Contemporary Black Canvas

EP 27 Scholar Therí A. Pickens

Welcome to Contemporary Black Canvas, I am your host, Dr. Pia Deas. In today’s episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing scholar Therí Alyce Pickens about her most recent work Black Madness::Mad Blackness published by Duke University Press in 2019. Currently, Therí A. Pickens is a  Full Professor of English at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. She received her undergraduate degree in Comparative Literature from Princeton University and her PhD in Comparative Literature from UCLA. Her research focuses on Arab American and African American literatures and cultures, Disability Studies, philosophy, and literary theory. In addition to her most recent work, Black Madness::Mad Blackness, she has written New Body Politics: Narrating Arab and Black Identity in the Contemporary United States. She also ushered in a new set of conversations about Blackness and Disability when she guest edited the 50th anniversary issue of African American Review [http://aar.slu.edu/current.html] in the Summer of 2017. In this episode, we will be discussing how Dr. Pickens’ work as she describes it, “ aims to architect a series of conversations that retool our theory and praxis for and about the Black mad and the mad Black.” Please join me in welcoming Therí Alyce Pickens. Twitter: Therí A. Pickens Website: tpickens.org [http://tpickens.org/index.html] Octavia Butler: Fledgling [https://www.amazon.com/Fledgling-Octavia-Butler/dp/0446696161] To find Dr. Pickens: Personal Twitter: TAPPhD Professor, English Chair, Africana (formerly African American Studies) Bates College To Find Dr. Pickens’ Work: Author, Black Madness :: Mad Blackness [https://www.dukeupress.edu/black-madness-mad-blackness?viewby=author&lastname=Pickens&firstname=Ther%C3%AD&middlename=Alyce&displayName=&sort=newest] (Duke 2019) Editor, Arab American Aesthetics [https://www.routledge.com/Arab-American-Aesthetics-Literature-Material-Culture-Film-and-Theatre/Pickens/p/book/9781138099814] (Routledge 2018) Editor, Special Issue [http://tpickens.org/blackness-and-disability.html] of African American Review on Blackness and Disability (2017). Available here [https://www.press.jhu.edu/cgi-bin/order.cgi?oc_id=2249]. Author, New Body Politics [https://www.routledge.com/New-Body-Politics-Narrating-Arab-and-Black-Identity-in-the-Contemporary/Pickens/p/book/9780415735216](Routledge 2014) Authors Mentioned on Show: Tananarive Due [https://www.tananarivedue.com/] Nalo Hopkinson [http://nalohopkinson.com/index.html] Tavia Nyong’o [https://tavianyongo.com/] Paule Marshall [https://www.thriftbooks.com/a/paule-marshall/207187/] Gayl Jones [https://aalbc.com/authors/author.php?author_name=Gayl+Jones] Percival Everett [https://www.amazon.com/Percival-L.-Everett/e/B001H6L4QK%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share] Toni Morrison [https://www.biography.com/writer/toni-morrison] Mat Johnson [http://www.matjohnson.info/] The post EP 27 Scholar Therí A. Pickens [http://www.contemporaryblackcanvas.com/ep-27-scholar-theri-a-pickens/] appeared first on Contemporary Black Canvas [http://www.contemporaryblackcanvas.com].

EP 26 Poet Geffrey Davis

In today’s episode, I had the pleasure of speaking with award winning poet Geffrey Davis. Davis has authored two successful books Revising the Storm [https://www.boaeditions.org/products/revising-the-storm],a 2013 A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize winner and most recently Night Angler [https://www.boaeditions.org/collections/geffrey-davis/products/night-angler] ,  the recipient of the 2018 James Laughlin Award [https://www.poets.org/academy-american-poets/prizes/james-laughlin-award]. Geffrey Davis is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Arkansas. His work has been widely published and he is the recipient of numerous awards and has earned fellowships at Bread Loaf, Cave Canem, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Vermont Studio Center. His work explores the depths of familial frustrations, milestones in new parenthood and the process of mending wounds from generational trauma. Join us as he shares his unique journey of finding purpose in poetry, shares advice on “hacking our inhibitions” and discusses the importance of his most recent poetry collection, Night Angler, as an “ongoing love letter to his son.” The vulnerability and honesty of his story underscores his message for listeners to “love the body that produced this work as much as you love the art itself.” To read more on Geffrey, hear selections of his poems, or see his upcoming reading schedule, please visit his website [https://www.geffreydavis.com/]. F. Douglas Brown Icon and Begotten [http://www.fdouglasbrown.com/] Cave Canem Black Poetry Retreat [https://cavecanempoets.org/retreat/] Jericho Brown The Tradition [https://www.coppercanyonpress.org/pages/browse/book.asp?bg=%7B138DF245-5792-4F5D-A2BA-6A4D6BC663B1%7D] Tiana Clark I Can’t Talk About the Trees Without the Blood [https://www.upress.pitt.edu/books/9780822965589/] The post EP 26 Poet Geffrey Davis [http://www.contemporaryblackcanvas.com/ep-27-poet-geffrey-davis/] appeared first on Contemporary Black Canvas [http://www.contemporaryblackcanvas.com].

