Graduate Symposium on Healing

By Casey Shevlin

Dr. Pierce-Baker on campus at UTSA

On March 27th, the English graduate students at the University of Texas at San Antonio had the pleasure of hosting their annual Interdisciplinary Graduate Symposium, which was framed around the topic of “Social Healing.” Throughout the day, approximately 100 guests stopped by to attend several graduate student panels:

•  “Food Justice and Activism: Community Gardens, Decolonizing Urban Diets, and Alternative Food Systems”
•  “Fantasy, Music, and Dystopia: How Art Shapes the Female Image” 
• “Representations of Healing and Healers across Literary Genres” 
• “Negotiating the Body and Spirit: Questions of Corporeal Healing”

All of the panels consisted of new, important, and instructive work related to the topic of social healing.

It is our keynote address by Dr. CharlottePierce-Baker that I haven’t stopped thinking about, though.  Like much of her work, Pierce-Baker’s talk on “Gender, Rape, and Race: A Grammar of Violence” powerfully discussed the topic of violence against women and gave voice to the differing iterations of that violence—a different “grammar,” as Pierce-Baker says, for expressing and understanding women’s varying experiences with and contexts of violence and assault.

During the Q & A that followed Pierce-Baker’s address, it became obvious to me that—as Pierce-Baker had explained—almost every woman in the room had a grammar for violence. Hand after hand went up; every woman in the room had a sister, a daughter, a colleague who had been raped, assaulted, threatened. Though I know the statistics—1 in 4, I think—I was blown away and horrified by how pervasive this violence felt in that instant.

But, I was also moved by and grateful for Dr. Pierce-Baker’s bravery. Her insistence on breaking the silence surrounding rape and her courage in sharing her personal grammar of violence had given each woman in the room courage to do the same. And moreover, Pierce-Baker’s talk pushed me personally to think about bravery in the academy—especially the need for it.

I’m honored and grateful that I was there to hear her speak. She’s encouraged me to do embodied work in the academy. To try to be brave like her.

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Casey Shevlin is a second year English doctoral student at the University of Texas at San Antonio and a co-chair for the English Department's Interdisciplinary Graduate Symposium.  Her research interests include 19th C African American literature and print cultures, women's studies, and contemporary activist pedagogy.

Images of a Graduate Student Sympiosium

The graduate students of the English Department at the University of Texas at San Antonio recently hosted an Interdisciplinary Graduate Symposium on "Social Healing."  Below are some images from that event.

Panelists

UTSA English Department administrative associate Reina Vargas and
doctoral student Aravis Thomas

Dr. Joycelyn Moody, Dr. Charlotte Pierce-Baker, and Dr. Sonja Lanehart

Event keynote speaker Dr. Charlotte Pierce-Baker and
visiting scholar Dr. Trudier Harris

 

Looking Back - Campus Words Events

The following are photos from North Harris's Campus Words event, which offers a free-speech space to students who want to share their art, poetry, music, stories, and more.  These bi-monthly meetings have been unique in that students were able to come together and share their creativity and passion. We are looking forward to these meetings again in the fall.

Anthony R - a student, boxer, performer - shares his lyrics

Kiet C explains and describes his artwork

Melissa P recites her original poetry

Patricio S chooses from his many poems

Professor Rydarowski shares his fiction

The Power of Music

By Breanna Polk 

A beautiful thing about music is its abilities to heal people in mysterious ways through relaxation. Studies show that when the mind is relaxed, it recharges itself, causing one to think clearly. Music therapy is now used in many facilities to help people overcome diseases, sicknesses, and educate small children.            

An example of music healing in a mysterious way is little Nevaeh from the Make-A-Wish foundation, whose Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome led to her inability to relax her muscles. Amazingly, the only thing that calmed her down was listening to Mary Mary’s music. So as her wish, she got Mary Mary, a multiple Grammy Award Winning Gospel Group, to give her a personal concert and it was truly life-changing to see the difference in Nevaeh’s behavior once they started singing.

Music has been used for generations to teach children about colors, how to spell, continents, the alphabet, how to count, and the days of the week through different songs. When small children sing educational songs, it helps them develop vital speech skills, like how to make a complete sentence. As children learn the songs, they develop speech patterns through repetition, teaching them when and where a phrase ends and another begins.

In Alzheimer patients, music therapy uses music to “evoke emotions that bring memories.” Studies show that many people associate moments in their lives with different songs. So with Alzheimer patients, hearing familiar songs is like playing back the soundtrack to their lives, causing them to remember things that they otherwise wouldn’t have remembered.

