“One of Ya'll Got My Lyrics”: Student Artists E
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The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School College of Education “ONE OF YA’LL GOT MY LYRICS”: STUDENT ARTISTS EXPLORING SPOKEN WORD POETRY, PERFORMANCE, AND ACTIVISM A Dissertation in Curriculum and Instruction by Crystal Leigh Endsley 2009 Crystal Leigh Endsley Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 2009 The dissertation of Crystal Leigh Endsley was reviewed and approved* by the following: Marnina Gonick Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction and Women’s Studies Dissertation Advisor Co-Chair of Committee Patrick Shannon Professor of Education Co-Chair of Committee Stephanie Springgay Assistant Professor of Art Education and Women’s Studies Margaret Lorah Assistant Professor of Counselor Education Glendon W. Blume Graduate Program Coordinator for the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and Professor of Education *Signatures are on file in the Graduate School iii ABSTRACT This text emerges from an arts-based cultural program that has evolved into the focus of my dissertation. Ultimately, this project seeks to investigate the rich and complex offerings of an integrated arts performance group with an emphasis on the critical intersections of feminist pedagogy, performance, subjectivity, and activism. Each of those areas is interwoven with the subjects of resistance, cultural production, and social justice and the multitude of other stories that are demanding my consideration even now. I think there is something important to learn about the possibilities performance offers to negotiate meaning and explore relationships within a framework of feminist pedagogy in a context that is activism-oriented, accessible, and passionate. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................................... v Chapter 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 1 Chapter 2 From the Inside Out ................................................................................................ 48 Chapter 3 Renderings of Activism .......................................................................................... 108 Chapter 4 Acts of Love ........................................................................................................... 156 References……………………………………………………………………………………182 v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thank you to my committee for setting an example for me. I appreciate your time and energy. I would like to extend a very special thank you to Dr. Marnina Gonick for your patience and understanding through this whole adventure. I want to dedicate this work to my mamma, Clara F. Endsley and my daddy, Michael L. Endsley, and my brother, Michael C. Endsley. Thank you for never giving up on me. And most of all to Collective Energy: Toby, Tony, Stacey, Alyssa, Jonathan, Carlos, and Q’tyashia. Collective Energy, energy all around, it can build you up and it can knock you down! Thank you for helping me find my own lyrics. Say word… Chapter 1 Introduction The integrated arts performance group was developed as a cultural initiative from the Paul Robeson Cultural Center and was designed to extend the concept of arts as a form of social action. Generally speaking, the program addressed a need felt on campus by students of all colors to have a venue for creative expression in relationship to their pressing cultural, historical, and social issues. This group of student artists named themselves “Collective Energy”—the title was chosen to honor the various types of skills, flavors, and personalities involved. We jokingly referred to the jingle for an old cartoon called Captain Planet, because the plot of the show involved several superheroes that represented different elements but their greatest power was available to them when they converged. Collective Energy had the makings of a colorful kaleidoscope with each member contributing colorful experiences and strengths to the stage. I attempt to find a source of light and focus that kaleidoscope here and each turn of the handle provides a different presentation—all breath-taking and beautiful, and only clears for a moment before being shaken up again. My reason for choosing this fruitful and intense site as a place of study is because of the things that each member contributed and because of my own role. Not only was the research accessible to me because I was in charge of the program, but it has vitally impacted my development as a human being, a feminist pedagogue, and a cultural worker in ways that I am only now beginning to recognize. As with any project, particularly those of an intimate nature, there are a multitude of heaving inquiries that boil up each time I re-read the story I’ve begun writing; however, the questions at the forefront of this study are the questions that surface 2 most frequently. Yet I expect that each ‘reading’ of this performance text will constitute differing and ongoing analyses. My aim within these limited pages is to provoke further query that will continue the important conversations around these topics, illuminating their complications while offering fragmentary suggestions. I begin by asking in what ways performance contributes to understandings of feminist pedagogy, subjectivities, and activisms. This study seeks to explore the ways in which spoken word poetry and performance can serve as mediators between subjectivities and cultures. This examination takes place through a lens of poststructuralist theory and an arts-based feminist framework that seeks to analyze the competing relationships and discourses that developed through the year-long experience of the members of Collective Energy and the performance content of their spoken word poetry and song lyrics. I hope to inquire into the ways in which the experience (along with my own) among young student artists provides a space of resilience and/or fosters resistance. Such an inquiry focuses centrally on the relationship building that takes place among these students as they negotiate the ongoing transition between their home community and campus communities. In addition, an examination of the intersections between education, literacy, activism, and performance will be explored as the process in which the members of Collective Energy perform their understandings of themselves as artists. How do they perform their understandings of activism? What sorts of spaces are required to aid in the artistic exploration and development of social change agents in a university setting? Why is support of artistic exploration of social issues important? How do gender, race, and social class contour such spaces? Finally, I seek an understanding of the relationships that compose feminist pedagogy, performance, and activism in order to contribute to the practice of existing theories on these subjects. Mostly, what I will share proposes the need for a deeper reconsideration of performance as a means of effective pedagogy and what counts as useful knowledge production. I will begin with a brief introduction to the cultural program, followed by an outline of key terms in order to better contextualize the stories that follow. 3 Background & Description Collective Energy is a group designed in direct response to the growing need to develop both critical art consumers and performers in a society dominated by popular culture. The Cultural Arts in Social Action Initiative was a series of several programs developed and hosted through the Paul Robeson Cultural Center that are focused on providing students with a means to explore various elements of culture and the arts. These programs include Bed: A Spoken Word Lounge, Collective Energy, and the Arts In Action Cultural Immersion Spring Break. The Cultural Arts in Social Action Initiative sought to join this critical conversation through exploring the creation of a model educational experience that integrates popular forms of arts and intensive study on social issues. The goal of developing artistic content that is reflective of cultural communities and focused on relevant social issues is what makes this program unique. The outcomes were anticipated to enhance both the experience of the audience in their consumption of art and the artists by expanding the scale and scope of their craft. The emerging student artists who participate in the Cultural Arts & Social Action experience represent the potential of today’s young artist to embody the community connectedness and social dedication of great artists. These students form a community-based performance group, “Collective Energy.” Collective Energy has served as the headliner at the regular Bed: Spoken Word Lounge on the University Park Penn State campus and has also participated in travel performances to local schools, correctional facilities, and other Penn State Campuses. The group creatively conversed with their collegiate peers as well as local and international communities about relevant social issues through the use of spoken word poetry, song and music. 4 I was able to handpick who was invited to participate in Collective Energy. I recognized in each of the student artists a desire to cultivate their skills and an eagerness to show those skills off. The subject matter, the performances that compiled our “final” show, the questions we used to critique each piece, and the transitions between performances that resulted in an hour and a half show have been the product of group practices, trial, and error.