i creativityVolume 1, 2013

THE ANNUALKUUMBA JOURNAL OF WILLIAM & MARY AFRICANA STUDIES

A Tribute to Jacquelyn McLendon: A Legacy of Renaissance The Leader, Collaborator and Advocate For Prof. Jacquelyn McLendon, Who is ‘Free at Last!’ For Jacqui Also: Professor Chinua Thelwell: Interdisciplinarity as the Bridge of Africa and its Diasporas Dr. My Haley: Her Story, Her Roots In My Own Words: Dr. Brad Weiss, Anthropologist Professor of Literature & Creative Writing Hermine Pinson: Weaver and Wizard of Words

Professor of Economics Berhanu Abegaz: A Passion for Service & Academic Activism Anna Swanson: Senior Scrapbook KUUMBA (creativity) PROFESSOR JACQUELYN MCLENDON: the annual journal of William & Mary Africana Studies A Legacy of Renaissance Volume 1, 2013 By Marvin Shelton ’15

WILLIAM A woman unshakable in her drive, Professor & MARY Jacquelyn McLendon battled against all odds Welcome Our Kuumba! to help bring Black Studies to the College It is indeed a humbling honor to welcome you to the debut of Kuumba as the Annual of Africana of William and Mary. Believing that Black CONTENTS Studies at William and Mary. In restyling it as Studies are an integral part of any well- our Annual, we seek to celebrate in print the rounded student’s college curriculum, Professor Message from the Director ...... 1 achievements of our community that emanates Professor Jacquelyn McLendon: from the strengths of our program in Africana McLendon has advocated for the need for A Legacy of Renaissance ...... 2 Studies and its history of creative scholarship and greater visibility for the program. It is because academic activism. We also have an online edition Jacqui McLendon: The Leader, entitled, iKuumba, which allows us to keep the of both her strength and commitment to Collaborator and Advocate ...... 4 William and Mary community regularly updated the program that it has transformed from a For Prof. Jacquelyn McLendon, of news and programming. smattering of classes to the broad selection of Who is ‘Free at Last!’ ...... 5 In this maiden issue, we pay homage to Professor topics represented today. For Jacqui ...... 7 Jacquelyn McLendon, the founding director of  Francis Tanglao-Aguas, the Black Studies Program at William and Mary Professor Chinua Thelwell: Director, Class of 2015 through a profi le written by our main writer, While Professor McLendon may teach on the Harlem Before coming to William and Mary, Professor McLendon Interdisciplinarity as the Bridge Distinguished Associate Marvin Shelton, ’15 as well as tributes from her Renaissance, the Black Studies program served as a renaissance participated in teaching and collecting tenure research at of Africa and its Diasporas ...... 7 Professor of Theatre & colleagues. Marvin also interviewed Africana she can call her own. She has built a legacy as a cornerstone Hofstra University in Long Island, New York and Amherst Dr. My Haley: Her Storty, Her Roots ...... 9 Africana Studies Mellon Fellow Dr. Chinua Thelwell who shares his of the fl ourishing Africana Studies program that will last long College in Amherst, Massachusetts. “I was on a tenure track, research with students through his teaching. Our beyond her retirement this year. and I was there for three years. I taught pretty much the same In My Own Words: articles of tribute conclude with our celebration of Africana Studies Director emeritus things there as I teach here [at William and Mary]:” early British Dr. Brad Weiss, Anthropologist ...... 11 During the early part of her life, Professor McLendon grew up Professor Berhanu Abegaz who won the 2012 Arts & Sciences Award for Faculty literature and African American literature. She adds that the in Cleveland, Ohio where she attended John Hay High School, Professor Hermine Pinson ...... 12 Governance. English professors at Hofstra, unlike those at Amherst and a commercial school that prepared its students to enter the William and Mary, had to teach large classes of composition. Professor of Economics Berhanu Abegaz: Kuumba is unique in the sense that it also contains much of the information and workforce. McLendon worked clerically as a stenographer After leaving Hofstra because of issues with the heavy course A Passion for Service & documents students need to peruse and complete in order to declare a major in for several years until she received a position working for the loads, large amounts of students in each class, and little time to Academic Activism ...... 13 Africana Studies. With this in mind, Victoria Olayiwola, ’15, provides the reader with government in the Internal Revenue Service. She stated that, “I do tenure and dissertation research, Professor McLendon went a sample of analytical and refl ective writing she completed in our Africana course on took courses periodically at the college level, but I didn’t actually Anna Swanson: Be the Change: on to teach many of the same courses at Amherst. diversity in plays and fi lms. From our faculty “In My Own Words” column, Professor Why I Majored in Africana Studies ...... 14 enroll [with an institution] until I had started a family.” Brad Weiss discusses his teaching and research focal points. To further showcase our While teaching and moving from one college to another, With an initial intent of achieving success monetarily with About the Africana Studies Program ...... 17 faculty’s creativity, we present the poem “Theory,” by our eminent poet Professor Professor McLendon still managed to complete her dissertation the government, she enrolled at Temple University where she Hermine Pinson. It is our hope that prospective students and their parents may also work and become a tenured professor at Amherst and William received her undergraduate degree in English literature due benefi t from these materials as they consider William and Mary as part of their future. and Mary. “My dissertation work focused on the Harlem KUUMBA STAFF to her life long fascination with reading and writing. While Renaissance, specifi cally on women writers during the period, To conclude, I would like to extend my deepest thanks to the faculty of Africana working on her undergraduate studies, Professor McLendon met Editor: Francis Tanglao-Aguas, especially Nella Larsen and Jessie Fauset. I have written on Studies for their reverence and commitment to the program and its intrinsic vitality professors who believed that she “would do well in education” Africana Studies other writers: Gwendolyn Brooks, Langston Hughes, and Alice to diversifying and internationalizing the curriculum and faculty of William and and who encouraged her to apply to graduate programs in order Walker. However, my main focus was on Larsen and Fauset.” Her Graphic Designer: Rachel Follis, Mary. Further, none of our achievements would have been possible without the to teach; therefore, as she explains, “I kind of backed into getting fi rst book was on Larsen and Fauset, and she received tenure Creative Services unwavering support of our Dean Joel Schwartz of the Charles Center for Honors & a Masters and a PhD.” She returned to Cleveland, Ohio in order from writing this book. She later wrote a variety of literary Interdisciplinary Studies. We are also grateful to Vice Provost Steve Hanson of the to attend graduate school and to take care of her mother who was Contributors: Marvin Shelton ’15; pieces, edited several pieces of literature, including a children’s Reves International