrops symbolize the brick walls that certain issues face as boundaries before making their way through the legal process. The walls feature the many perspectives that are currently shaping public opinion, with the right panel showing why more research is needed in the field, and also displaying a scale representing the justice system that symbolizes how public voice is the creator of our public perception, and that only through participation in the political system can everyone’s voice make a difference.

Related:
• AALCI 2015
 
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The Interlocutor, the Ghost Hunter: Joycelyn Moody

Just so we’re clear, Joycelyn Moody is one of the greatest interlocutors you’ll ever encounter. Every year, one of the highlights of our summer Institute is the mid-point of the program when Fellows meet with us, individually to discuss their abstracts.

The sessions last 20 minutes, not really enough time, but it’s perhaps too long for what many of the undergraduates can endure in one sitting. After all, they rarely have such concentrated attention on their work. Professors are often too busy or overworked to engage individual students at such a high level. 

Moody reads the abstracts and then poses these really thoughtful questions to the Fellows. She asks for clarification about statements; wonders how the work connects to past projects, courses, and future plans; identifies contradictions and inaccuracies in the write-ups; and offers encouragement and compliments.

Scholars at Work: AALCI Fellows Visit Special Collections

A few photographs from our time at the special collections at John Peace Library on Tuesday, June 9.

The Connector: Tara Schmidt

Each year, Tara Schmidt guides our Fellows through a session in the UTSA John Peace Library. She's worked with each of our 6 cohorts, that is, 43 total students.

As the subject librarian for English, Linguistics, and the Writing Program, Schmidt works with a variety of faculty and students throughout the academic year. She also regularly assists Institute founder Joycelyn Moody on research projects.

Overall, Schmidt is really one of the great connectors; she's a guide to the links professors and students are in search of when they are pursuing research projects. Sometimes, she's tasked with assisting patrons find something that  they can't place their hands on, and at other times, she's tasked with assisting folks find things that they did not know existed.

What makes this whole process notable is how excited Schmidt is about assisting us make the connections. I've witnessed her maintain this high level of enthusiasm with each of our cohorts over the course of 6 years. You get the sense that she's pursuing a passion, not simply doing a job.

During our most recent session, we had our Fellows over here, and then over there, we could  see some hard to reach yet needed information. And right in the middle, we had Tara Schmidt, our connector.   

Related:
• AALCI 2015
 
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Fellows Visit John Peace Library

Fellows peruse materials from the Sterling Houston Collection at John Peace Library

AALCI Fellow Fullamusu Bangura investigates materials from the Sterling Houston Collection.

 Tuesday, June 9, the Fellows made the annual visit to John Peace Library for a session on utilizing digital resources and materials in special collections. The session was led by university archivists Kristin Law and Julianna Barrera-Gomez as well as librarian Tara Schmidt, who's been a long-time guide for participants in AALCI.


None of the Fellows had previously worked with special collections, so the opportunity to look through materials in the Sterling Houston Collection here at the library was a notable moment for the group. So much of their research activities involves digital-based approaches, so looking through and holding handwritten letters and other materials from decades past was an unusual and exciting experience, the Fellows acknowledged.

Julianna Barrera-Gomez talks to Fellows about special collections.

Law, Barrera-Gomez, and Schmidt have considerable experience and expertise, which was apparent based on their varied and in-depth answers to the questions the Fellows posed about special collections and pursuing research through the use of online databases.

Later, some of us talked about the allure of possibly working a library and helping patrons track down hard-to-find sources and address other research-related problem-solving.  

Related:
• AALCI 2015
 
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Founder/director, Joycelyn Moody, meets with the Fellows

Thursday, June 4, Joycelyn Moody, the founder/director of the Institute, stopped by to talk with the Fellows. Mostly, we conversed about her routes to developing the program. The Fellows also asked questions about Moody's various interests and research projects, and her collaborations with graduate students.

Throughout the session, Moody also posed questions to the students, asking them to share their thoughts on a wide range of topics. It was a lively, lovely time.  



Related:
• AALCI 2015
 
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Week #1 Readings

For the first week of the program, we covered a range of readings:

• From The Slave Ship: A Human History by Marcus Rediker

• A Notebook on slavery/liberation, which included runaway slave ads, writings by and about enslaved people

• Poetry Packet #1: Works by Opal Palmer Adisa, Lucille Clifton, Robert Hayden, Vievee Francis, Dudley Randall, Ishmael Reed, and Phillis Wheatley

• “Message to the Grassroots” by Malcolm X

• Poetry Packet #2: Works by Langston Hughes, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Gwendolyn Brooks, Robert Hayden, Helene Johnson,  Claude McKay, and Margaret Walker

• The Black Book 

• "Behind the Making of The Black Book" by Toni Morrison

• "How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You: The BeyHive" By Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah

Related:
• AALCI 2015
 
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Notebooks and sharing

A couple of the notebooks that I gave to the Fellows

On the first day of class this summer, I gave the AALCI Fellows notebooks as well as parameters on how we might respond. Mostly, we are dedicating 3-sentence responses to our main readings. So far so good.

I have a couple of the Fellows read from their notebooks at the beginning of discussions, during the middle, and then for our closing thoughts. Limiting folks to 3 sentences helps with creativity. Having a limit allows folks to push themselves to fit the key points into that small space. 

I give folks the latitude to write in whatever form or mode that they think is appropriate. Some choose conventional prose. At least one has presented raps. Another uses phrasings that might appear in poems. Someone else provided a list. Another student responded to a poem with a short letter to the poet.
   