BAM EP 5 Scholars, Dancers, and Choreographers: Dr. Osumare and Dr. Dixon Gottschild

Welcome to Contemporary Black Canvas. I am your host, Dr. Pia Deas. On this episode of Contemporary Black Canvas, we are sharing an audio recording entitled “ It’s A Commitment,” an audio recording. This audio piece features esteemed dance scholars Dr. Halifu Osumare and Dr. Brenda Dixon Gottschild. This is part of a larger, artists’ interview series conceptualized and hosted by Margaret Kemp, an Associate Professor of Theatre and Dance at UC Davis, and produced by Alexander Adams. They were kind and generous enough to ask us to share this  recording with Contemporary Black Canvas to include as part of our Black Arts Movement series. For links to the guests and their work, please check our show notes. Please tune in and enjoy. Scholars Margaret Kemp [https://arts.ucdavis.edu/faculty-profile/margaret-laurena-kemp] Halifu Osumare [http://www.hosumare.com/] Brenda Dixon Gottschild [https://bdixongottschild.com/about/] Books Dancing in Blackness [https://www.amazon.com/Dancing-Blackness-Memoir-Halifu-Osumare/dp/0813056616] The Africanist Aesthetic in Global Hip Hop [https://www.amazon.com/Africanist-Aesthetic-Global-Hip-Hop-Power/dp/0230609619] The Black Dancing Body [https://www.amazon.com/Black-Dancing-Body-Geography-Coon/dp/1403971218] Black choreographers moving: A national dialogue [https://www.amazon.com/Black-choreographers-moving-national-dialogue/dp/B0006F06YO] Everybody Creative Arts Center [https://dancersgroup.org/2008/06/whats-in-a-name-the-legacy-of-everybodys-creative-art-center/] Black Choreography Moving Towards the 21st Century [https://www.amazon.com/Black-Choreographers-Moving-Toward-Century/dp/999373683X] Digging; The Africanist presence in American performance, dance and other contexts [https://www.amazon.com/Digging-Africanist-Presence-American-Performance/dp/027596373X] The post BAM EP 5 Scholars, Dancers, and Choreographers: Dr. Osumare and Dr. Dixon Gottschild [http://www.contemporaryblackcanvas.com/bam-ep-5-scholars-dancers-and-choreographers-dr-osumare-and-dr-dixon-gottschild/] appeared first on Contemporary Black Canvas [http://www.contemporaryblackcanvas.com].