Center for supporting our programming. Looking forward into terminally ill at the time, attending Case Western University for Terry Myers, English; Hermine book on the biography of Phyllis Wheatley. Recently she the future, we are excited to collaborate with our new Dean of Arts & Sciences Dr. Kate her graduate studies. At Case Western University, she received Pinson; Nancy Gray, English; published an entry in a database on American literature about Conley as we strive to sustain and advance the progress of Africana Studies at William her masters and PhD in English Literature, propelling her into the Victoria Olayiwola ’15; Brad Weiss, African American literature from 1945 to the present. Currently, and Mary. May we have many more years of kuumba together. beginnings of a career in higher education. Anthropology; Anna Swanson ’13 she is writing an entry in Approaches to Teaching American 1 KUUMBA 2013 KUUMBA 2013 2 Literature on approaches to teaching Nella Larsen that is under review of the 6 Questions for Professor Modern Language Association. JACQUI MCLENDON: At William and Mary, Professor Jacquelyn McLendon McLendon has been active in the English department, teaching courses in early What is the signifi cance of Black Studies? The Leader, Collaborator and Advocate British literature and African American By Professor Terry Meyers, English literature. Perhaps her greatest legacy is “Black history is a part of the world and America. People should know a broader range of her indefatigable work in bringing Black history. It is an important aspect of history. The things that we teach [in Black Studies] Jacqui and I worked most closely together during the six years I was as Associate Chair. I can’t remember now if she needed or wanted Studies to the college. As the director of are not meant to be separatist in any way. The reason it is a ‘separate’ program is because Chair and she was Associate Chair of the English Department (1995- time to think about the o er—my recollection is that she did—but I do the Black Studies program for ten years, these are people who need to be taught and learned individually, particularly in a place like 2001), and I’m delighted to contribute some memories of those years remember how heartened I was when she accepted. Virginia where we have a lot of historical records and documents that are involved in black Professor McLendon was instrumental, and of her invaluable contributions to the Department. history.” I didn’t have in mind any particular responsibilities to delegate to along with several other professors, in the To say that I was confl icted about taking up an appointment as Jacqui—she was the fi rst Associate Chair of the Department and in development of the program. However, Can we move more towards making Africana Studies a department? Chair would be an understatement. Despite all my admiration of my helping to revise the Departmental Handbook after the position came she stressed that, long before she was “Yes, I think it could be a department. There was a time when students thought that Africana colleagues and their prowess as teachers and scholars, and despite into being, I asked to have it described as it still is, with “duties … hired, several professors—like Joanne Studies was an easy program to do. I think sometimes, black students come in with the having confi dence in the departmental Handbook that clarifi ed determined by the Department Chair.” Braxton, Berhanu Abegaz, and Steven expectation of ‘well, I live this, so I should know this.’ It is not that simple. It is about learning all kinds of points of possible confl ict, I’d seen too many people Indegua in cooperation with Joel Schwartz That fl exibility was enormously useful since my hope, intention, and history and culture and how things intersect. The courses are rigorous. However, it is important get chewed up in the tensions that come with any administrative (in the Charles Center)—were intent on practice were to turn to Jacqui for help and support in all kinds of for all people to be able to know some of these things.” responsibilities. We were a department of strong personalities, and in bringing Black Studies to the campus. ways. And I did, most especially meeting with her regularly to talk some cases that strength was allied with an admirably-developed and What can you do with an Africana Studies Major? over every kind of situation that develops in the daily administration After being hired by the campus, Professor much-exercised rectitude that I’d seen wear down chairs more capable of a large and complicated department. Jacqui was invaluable, a fount McLendon joined the movement for “You can do just as much with this degree as you can with any other degree. Anywhere that in administration than I surely was. you go, you are going to need some form of higher training that is required (i.e. graduate of common sense and pragmatism that got me and the Department bringing Black Studies to the campus along degree or on the job training). You cannot just get a high paying job with an undergraduate And we were a big department, then the largest in Arts and Sciences, over all kinds of questions, from dealing with particular crises faced by with other faculty such as Professors Ken degree. This fact is the same with any degree. Several students continue their education and larger even than the School of Education and the Law School, individual members of the Department to discussing and helping to Price, Richard Lowry, Grey Gundaker, after majoring in Africana Studies.” which each had an established layer of deanlets and deanlings to help sort out larger issues. Arthur Knight, and Melvin Patrick Ely to the Deans. English had two secretaries, one especially capable, but no name but a few. “We started with a May What are future steps that the college can take to help Africana Studies grow? Among this multitude of daily consultations and invaluable support, further administrative support. let me single out one that I think was of special moment in the history seminar in order to write the proposal, and “I hope that administration will one day make it a responsibility to have Black Studies we continued on for a good portion of the added to the GER curriculum in order to see that the program thrives. The students really In weighing whether to become Chair, I spent an intense week arguing of the Department. The pressures in those days for faculty to publish summer,” she explained. After the proposal need to see that their school values the major. Students don’t want to major in a program with myself, pro and con, back and forth, up and down, never quite were increasing and there was evident in everyone’s life, I thought, a went through the Education Policy in which there is no value or space given to it. I just feel that it takes ‘brave’ students to do coming to a resolution one way or the other, but, fi nally, over time, consequent strain to do well all that we should. When I had arrived at Committee and receiving a little fi nancial this sort of thing [this program]. If the program thrives or not depends upon the dedication deciding to give it a try. But I had in mind that I could bail out at any W&M, the teaching load was regularly 4/4, reduced about 1972 to 3/3 support from the Dean of Students’ O ce of a number of professors committed to it. Joan Gavaler, Leah Glenn, Ann-Charity Hudley, point—indeed, I decided not