I rarely assign journals in classes that I teach, mostly because the enrollment sizes prevent me from giving adequate attention to all the journals. Also, students are reluctant to share journal entries, and I've learned that they often do not review their own writings.

This ongoing notebook activity for the summer allows me to move in new territory. I avoided referring to the small books as "journals" and "diaries," because I thought that might influence the students in undesirable ways. For now, I want them to be public writers, not just private writers.

I'm hoping that they view the notebooks as sketch books and as conversation starters. Later in June, we'll visit an exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum featuring excerpts from the notebooks of Jean-Michel Basquiat. So we'll have a chance to write in our notebooks about an artist's notebooks.   

Related:
• AALCI 2015
 
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Responding to Phillis Wheatley and Hayden's "Frederick Douglass"

 

Among the many poems we read during the first week were Phillis Wheatley's "On Being Brought from Africa to America" and Robert Hayden's "Frederick Douglass." I asked the students to write short responses to the poems in any form or mode of writing that they liked.

What follows are a couple of responses:

Hey Phillis,

This is an interesting poem you've written here--I can see you are talented with the pen! Although, I cannot help but to read your words as anything other than satire. Thank you for demonstrating that African American women are educated, creative, and thoughtful at a time this was thought to be untrue.
Respectfully,
Asia M.

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Reading Robert Hayden's poem "Frederick Douglass" is reassurance that Douglass's relentless efforts as an abolitionist were not in vain. In a broader perspective, it demonstrates the transcendence of appreciation for what Douglass symbolizes, which is an unwavering determination to obtain freedom and enhance the value of black lives. Douglass and others like him who were strong in their fight deserve to be respected as legends and way makers for the brave decisions they made that proved to be impactful well beyond the time periods in which they lived. --Bianca Y.

Related:
• AALCI 2015
 
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Reading slavery/liberation

We began the week by reading about slavery and liberation. We started with readings about slave ships. In particular, we checked out an excerpt from Marcus Rediker's The Slave Ship: A Human History.

A good discussion as always. We talked about about the importance of thinking about slavery and struggles for liberation, about resistance and oppression.

A couple of student comments concerning The Slave Ship readings:

The slave trade highlights the most embarrassing time period in the history of our world, where power and corruption took a front seat over human rights and basic human decency. While the masses were able to sleep well at night by closing their eyes to the atrocities of the slave trade, the profiteers rose to the highest positions in government in order to have the power to encourage the longevity of the practice. The brutal slave ship mentality that treated millions of human beings as if they were property, bought and sold, leaves us wondering if it was worth the suffering in any way, as we try to figure out how our [European] ancestors were any different from the sharks that circled the slave ships in hopes of an easy meal. --Jay H.

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"Another White man…tried to grope her”(The Slave Ship, 3).

At the intersection of race and gender in the context of slavery, the Black woman’s body is doubly possessed—first, in bondage; second, as a sexual object. Though slavery no longer exists in the incarnation that it did in the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries during the transatlantic slave trade, Black women’s bodies are still up for grabs (literally) and always made a point of discussion. They are always up for comment. They are continually hypersexualized. And because of a Black woman’s features, people (outsiders) always assume they have access to her body—be it her hair, her skin, her curves. --Ayesha M.

Related:
• AALCI 2015

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Joycelyn Moody and the 2015 AALCI Fellows

On May 31st, we welcomed the 2015 class of AALCI Fellows. We have a vibrant, diverse group of rising scholars. 

Bianca Young (Jackson State University)
Fullamusu Bangura (Rutgers University - New Brunswick) 
Jay Hotrum (UC Riverside)
Jocelyn Moody, AALCI, founder & director  
Asia Mott (UC Berkley) 
Tiasha Jefferson (Southern Illinois University Edwardsville)
Ayesha Malik (University of Texas at San Antonio)

Related:
• AALCI 2015
 
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AALCI 2015

Here we are again. Our activities for this year's 6th cohort of the African American Literatures and Cultures Institute began on Sunday, May 31st, with our opening reception. We'll conclude with a closing reception on June 25. As always, I'll post entries documenting our activities and musings over the next few weeks.

Entries:
• How many questions does Bridget Drinka ask per minute? 
• Black women, posing, and selfies 
• AALCI in New York City 2015 
• Tiasha Jefferson's Poster Presentation
• Ayesha Malik's Poster Presentation
• Asia Mott’s Poster Presentation
• Fullamusu Bangura’s Poster Presentation
• Bianca Young’s Poster Presentation
• Jay Hotrum’s Poster Presentation
• Poster Presentation
• Being M.L.K.G
• A Serious Supporter: Wanda Guntz 
• Design Notes: Ayesha Malik 
• Design notes: Tiasha Jefferson
• Design notes: Asia Mott
• Design notes: Fullamusu Bangura 
• Design notes: Bianca Young
• Design notes: Jay Hotrum
• The Interlocutor, the Ghost Hunter: Joycelyn Moody   
• Scholars at Work: AALCI Fellows Visit Special Collections
• The Connector: Tara Schmidt
• Fellows Visit John Peace Library 
• Founder/director, Joycelyn Moody, meets with the Fellows
• Week #1 Readings 
• Notebooks and sharing 
• Responding to Phillis Wheatley and Hayden's "Frederick Douglass" 
• Reading slavery/liberation
• Joycelyn Moody and the 2015 AALCI Fellows

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