Civil Rights in Brooklyn: Stories of Struggle and Protest

Please join us at the Brooklyn Historical Society [BHS] this Sunday, November 20, 2011 from 2-4 PM for a program on Civil Rights in Brooklyn: Stories of Struggle and Protest,  planned in conjunction with the Pathways to Freedom learning community that English-Department Professors Michael Bokor, Sara Campbell, and Deborah Mutnick are teaching this semester.

Please pass this information along to anyone you think might find the program interesting. All BHS events are free during the three years of our partnership with the Society to anyone with an LIU ID.

Fifty years ago the freedom riders rode interstate buses into the segregated South to test the Supreme Court ruling against Jim Crow laws. Those riders traveled the roads of Mississippi and Tennessee, but how did the civil rights movement play out on the streets of Brooklyn? How did freedom ride into local neighborhoods, schools, workplaces, government, and arts and culture? A panel of activists will address Brooklyn as a site of struggle and protest, followed by audience “talk back” with more stories and Q&A. Attendees will be invited to tell their own stories about the civil rights movement, past and present. This program is free with museum admission.

Africana Studies Courses Spring 2012 & Summer 2012

Spring 2012

Black Female Creativity

Humanities 181: T/TH 4:30-5:45

Prof. Carol Allen: 3 credits

This course explores black female creativity across disciplines. The aim of the course is to construct potential theories of black female creativity. That is: determine if black women share any common impetuses (historical, biological and/or cultural) that compel them to make artistic products that comprise a tradition of works. We begin by examining theories of black female creativity from several perspectives including that of Alice Walker and Ntozake Shange along with contributions from the likes of Monique Wittig and Robert Farris Thompson. Then we study a variety of primary texts from literature (novel, poem and play); art (photography, textiles, and mixed media pieces); oratory (sermon and speech); and performance (music, fashion, dance, drill teams and jump rope). Required texts include Flash of the Spirit, Beloved, and handouts. Assignments include informal writing, midterm, final exam, and recovery project with presentation. Prerequisite: English 16

Male in America: Black, White, Straight and Gay 

Humanities 183: Wed. 6:00- 8:00

Profs. Eric Lehman and Orlando Warren: 3 credits:

This course explores the American male from multiple vantage points in text, film, art, and music. Prerequisite: English 16

Femme Fatales and Women of Color

Independent Study, Tues. 6:00-8:00

Prof. Orlando Warren: 718 488-1053: 3 credits

In the film noir genre the femme fatale is the epitome of irreverence, ambiguity, and, fear. Prerequisite: English 16

African Cultures

Anthropology/Sociology 133: Tues. 12:00-2:30

Prof. Yusuf Juwayeyi: 3 credits


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Race in the Americas

Anthropology/Sociology 512: M 6:10-8:00

Prof. Halbert Barton: 3 credits

The course focuses on how culture and history shape the experience of racial categories in the Americas. Prerequisites: Intro. to Anthro. and instructor’s permission.

Summer I: 2012

African American Narrative Fiction

English 150: M/W 2:00-4:50

Prof. Carol Allen: 3 credits

This course looks at fictional and nonfictional narrative accounts by African American writers from the Slave Narrative to Barack Obama’s recent autobiography. Prerequisite: English 16

Black Women in Cinema 

Independent Study, TBA: 3 credits

Prof. Orlando Warren: 718 488-1053

This course will focus on Black women in film from the mid 1930’s to the mid 1970’s. Prerequisite: English 16.
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Contact Professor Carol Allen (English Department) at Carol.Allen@liu.edu or 718 488-1053 for more information these courses and/or about the Africana Studies minor program.

Voices of the Rainbow Event: Tina Chang

This event was originally scheduled for Monday, 11/7, but it was cancelled due to illness. The reading has been rescheduled as follows...

Tina Chang
Monday, November 14, 2011
12 noon
Humanities Building, Room 210

Tina Chang is author of the poetry collections Half-Lit House and Of Gods and Strangers. Raised in New York City, Tina is the current Brooklyn Poet Laureate.

Eric Alter Reading at KGB Bar

Eric Alter (Creative-Writing MFA student) sends along the following announcement about a reading in which he will be participating.

Uphook Press is proud to showcase nine more incredible poets and spoken word artists from our third anthology "-gape-seed-".

Featuring ERIC ALTER, RYAN BUYNAK, DEBORAH HAUSER, R. NEMO HILL, ELIEL LUCERO, VICTORIA LYNNE McCOY, ROBERTO F. SANTIAGO, and MARK WISNIEWSKI.