to move into the traditional o ce of the by Carl Dolmetsch in recognition of increasing publication expectations and the Charles Center, the Black Studies Michael Blakey have come later but they have been invaluable to helping the program Chair since I thought I might be there only a matter of weeks and it (one person whom I’ve talked to and who taught here briefl y in the late program started with Professor McLendon thrive. It has never been a one-man show. However, we still need a place where students would be a hassle to move again into some o ce I might not like as 40’s told me that research and publication were disdained here then, as its director. and faculty can come together and meet. I think that Professor Francis Tanglao-Aguas will much as the one I was then occupying. looked down on and even discouraged—he left, quickly). be a great director in that regard because he has a way about bringing people together.” The program began on a rocky path One factor was especially infl uential in my decision, and that was an Anyway, Jacqui and I talked about trying to reduce the load to 3/2 with little space for classes, few students What are some of your future plans? o er by David Lutzer, then the Dean of the Faculty, that he would and concluded that it could most likely be done. I asked her to chair a willing to take the courses, and no “I will be retiring June 1, 2013. I will be returning in the fall semester and teaching part time support the new chair of English by providing a modest, a very committee to examine the question and to make a recommendation, personnel policies; however, a few years for the next couple of years, if all goes according to plan. I am really interested in blended modest stipend, for an Associate Chair. That made a di erence to me, which she did—there were complexities, as one might expect, in later, the Black Studies program received learning, so I hopefully can incorporate that in my teaching. I am also interested in green especially, I thought, if I could convince Jacqui to take up that position a department with faculty serving in various roles, including joint its fi rst major: Fanjanique Hurston. issues, sustainability, and knitting.” (I think I was able too to cobble together the new title with other appointments and the like. But Jacqui’s care and attention guided the committee through all those shoals and we were able to make the Eventually “we fi nally got a seminar room What do you feel is your biggest contribution to the college? departmental responsibilities that led to a course reduction as well, still and one o ce in Morton once Geo rey very small recompense for all that Jacqui was to undertake and to help reduction, fi rst provisionally and then later permanently. I should Feiss became provost.” In 2009, Black “My biggest contribution would be with black studies. I have also held writing workshops on me and the Department with). mention in this regard too as an instance of Jacqui’s sense of fairness Studies merged with African Studies led my own [they are not connected to the English department at all]. I have also been on just and equitable treatment that when I resisted the notion of a universal about every major committee in the department.” I hadn’t known Jacqui well before I asked her to be Associate Chair, by Professor Berhanu Abegaz to become reduction—for all tenured and tenure-eligible faculty—Jacqui gently but from what I’d seen of her I saw someone, who apart from her Africana Studies with concentrations in talked me out of the position. Part of me still fi nds it challenging to professional accomplishments, just seemed imbued with a lot of African, African American, and African justify a reduced teaching load for faculty who, in today’s parlance, are common sense and with a sense of humor. She was, I thought, someone Diaspora Studies. not “research active,” but Jacqui had a broader view here than I did. who could and did laugh at the vagaries and absurdities of the academic life (which I say, of course, without admitting any absurdities in the I couldn’t have stayed as Chair for the six years I did without Jacqui’s academic life and most certainly not at William and Mary). help, and I’d hoped over the years since that Jacqui would become Chair of English. But she was too smart! I think Jacqui was surprised when I asked her to serve the Department

3 KUUMBA 2013 KUUMBA 2013 4 still be a stickler for knowledge of and proper use of grammar and syntax, for a FOR PROF. JACQUELYN MCLENDON, demonstration of knowledge of a strong paragraph structure. She has always maintained, and rightly so, that being a good reader was the fi rst step toward WHO IS ‘FREE AT LAST!’ being a good writer; and writing well by Professor Hermine Pinson is probably a good indicator of being a good critical thinker, the by-word of every syllabus. Students love and I tell my students, “When you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember respect McLendon for her constancy, her that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then integrity, and her honesty. Translation: your job is to empower somebody else. This is not just a grab-bag candy game.” —Toni Morrison McLendon does not infl ate grades. The grade you make is the one you earned, and that knowledge should be good news for I can imagine my colleague, Jacquelyn Charity, “Jacqui has been a wonderful This should give you some idea of the anxious students who have been known McLendon saying something like that to mentor to new faculty. She has taken time respect and high esteem with which to bluntly ask, ”What does it take to make her students. In fact, her lived life, whether out to model what it is to be a great professor Jacqui is held here at the College and in an A in this class?” On a more serious teaching or collaborating on a book with a and has a wonderful sense of humor! Prof. the wider academic arena. note, McLendon continues to advocate colleague, or studying up on the provenance Iyabo Osiapem says, “ I just want to thank for students, to counsel them, to follow If I remembered the countless ways in of a particular fl ower for her nature writing Jacqui for reaching out to me even before I their progress outside of class. On more which Jacqui has been a staunch friend to  Prof. McLendon with the Black Studies faculty and staff in 2007. course enacts Morrison’s quotation. To got here. We went out to lunch sometime than one occasion, she has been publicly me, I’d take up too much time and become Standing L-R: Mei Mei Sanford, Leah Glenn, Jacqui McLendon, borrow another Morrison quotation, Jacqui in the spring of 2007 and I felt like this was recognized for her dedication and not a little sentimental. Instead, in Anne Charity Hudley, Rob Vinson, Ann Repeta. Seated L-R: Joan is indeed a “friend of my mind.” She has where I wanted to be, because if I could have excellence in teaching. addition to the foregoing tribute, I’d like Gavaler, Hermine Pinson, Francis Tanglao-Aguas, Dee Royster truly been a boon to me and my family in a colleague like Jacqui, why would I want to to briefl y elaborate on her signifi cance I know McLendon will continue to write, the twenty-one years we have taught at go anywhere else?” and although I suspect she will not miss as a scholar and a teacher. Jacquelyn and college-wide committees, she has Larsen, McLendon has branched out the College of William and Mary. In these the