EP 25 Scholar Rashad Shabazz

Welcome to Contemporary Black Canvas where we celebrate the depth and breadth of Black artistic and intellectual traditions. In this episode, I had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Rashad Shabazz, an Associate Professor of Justice and Social Inquiry within  School of Social Transformation at Arizona State University and an affiliate faculty member at the Lincoln Center of Applied Ethics. Dr. Shabazz’ research interests are in human geography, Black cultural studies, gender studies, and critical prison studies. He joined us on our show to discuss his book, Spatializing Blackness: Architectures of Confinement and Black Masculinity in Chicago. Join us and hear how Dr. Shabazz’s growing up in Chicago shaped him as a person and a scholar. Hear how Chicago police, law enforcement, and city officials  responded to the influx of Blacks into Chicago during the great migration. Hear Dr. Shabazz explain, in depth, what “prisonize” is and how it shaped the Black experience in Chicago during the 20th century. Join us for a deeply moving and transformative conversation about how the structures of prisons are replicated in the everyday living spaces and living environments of Black Americans. To learn more about Dr. Shabazz and his work, please check out his book Spatializing Blackness and keep an eye out for his future work on the development of the Minneapolis Sound. Rashad Shabazz [https://isearch.asu.edu/profile/291312] Spatializing Blackness [https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/52nwq3by9780252039645.html] Minneapolis Sound [https://cisa.asu.edu/node/4322] Native Sons [https://www.amazon.com/Native-Son-Richard-Wright/dp/0061148504] Stateway Garden [https://chicagoganghistory.com/housing-project/stateway-gardens/] Robert Taylor Homes [https://chicagoganghistory.com/housing-project/robert-taylor-homes/] Levee [https://chicagology.com/notorious-chicago/leveedistrict/] Richard Wright [http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/s_z/r_wright/wright_life.htm] Mumbai Abu Jamal [http://www.freemumia.com/who-is-mumia-abu-jamal/] Angela Davis [https://www.biography.com/people/angela-davis-9267589] Assata Shakur [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jul/13/assata-shakur-civil-rights-activist-fbi-most-wanted] Govan Mbeki [https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/govan-mbeki] Ruth First [https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/ruth-heloise-first] Nelson Mandela [https://www.nelsonmandela.org/] The post EP 25 Scholar Rashad Shabazz [http://www.contemporaryblackcanvas.com/ep-26-scholar-rashad-shabazz/] appeared first on Contemporary Black Canvas [http://www.contemporaryblackcanvas.com].

BAMAA EP 4 Scholar & Activist Abdul Alkalimat

Welcome to Contemporary Black Canvas, I am your host, Dr. Pia Deas. In this episode,  I had the pleasure of speaking with scholar and activist, Abdul Alkalimat. In our conversation today, he begins by discussing how influential his family of activists and scholars were on his early development and his lifelong commitment to the freedom struggle. Our discussion focuses how he, together with Conrad Kent Rivers and Hoyt Fuller, founded the artist’s collective, OBAC, the Organization of Black American Culture in Chicago in 1967. We discuss OBAC’s role in Black Arts Movement and in creating the Wall of Respect mural. The Wall of Respect, a mural of black leaders, changed the tone of Chicago, strengthened its Black community, and inspired a thousands of artists across the country to not only embrace the Black Arts movement but to also create cultural murals in other neighborhoods. The story of OBAC and the Wall of Respect was captured through a combination of essays, and artifacts in his book The Wall of Respect: Public Art and Black Liberation in 1960s Chicago edited by him Robin Crawford and Rebecca Zorach.  Dr.Abdul Alkalimat has been and continues to be a substantial force in the black community. Currently, outside of his long career in academia, he is maintains a variety of digital archives, including one focused a collection of his work and pertinent information related to liberation movements since the 1960’s and the other is a dedication to Malcolm X. Throughout his career, Alkalimat demonstrates the importance of knowledge to freedom and survival. He urges listeners to keep generational records as they are an “important part of our DNA”. To find his work, please check out his website: www.alkimat.org [http://www.alkimat.org/]. http://brothermalcolm.net [http://brothermalcolm.net/] Malcolm X dedication Site http://alkalimat.org [http://alkalimat.org/] Abdul Alkalimat archive http://www.nupress.northwestern.edu/content/wall-respect [http://www.nupress.northwestern.edu/content/wall-respect] Wall of Respect Book https://interactive.wttw.com/dusable-to-obama/africobra [https://interactive.wttw.com/dusable-to-obama/africobra] Africobra Information http://www.pbs.org/black-culture/shows/list/underground-railroad/stories-freedom/henry-box-brown/ [http://www.pbs.org/black-culture/shows/list/underground-railroad/stories-freedom/henry-box-brown/] Henry Box Brown’s Bio https://interactive.wttw.com/dusable-to-obama/dawsons-black-machine [https://interactive.wttw.com/dusable-to-obama/dawsons-black-machine] William Dawson’s bio https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/jackson-joseph-harrison [https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/jackson-joseph-harrison] Rev. J. H. Jackson’s bio https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/feb/24/jeff-donaldson-art-kravets-wehby-gallery [https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/feb/24/jeff-donaldson-art-kravets-wehby-gallery] Artist Jeff Donaldson & Africobra https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/margaret-burroughs [https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/margaret-burroughs] Margaret Taylor-Burroughs’ bio The post BAMAA EP 4 Scholar & Activist Abdul Alkalimat [http://www.contemporaryblackcanvas.com/scholar-activist-abdul-alkalimat/] appeared first on Contemporary Black Canvas [http://www.contemporaryblackcanvas.com].