KGB is a beautiful bar in the East Village with a fascinating history. If you have never visited, check it out!
...
Free admission

Readers:

ERIC ALTER has been published in Spectrum, the Brooklyn Paramount, Downtown Brooklyn, and By the Overpass. You can find himon Mt. Loretto Beach, in Staten Island, every Friday morning making sculptures.

RYAN BUYNAK is a very good-looking young man who happens to be the future of American poetry.

DEBORAH HAUSER is the author of the poetry collection Ennui: from the Diagnostic and Statistical Field Guide of Femine Disorders (Finishing Line Press, 2011).

R. NEMO HILL is editor of EXOT BOOKS, and author of Pilgrim’s Feather (Quantuck Lane Press, 2002), The Strange Music of Erich Zann (Hippocampus Press, 2004), and Prolegomena To An Essay On Satire (Modern Metrics, 2006).

ELIEL LUCERO has served as co-editor of Acentos Review, been an Urban Word mentor, a facilitator with the Alzheimer's Project, and Production Manger at the Bowery Poetry Club.

VICTORIA LYNNE McCOY's work appears in The November 3rd Club, PANK, Mudfish 17, and Union Station Magazine. She lives in Brooklyn.

ROBERTO F. SANTIAGO writes placing pen to paper and fingertips to QWERTY, all as an act of translation. He also writes and produces music, and has been known to dance until he rips his pants.

MARK WISNIEWSKI's Mark Wisniewski's second novel, Show Up, Look Good, is published by Gival Press in fall 2011. His poetry has appeared New York Quarterly, Tribeca Poetry Review, and Poetry.

MFA Reading Series Event: HELP IS ON THE WAY

Two readings this semester by students in the English Department's Creative-Writing MFA program.

Both readings are at Bowery Poetry Club, 308 Bowery (between Bleecker & Houston)

When & Where

Friday, November 18, 2011 

5-6:45 pm

Readers

Daniel Owen

Tina Barry

Liz Dalton

Michael Atkinson

Patia Braithwaite

Amyre Loomis

Kyle DeOcena

Jessica Wedge

Uche Nduka

Asja Parrish

Micah Savaglio

Alicia Berbenick

Willie Perdomo

Lisa Rogal

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When & Where

Friday, December 2, 2011

5-6:45 pm

Readers

Tiani Kennedy

Pamela Arnett

Elspeth Macdonald

Desiree Rucker

Joey Infante

Aimee Herman

Felice Belle

Gulay Isik

Marita Downes

Michael Grove

Jon Jenkins

Shari Seraneau

Robyn Hillman-Harrigan

John Casquarelli

Sarah Wallen

Wendi Williams

Tony Iantosca

Willie Perdomo to Lead Creative Writing Workshop in Miami

Willie Perdomo (grad student, Creative Writing MFA program) will lead a writing workshop called Poetry, Lyricizing and Speaking at the University of Miami in January 2012.



From the University of Miami website:

"The University of Miami's MFA in Creative Writing Program and VONA Voices Writing Workshop announce the first VONA/Voices regional writing workshop to be held January 13, 14, and 15, 2012 at the University of Miami. The Voices of our Nations Arts Foundation is dedicated to nurturing writers of color and has been holding summer workshops for twelve years in the Bay Area."

Read more.

Jon L. Peacock Performing at LIU

Jon L. Peacock (alum, English Department grad program) will appear in The Marriott Shorts, a set of 10-minute plays set inside the Marriott by the Brooklyn Bridge.

Performances November 2, 3, and 5.

This is a production of the Theater Program of the Performing Arts Department at LIU.

Writing Program Conversation: Valuing Student Writing

Please join us for "Valuing Student Writing," a faculty development workshop to be held from 11 a.m. to 12 noon on Tuesday, November 8, 2011, in the Spector Lounge.

Africana-Studies Mentorship Program Event: Music Business Lecture

Shelly Clark will speak about the various aspects of being a musician:

• How to survive in the industry.
• The preparation needed to succeed.
• The different avenues open to musicians.

When & Where
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
10-11 AM
Library Learning Center, Room 122

Jonathan Haynes: Sabbatical Activity

Professor Jonathan Haynes (English) is on sabbatical this academic year. In July, he attended a conference on the Nigerian film industry at Pan-African University in Lagos.  He gave one of the lead papers, called “Campus Films: A Nigerian film genre,” and was named to the Advisory Board of the Nollywood Studies Centre at PAU that was inaugurated during the conference.

He has been invited to speak on November 19 at a film festival in Sao Paulo, Brazil.  The festival, “Bem-Vindo a Nollywood,” will introduce Nigerian films to Brazilian audiences through the work of the director Tunde Kelani.