drudgery of grading papers, she will Prof. Melvin Ely has said of Jacqui’s McLendon’s scholarly work, over the seen this complex and work-intensive into a new area of research and teaching, pages, I want to recite a older tribute and miss teaching, but not too much. She leadership, “We academics swim in a past quarter of a century has consistently project through to completion, a project nature writing, literally leading her add more recent refl ections. When in 2007 will always has other fi sh to fry, so to sea of smart folk—and bright people can provided illuminating readings of the that promises to further shed light on the students and other willing followers, McLendon stepped down as Director of speak. And that’s the beauty of Jacqui’s be mercurial. Not Jacqui. For a dozen texts of women writers, particularly her literary contributions of a brilliant writer including members of the Williamsburg Black Studies after having co-founded the lively intellect and adventurous spirit. years, she has maintained a laserlike focus ongoing focus on the novels of Nella whose representation of a historical community, into the rural environs of program and “womanned” the helm for ten In the last fi ve years, she has taken up on the progress of Black Studies at the Larsen and Jessie Fauset, the novels of moment in American history, particularly Surrey, VA to experience environment- years or more, we gave her a tribute at the knitting and water aerobics (she might College. Never a detail overlooked, never Toni Morrison, the poetry of Gwendolyn the Harlem Renaissance, has broadened friendly farming and to assist at least William and Mary Alumni House. Herewith, have also gone back to yoga!), not as a task left undone, or taken up belatedly, Brooks, and the life and poetry of Phillis our understanding of important cultural one farmer in improving her land. I’m is the major part of an introduction that preparation for retirement (although or partly accomplished—even as Jacqui Wheatley. In addition to her own and political dialogues in American thinking in particular of the greenhouse I gave for our tribute to Jacqui. It’s as they make great pasttimes), but for kept our ideals and our mission constantly books and essays, as one of the section letters, in her confi gurations of racial she and her students began building on applicable today as it was then. the challenge of engaging in creative in her mind and heart. She has been the editor for Pearson Library on American and gender identity in the early years of the farm of a William and Mary a liate. activities that introduce new skills, and Jacquelyn McLendon directed the indispensable woman of Black Studies.” Literature, she took on the task of editing American modernism. Black Studies program for the fi rst ten a major textbook, choosing texts that, Jacqui has been, during my twenty-year keep her mind and the body sharp, . Jacqui and I arrived on campus in the years. As part of the team of faculty in e ect, shaped the second half of the McLendon’s most recently published acquaintance with her, a strong teacher while literally broadening her human same year, 1992 and over the years, I across the disciplines who shaped the twentieth century African American essay explores comparative epistolary who communicated to her students her resources. Countless times I’ve said that have benefi ted immeasurably from her program, developed policy for it in May canon in signifi cant ways that good strategies in the Larsen’s Passing and own love of literature and literary theory, Jacqui remains my mentor and model for guidance and unfailing support. She is Seminars and defended it in Arts and literature anthologies do. E.C. Williams’ When Washington Was but revealed to them its beauty and embracing life’s joys and working through a fi ne scholar and a dedicated teacher Sciences meetings, Dr. McLendon (or in Vogue, and demonstrates not only utility using a pedagogical approach that its challenges with a can-do spirit; taking whose students seek her out for advice But back to Larsen, always back to Jacqui as we like to call her) kept us their “structural unity” and “thematic incorporated the traditional as well as people as she fi nds them, at least until she on their course plans but also on their life Larsen, McLendon’s most recent on course in so many ways. In a word, continuity” with works by contemporary the latest educational trends, not because can get them up to speed ; teaching and plans, because they trust her counsel. book is her edited anthology of essays Jacqui persisted. Prof. Joan Gavaler has black writers here and in the broader they were trendy but because they learning in equal measure; loving her life under review, Approaches to Teaching said, “Jacqui carried the Black Studies Finally, Jacqui balanced her teaching diaspora, including Mariama Ba’s So Long worked. In the vernacular of the students, and sharing her love, wisdom, knowledge, the Novels of Nella Larsen for the Program through its beginning stages duties, committee assignments a Letter, but the continuing relevance “don’t get it twisted,” McLendon loves and experience with those she can. Modern Language Association’s series, with both a clarity of purpose and a gentle (departmental and College-wide), and of identity and consciousness, even in “close reading”; she revels in explaining Here’s to you, Jacqui! Approaches to Teaching World Literature. spirit.” I unequivocally agree with Joan’s her responsibilities as director with a what some have erroneously termed a the intricacies of Henry Louis Gates’ She has recruited a wide variety of Larsen assessment. grace and dexterity that made a di cult “postracial,” if not a postmodern era. “Signifyin(g), the proto-feminist ideas scholars, from the well known to newly of Sojourner Truth or the more modern and often challenging role look easy. And while she pursues her major research It is characteristic of Jacqui to take people emerging scholars. Even while teaching a articulations of the feminist unconscious. Thanks, Jacqui for everything! interests in a transatlantic collaborative under her wing. According to Prof. Ann full load and participating on department However, she is “old-school” enough to venture on the correspondence of Nella 5 KUUMBA 2013 KUUMBA 2013 6 FOR JACQUI by Professor Nancy Gray, English PROFESSOR CHINUA THELWELL: Interdisciplinarity as the Bridge of Africa and its Diasporas by Marvin Shelton, ’15

The first time we talked, I was brand new to campus and had wandered into the main office of Chinua Thelwell, the Mellon Fellow and Visiting Assistant Professor of Africana Studies has Tucker Hall after most people had left for the day. Voices were coming from one of the faculty carved an interesting path to arrive at the College’s doorstep. From his early days eavesdropping offices, so I looked in. You and Hermine were intently chatting, but were kind enough to welcome on the erudite discussions of his parents and their diverse colleagues, to his days as a graduate me into the conversation. I think it was at least two hours later that I finally tore myself away. student studying black face performance. Thelwell has always pursued knowledge through We’ve been talking ever since. unconventional outlets. Now, Chinua imparts his wisdom by teaching a seminar on the culture and history of hip-hop, a refreshingly innovative and diverse addition to the curriculum.