It is astonishing to see the improvements music has brought about in sick patients. Though music is heard, its effects make people feel something unexplainable. Music is important to life because it helps relieve stress and serves to relax the mind, body, and soul. 

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Breanna Polk is currently a first year Communications student at Lone Star College - North Harris. After her second year at North Harris, she hopes to transfer to a four-year university where she will study Broadcasting and Journalism to obtain her Bachelors Degree.

 

A Student Trip

 

Last week, thanks to the generosity of North Harris's Student Engagement Fund, Professor Martin and I took a group of students to the 8th annual African American Studies Symposium at the University of Texas at San Antonio.  In two vans, 10 of us excitedly headed from Northern Houston over to San Antonio to spend all day at this conference.  Though our group viewed the program schedule ahead of our trip, we were in for quite a treat.

This year's symposium was titled, "Make Some Noise: Pushing Back, Acting Out, and Speaking Up." Keynote speaker Nikki Giovanni delivered an address that detailed her strategies and thoughts on poetry, activism, her experiences, and so much more.  The presenters and performers during the rest of the day-long event offered their insights in wide ranging fields in African American Studies, including literature, sociology, history, and women's and gender studies.

What is remarkable about this conference is that the planners deviate from the style of a typical (academic) conference by incorporating dynamic performances by singers, dancers, and poets.  Additionally, the more traditional panels cover a range of informative and thought-provoking topics, which our North Harris students will examine in upcoming blog entries.  Add Nikki Giovanni to that mix and you have a unique space where performance, creativity, activism, and academics meet.

During our time there, I had the pleasure of talking with one founder of the annual symposium, Professor Joycelyn Moody.  I commented to Moody that every year, the conference organizers go above and beyond expectations of an academic conference in their commitment to provide a space for students, faculty, staff, and community members to come together to explore important topics in African American Studies.  

Too often, conferences in academia (at least in literary studies) adhere to an age-old standard when it comes to planning: scholars read directly from their papers - and often take up more than their allotted time -in a stuffy environment where those new to academic conferences feel bored or out of their depth.  Thankfully, the AASS creates an opportunity for student-scholars like our group from North Harris to push back, act out, and speak up.

North Harris student Jasmaine Adams speaks up by posing a question to keynote speaker Nikki Giovanni

A Black Feminist Sci Fi Conversation

Octavia Butler, pioneer in African American Science Fiction

A few weeks ago, I was lucky to have the opportunity to spend some time with students in Liz Cali's Toni Morrison class.  Though not with them in person, we discussed (via phone) various issues and ideas related to genre and how some of Morrison's texts might be classified perhaps as science fiction, but certainly as speculative fiction.

We began our talk with information about genre, specifically the genre of speculative fiction and how horror, science fiction, and fantasy are often considered distinct and separate categories under the larger umbrella of speculative fiction.  Black feminist science fiction authors often combine elements from those ostensibly distinctive sub-genres of horror, science fiction, and fantasy.  

Octavia Butler, the original 20th century pioneer in Black feminist science fiction (and Black science fiction, largely), crossed through these categories in many of her texts and story lines.  She creates provocative and powerful texts about Black women's experiences - on Earth and beyond.  Butler incorporates elements of science fiction (time travel, aliens), horror (vampires and the undead), and fantasy (individuals with unique, even magical powers).  As an author, Butler chose to go beyond the supposed borders that separate sub-genres identified by many as "speculative fiction."

In our conversation, I asked students: could we consider Morrison a science fiction author?  A horror author?  Fantasy? While many literary critics would gasp and even cringe at the thought of placing Morrison's work in these undervalued and dismissed categories, these students took the time to work through their responses and ideas with open and inquisitive minds.

This conversation was valuable in numerous ways because it not only gave me some time to talk about my literary passion, African American Feminist Science Fiction, but the students responded with incredibly thoughtful and thought-provoking questions, comments, and feedback.  Depending on our teaching environments (university, college, secondary), we may not make room for these important meetings of minds and I was grateful to Cali for facilitating this opportunity.  

This talk wasn't a keynote address or conference panel, nor was it a committee meeting, professional development session, or any of the other events academics either strive for or loath.  It was the type of engagement we should perhaps encourage more - a space where students listen to ideas, but are also provided time to be listened to. I really got a kick out of the students sharing their comments and questions, and am grateful to them for urging me to think in productive ways about Morrison, Butler, and African American speculative fictions.