I don’t think I can really express how glad I am of the gift of your friendship. It has Professor Chinua Thelwell grew up course South Africa, which is the country How did your early life impact your sustained me – not to mention entertained and comforted me – lo these many years. I in Amherst, Massachusetts where he I decided to study for my dissertation.” undergraduate and graduate major love your humor, your intelligence, the creativity with which you approach your work, graduated from Amherst Regional High Professor Thelwell’s dissertation work decisions? and well, just the way you live your life. But really what it comes to is the sheer grace of School in 1999. After high school, he focused on black face minstrelsy as a your presence. I feel lucky to have gotten in on it. It may even be worth doing time in went on to minor in Africana Studies popular culture export to South Africa. “I come from an activist family. My the ‘burg if I get to have you for my friend. and double major in Sociology and He explained that he was able to travel parents were very interested in politics American Studies at Tufts University. to South Africa several times in order to and issues of race and racial inequality. We’ve shared so many lunches and heart-to-hearts – I’m counting on that to continue, “Africana Studies was unfortunately not do research working with the archives My father is an immigrant to this country, no matter where we both end up living. Who knows, we may even get to Taos again a major at Tufts when I went there,” there and collecting material for his a Jamaican immigrant. In the 1960s he one of these days. Quatorze Juillet, the high desert, amazing sights, and most excellent recalls Thelwell, “therefore, I could dissertation. Soon after his collecting became actively involved in the civil company. The conference was pretty memorable too – yes, my meltdowns over our only minor in it.” From Tufts University, research and writing about it, Professor rights movement. He knew a lot of the writing workshop, for one thing. If it hadn’t been for you calmly listening to my rants, Professor Thelwell went straight into Thelwell defended his dissertation, fi gureheads in the movement, and he who knows what I might have done? I decided on the spot that you just might be saint graduate school in the American Studies and it passed with “Distinction.” He was a part of the Student Nonviolent material. But more to the point, that conference was the fi rst time I heard you read graduate program at New York University. presented his dissertation chapters at Coordinating Committee (SNCC). My your writing out loud – a bit of a memoir-in-progress with a very big impact. I mean, I Professor Thelwell cites his decision on several conferences, winning the runner mother was also an activist. She was knew you had a way with words, but this was something beyond that – it gave me that choosing American Studies as a graduate up position for the “Best Student Paper more of an art activist [drama, theater, frisson lovers of literature get when they hear something truly moving and truly good. program being directly infl uenced by his Award” in 2009 at the American Studies and art]. She is a director for plays, and And I wasn’t the only one. More please. I want to be fi rst in line at your book signing. identifying as Afro-Asian. He explained Association Conference. she also ran her own theater company. I have to say a word or two about Max. The day I got to go with you when this amazing that he wanted to study both African Growing up, there were always books Before completing his PhD, Professor little cat-like dog came into your life is one of my favorite memories. Who could resist American and Asian American history, and always intellectuals coming through Thelwell received a pre-doctorial the little bugger? He even charmed everyone at PetSmart when we stopped there for and American Studies seemed to o er an to talk about issues. There was always fellowship for teaching at Allegheny supplies. And you know I’m not the biggest fan of animals in fancy-dress, but I have equal degree of study with both histories. a critical discussion going on about the College in Pennsylvania. The pre- to confess that Max in his Santa outfi t makes a pretty cute picture. Mostly, though, it’s Professor Thelwell’s initial interest state of the country and about what could doctorial fellowship gave him the just a pleasure watching the joy you take in being his person and hearing your Max was in writing about political poetry; be done to make things better. I learned opportunity to fi nish his dissertation stories. however, he soon became enticed by the from an early age that a better future has work. “A lot of advanced PhD students representation of race, an interest that he to be imagined before it can be realized. There are countless other moments I could mention, but I’m going to stop here. I’ve don’t get the opportunity [to fi nish carried over into graduate school from his This is one of the main contributions that concentrated on the personal even though I admire the professional you at least as their research under a pre-doctorial undergraduate studies. intellectuals provide, we try to imagine much. We are all so much richer in mind and spirit for the work you’ve made part of fellowship];” therefore, Professor what that better future might look like. what we know and do, not just here, but all over the country and internationally as well. “I learned about a black face minstrel Thelwell’s achievement was rare and That and friendship too – what bounty! When I think back over my time at William company who had been traveling around prestigious. After receiving his PhD, What are some of the struggles that and Mary, the picture is a good one in very large measure because you’re in it. I can’t the world and disseminating what we Allegheny College hired Professor you have faced in your career thus imagine this place without you and without the di erence you’ve made to so many now know to be a very racist form of Thelwell as a visiting professor under far in relation to tenure research, lives. I’m not sure you know how truly remarkable you are. Thank you for being you culture, and I was fascinated to see what a two-year contract. He worked in the race, or teaching challenges? and for being my friend. countries the performerse went to. I history department at the college before “I don’t think that my racial identity has learned that minstrel performers traveled coming to The College of William and —Nancy played a role in making my professional to Japan, Trinidad, India, Jamaica, and of Mary as a Mellon Fellow. career any harder. In terms of struggles,

7 KUUMBA 2013 KUUMBA 2013 8 diasporic studies] continues to thrive in the twenty-fi rst century. In terms of why I believe students should take Africana DR. MY HALEY: Studies courses, I believe that, if you are interested in Africa or the history/ culture, then that is a reason to take the Her Story, Her Roots classes. But there are also professional By Victoria Olayiwola, ’15 reasons as well. Africana Studies students go on to work in a number of fi elds, such On Valentines Day, 2013, Africana Studies was graced with the as civil rights law, education, public history. There are a substantial amount of presence of Dr. My Haley, the scholar, novelist, collaborator and opportunities for individuals with a Black wife of the late Dr. Alex Haley. She had come to talk to Africana Studies or Africana Studies major.” Studies students about her past with husband, mentor and What is your stance on the mobility collaborator Alex Haley as well as the future--her latest book  Chinua Thelwell, Brad Weiss, Jody Allen, Dr. Haley, Neil Norman, of Africana Studies for this campus? and Francis Tanglao-Aguas The Treason of Mary Louvestre. What struck me most was that “First, I have only been at this school for a couple of months. I don’t have the same she chose to stress the strength and inspiration of women in her I think that the struggles I have faced applicable to the research that the Mellon historical knowledge of the struggles of and Alex’s lives. are the same struggles many professors Post-Doctorial fellow is doing. So I am the Africana Studies program here that have faced: trying to juggle a teaching teaching classes here, and, theoretically, some of the senior professors have. It She spoke of her grandmother and how strong and inspirational the same mistake again. For there is power in knowing who you load with research and publications. I those classes are supposed to help me is true that there are issues with space, she was, for her grandmother was a woman of great substance are, your past and the meaning of your name. have had to learn how to allocate my generate ideas for my research while also but this fact is true for every academic and purpose. She mentioned that Alex’s grandmother Cynthia I know of my own past because my mother, another strong time wisely so that I am able to teach being good classes for students to take. institution. I think that we are going to was also a great source of inspiration--inspiring Alex’s long woman, made sure me and my siblings were aware of it. I well and get my publications done. The There is a mutual benefi t between student lose a lot when Professor McLendon journey to fi nd the roots of his identity, an epic story he later am thus connected to the past of “Roots” not only because I exciting thing about the post-doctoral and professor.” leaves. I hope that the college will be chose to dedicate most of his life to research and write about. am Black, for I am of the view that we can all feel connected fellowship is that I have a lighter able to hire a tenure track professor who What is your opinion on Black Besides these women, I found My Haley to be a strong woman regardless of race, but because my mother made it her duty to teaching load as compared to working will be able to teach the topics that she Studies and how do you feel that herself. She was a woman who chose to “rise, rise, rise.” She educate us of it. On a trip to Nigeria in my mother pointed out as a visiting professor or a tenure track teaches and who will be able to contribute it is signifi cant to this and any had to work several jobs to get a sound education, she also had to us a fi eld where sugarcane was being grown. She said to me professor. I have a signifi cantly lighter to the program. The fact that the program institution? to educate herself understand how to write essays and had and my siblings, “Look, this is where the slaves would work and workload [at William and Mary] than I has a Mellon Post-doctorial fellow is familiarized herself with the general unspoken rules found the white man would put padlocks on their mouths to stop them had at Allegheny College. Therefore, the “I think that it is important to signifi cant as well. The new director, within a university/college setting. from eating the sugarcane.” post-doctoral fellowship has been good acknowledge the historical context Francis Tanglo-Aguas, has new ideas of for me as far as having more time for my in which Black Studies emerged. It how to expand the program and get more She gave one account of a time when she had no money and When my parents heard about Roots, they made me; my younger research.” emerged in the 1960s because a lot of faculty and sta . I am very optimistic needed shoes. Her mother bought shoes for her but they were sister and older brother sit down and watch the whole thing. What is the Mellon Post-Doctorial college students began protesting. They about the position of the program at two-and-a-half sizes too big, which made it hard for her to They called it in “educating us on our past”, and it didn’t stop walk normally; every step she was taking she had to pick up there. My mother heard there was Roots: Next Generation and Fellowship? were infl uenced largely by the civil William and Mary. Again, much of thisis rights movement. They were protesting new to me, however.” the shoe with her feet or else they would fall o . This anecdote Alex Haley’s Queen. We all have watched most of it, if not the “The post-doctoral has been around in because they wanted a curriculum that encapsulated the character of My. She was a woman with a goal whole thing. What are some of your future plans academia for a long time. It is supposed to was not a Eurocentric curriculum. The in sight and she had no intention of falling by the wayside. She Our education did not end with slavery. From there my mother give a recent PhD an opportunity to work classes that they had available for them in academia? may not have had all the opportunities a orded to her that we all went on to educate us about the problems of South Africa, we on his or her research and have funding seemed too Eurocentric. There was no bask in, but yet had steadfastly decided that she would continue In terms of future plans, I want to be watched “Stephen Biko”, “Sarafi na!”, “Mandela” and other to do so, expanding the dissertation into study of African or African American in her studies to achieve her goals and secure her dreams. a tenured professor. I am going to be documentaries on the plight of the Black South Africans. Even a book manuscript that can be published history. The students wanted an academic publishing books as well. I am working on She told of how touched she was by Alex Haley’s story when though I am British and of West African descent-so none of my with an academic publisher. The Mellon program in which the stories and history my manuscript: Colonial Blackface: Ethnic he came to her university to give a lecture she attended. The direct ancestors were taken to the New World neither do any of Post-Doctorial Fellowship is a little of African dissent can be learned about Impersonation and Blackface minstrelsy power of his words made all, whether rich or poor, white or my blood relatives come from South Africa-the fashion in which di erent. It is considered a “teaching” and have space on a college campus. in South Africa. I am also working on black, religious or atheist feel connected. Her message was one I was brought up has made me identify and empathize with the post-doctoral fellowship, which means It is also important to know that there another book, an edited collection on the that reverberated his words. No matter how low, poor, weak or black people’s plight. it gives the post-doctoral fellow an would be no need for Black Studies if New WORLD Theater. downtrodden one may be, there is always the opportunity of opportunity to use his or her teaching as a the traditional disciplines were not Beyond lines of race, what remains true is that we all can in WI am currently trying to get these books reinventing oneself. means to support his or her research. The marginalizing African history and people. some way relate with the deeds of the past. We need to strive to published. Also, I want to publish some of teaching and the research are supposed In the present moment, one way we can Her words confi rm we can all feel a connection to each other understand it from both sides-the slave’s side and that of their my chapters on South Africa in di erent to come together. You teach more classes continue to pay homage to the civil rights whether we share a past or not. With the stories she has masters-in order for us to come together, lay down the past, academic journals. Lastly, I am always than a traditional post-doctoral fellow; movement is by making sure that Black helped to co-author, she feels that it is all our story. She said it is begin the healing and reconciliation process and move on united. trying to improve in terms of becoming a however those classes are directly Studies [or African, African American, or important we know of our own past so we stop ourselves making better teacher. 9 KUUMBA 2013 KUUMBA 2013 10 THEORY

a woman sits in an attic for seven years IN MY OWN WORDS: she is not rapunzel Dr. Brad Weiss, Anthropologist perfect in the heart of a galaxy 130 million light-years away

I’m Brad Weiss Professor of Anthropology at the College of William & Mary, in there’s a hole as big Williamsburg, VA. I received my Ph.D. in 1992, from the University of Chicago. In as the orbit of mars my research, I have undertaken a number of di erent ethnographic and historical projects, from a study of urban Tanzanian popular culture, to my current work on a hundred million suns heritage breed pig production and consumption in the United States. have fallen into it In spite of the diverse places and topics I’ve worked on, I think all of my work asks about similar questions. I’m interested in PLACES - what makes a place nothing escapes recognizable and important to us? How is it organized? What draws us to places? it’s perfectly black

Asking these questions leads me to ask about VALUE. What does it mean to value as the poet’s night people, objects, relationships, and places? How do di erent ways of valuing the falling gently world stand in relationship to each other? In my view, this is one of the most fundamental social and political problems we face: how do we defi ne what counts as Professor of Literature & as steal away valuable? Who gets to make that determination? Who gets excluded - and what the last note and after happens to their alternative understandings of value? Creative Writing Hermine Pinson: on the general’s tongue Research as even a man I’ve been carrying out Social/Cultural (or Socio-Cultural) Anthropological darkens newspaper margins  Dr. Weiss with friend Sidi in completing a letter in a birmingham jail research since 1986, when I fi rst went to Tanzania. I have published three books Tanzania on this work, as well as one edited volume. I served as an Editor of the Journal of WEAVER AND WIZARD perfect Religion in Africa for over ten years, including four years as Executive Editor of the JRA (2004-08). the dancer’s by Francis Tanglao-Aguas Popular Culture in Urban Tanzania OF WORDS god-driven legs her gran jetés I began my next research project in the Summer of 1999 in the city of Arusha, in Professor of African American Literature and Northeast Tanzania. While beginning my work there, I was struck by the HUGE Creative Writing Hermine Pinson has published revelation number of barbershops that sprung up all over town. I got to know a bunch of three poetry collections: Ashe (Wings Press), Mama barbers, almost all of them young men who had grown up in town. They were Yetta and Other Poems (Wings Press), and Dolores they bent time all extremely familiar with African-American hip hop, and had decked out their is Blue/Dolorez is Blues (Sheep Meadow Press). She collisions of stars shops with a pastiche of images cut out from Ebony and Vibe. Most strikingly has released two album recordings, Changing the each spiral its own orbit the shops were painted with huge murals that featured iconic images of rappers, Changes in Poetry & Song, in special collaboration at the galactic core basketball players, and fi lm stars. At the same time, these young men talked about with Yusef Komunyakaa and Estella Conwill of the matter local politics, and the struggles and strife of trying to make a living in a country that Majozo and Deliver Yourself. Her poetry, fi ction, was undergoing unprecedented political and economic change. The results of this and critical essays have appeared in anthologies perfect research were published in a volume I edited, Producing African Futures: Ritual and and journals such as Callaloo, Verse, Cave Canem Reproduction in a Neoliberal Age and the book I wrote, Street Dreams and Hip Hop Poetry Anthology, The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean hambone hambone Barbershops: Global Fantasy in Urban Tanzania. South, African American Review, Common Bonds: where you been Stories by and About Modern Texas Women, Eyeball, round the world and Konch, Melus, Paintbrush Forum for European Contributions in African American back Studies, and will soon appear in Richmond Noir. She teaches courses in Creative Writing, Black Expressive Workshop, Poetry, African American Literature, and as a woman sits in an attic Introduction to Africana Studies. Featured here is her poem “Theory,” which was so recently reprinted in Broome: International Journal Journal of the Arts, about what a man sits in a hole strung with ten thousand lights it takes to be a hero. It alludes to black heroes, from Martin Luther King (“Letter he thinks his story through from a Birmingham Jail”), to Harriet Tubman (conductor), to Judith Jamison, the dancer, to Ralph Ellison’s “Invisible man,” drawing from “found imagery” of the scientifi c journal.

11 KUUMBA 2013 KUUMBA 2013 12 PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS BERHANU ABEGAZ: Senior Scrapbook: ANNA SWANSON, ’13 NAME: Anna Swanson A Passion for Service & Academic Activism DATE OF GRADUATION: May 2013 by Francis Tanglao-Aguas MAJOR: Africana Studies (African concentration), minor in Environmental Science and Policy The well-revered and astute Professor of Economics Berhanu Abegaz, one of the faculty pillars of FUTURE PLANS: I hope to work for the nonprofi t sector in food security and/or urban Africana Studies, was awarded the most prestigious Award for exemplary service for advocacy sustainability. I would love to work abroad Africa or Latin America eventually. and governance in 2012. The Arts & Sciences Award for Faculty Governance honors faculty MOST UNFORGETTABLE MEMORY AS AFRICANA STUDENT: Taking the members who devote special efforts to helping their colleagues through committee memberships opportunity to study abroad at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. It was an and other services to departments, programs, Arts & Sciences, and College committees. Dean incredible addition to my major to be able to study Africana Studies from both the American and the African perspective. Eugene Tracy led the awarding with a College wide reception where Professor Abegaz was feted FAVORITE MOMENT IN AFRICANA CLASS: I took a Swahili course o ered one with a cash prize and a citation, which read: summer and I just remember sitting under a tree next to the sunken gardens and speaking little beginner Swahili sentences to each other. It was such a cool moment, both for the “Professor Berhanu Abegaz has built an setting and the opportunity to learn a language like Swahili at William and Mary. impressive record of service over nearly All of them! In particular, Professors Froitzheim thirty years at the College of William FAVORITE AFRICANA PROFESSOR: (Gov’t), La Fluer (Hist), Osiapem (Linguistics), and Vinson (Hist). and Mary. He has served on, and sometimes chaired, a number of College PERSONAL MESSAGE: Best of luck to the program- thank you so much for all the and Arts and Sciences committees, time and energy you’ve spent to bring me where I am today! including the A rmative Action CONTACT INFORMATION: [email protected] Advisory Committee; Educational Policy Committee; Faculty A airs Committee; Faculty Assembly; Faculty Compensation Board; International Studies Committee; International Advisory Committee; Committee on BE THE CHANGE: Nominations and Elections; Committee on Retention, Promotion, and Tenure; Student Body Size Committee; and Why I Majored in Africana Studies Study Abroad Committee. He has also by Anna Swanson, ’13  Professor Abegaz speaking at the Lemon Symposium. served on the advisory committees for “Sooo what do you do with an Africana Studies major?” Without fail, The year after I graduated Episcopal, two of my fellow EA alums, Quinn the programs in Africana Studies and I am confronted with this question almost every time I meet someone Libson and Mia Kent, and I decided to travel and volunteer for a year in Russian and Post-Soviet Studies; as new. My go-to answer these days: “well, I’m planning on moving to before heading to college. We all went slightly di erent places, but with current Africana Studies Program; and currently serves as a mentor in the Africana Academic Director for the Reves Center Africa and saving the world.” A bit sarcastic, but e ective. The honest a common goal: to learn something about and to experience a larger House, which he was instrumental in establishing, and as director of the Africana for International Studies; and on the answer is, I don’t really know. All I know is I’ve been really lucky to fi nd world. My adventures took me into the jungle of Peru where I worked Studies Program.” something I love studying; Africa and South Africa in particular, and I on a reserve in conservation. Then to a small village near Machu Picchu, search committee for the Dean of Arts went with it. I should be a senior this year, graduating in May, but my where I taught English to middle and high schoolers. Then across the and Sciences. Throughout his many Professor Abegaz received his A.B. from Princeton University and his Ph.D. from path has been a bit di erent. Atlantic into the bush of Botswanan wilderness for another conservation contributions, Professor Abegaz has the University of Pennsylvania. His teaching interests encompass macroeconomic project. To the streets of Cape Town, South Africa, where I worked in a It started back in my own days in this fi ne academy. I was one of the demonstrated a deep commitment to a theory, regional economic integration, comparative economics, and development daycare. And, fi nally, throughout Senegal in West Africa where I taught exchange students to Australia summer after sophomore year and went English to adult learners and French to kindergartners. system of governance with transparency economics. His research interests are wide-ranging including structural to Tanzania with my mom and the other EA kids summer after my junior and with shared responsibility through convergence in manufacturing industries between leaders and latecomers, the role year. By senior year, to all of the language department’s horror I am sure, In each of these places my situation was a bit di erent. In the participatory decision-making. He was of diversifi ed business groups in emerging economies, African industrialization, I was apparently not content with the regular 3-year single language wilderness, working on conservation projects, I lived in volunteer- also responsible for shepherding the and poverty traps in Ethiopia’s agrarian system. He is Director Emeritus of William commitment, but instead was taking French, Spanish, and Mandarin. I made cabins, tents, and little stone shelters with other volunteers from 2009 merger of the programs in Black and Mary Africana Studies. He is a former Senior Fulbright Scholar in Vietnam. had stumbled upon something new and intriguing- traveling and other around the globe. In the towns and cities I lived with host families of cultures. My summer’s abroad had broadened my horizons signifi cantly incredible diversity. They were Christian, Muslim, Peruvian, Senegalese, Studies and African Studies into the but if anything, left me wanting more. And so I did something a bit Cape Tonian, “colored,” African, Andean, French speaking, Spanish unusual, something that almost everyone questioned. But, being my speaking and Afrikaans speaking. I met people from all over the world stubborn self, I was convinced it would be worthwhile. with di erent stories, backgrounds, and goals. I skydived over Table 13 KUUMBA 2013 KUUMBA 2013 14 Africana Studies major. I dove into South I don’t know any, except you. Will you be “being a change” and ultimately, helping, is Africa’s history, reading novels, Nelson mine? This struck me. understanding. For some, this is years and Mandela’s biography (which is not short), years of school, books, lectures, speeches, It was interactions like these with my watched movies, read the news. I wanted my conferences, and research. For me, this means photography students and in my classes at second experience in South Africa to be even experiencing and exploring. It means taking UCT when South Africa crept up on me and more meaningful. every opportunity you have to challenge began testing my faith in its success. Was yourself, branch out, expand your mind. To This past semester, as I promised myself, I it possible for a country with a history of leave behind your expectations and biases began at the University of Cape Town, South such violence to proceed out of it with no and look at something in a new way. For me, Africa. By the time I returned, South Africa consequences? How could the country move it meant traveling around the globe learning had earned a very special place in my heart past the racism when students like my own and experiencing other cultures. However, it as the most beautiful, inspirational country never even had contact with whites? Why also meant beginning to understand myself. in Africa. My memories of anything negative were the students at UCT still so vocal about Understanding and learning my interests, from my gap year were quickly shaded over Apartheid and racism when they hadn’t fears, stereotypes, areas where I needed to by the images of the “rainbow nation,” a place experienced it fi rsthand and currently lived improve, and areas where I had developed. where people had moved so swiftly from the in a democratic nation? I came home crying utmost challenge of oppression to freedom, more than once feeling ashamed and heart By doing this I have begun and you will begin change, democracy and happiness. Of course broken at the violence and oppression that to care. Beginning to understand the country there were problems, but everyone was so was attached with my skin color and the of South Africa and the situation of most of its positive! How could it matter? ignorance that was attached with my accent population a bit more inspired me. I developed and nationality. I began to question my ability a passion for this place that constantly As soon as I started university I realized how to teach the students photography when what confused, frustrated and inspired me. This  “Looking over the beaches of Cape Town, my untrue this was. I decided I wanted to get to they saw and what I saw in their community passion was the only way I could help. It drove roommate and I celebrate the sunset on Lion’s Head.” know the community, or at least a part of it, were so di erent. I was frustrated that the me to learn more, do more, and not give up. better than just from a book. I went in search country wasn’t the positive rainbow nation it Because I wanted so badly to understand and Mountain, hiked Winu Picchu, swam in driven from a chosen location because your of a volunteer position or internship that once seemed and pessimistic about my ability be a part of the community, I kept working piranha-infested water, drove for over 42 hrs walking path to work suddenly transitions to would place me in the heart of somewhere to change anything. even after I would come home crying feeling total in a 7-person car with no air-conditioning an unsafe area can be a bit scary. But I can’t di erent and stumbled upon one through a judged and belittled just for the color of in 106 degree heat. I got my hair braided into tell you how rewarding it feels to be absolutely program called SAEP. There, I met a woman But always, just when I thought I would give my skin and accent. And I’d like to think I 142 braids down to my butt, ate a whole guinea exhausted mentally and physically at the end of named Indra who asked me if I’d like to help up there were moments of hope. Moments helped a little. In the end, I did set up a very pig, dove with great white sharks, and walked the day from working and speaking with other start up a photography program. I jumped on the when I bonded with a South African classmate successful photography program at the school, by moonlight only through the African bush. It people in another language all day. Or the sheer idea, even though the last time I formally took  over similar book taste. Times when I was (top) “My last day with my which will hopefully be working with the Cape was an experience of a lifetime. pride you feel when you’ve returned home to a photography was in this very school with Mr. goofi ng o with my students dancing and photography students! From Town School of Photography students next host mother’s approval fi nally on a price you’ve Collins. But I thought, hey, how hard can it be? laughing even though they could hardly But most importantly, I learned. Some right: Ayanda, Thembe, Ozayo, year. But, to me, the biggest positive change bargained down in the market from the “white understand the lyrics of my choices and I had learning was obvious- nature walks with The fi rst Monday I was driven deep into a Yonela, Sinazo, Me” I made was with the students. I developed a person price” to the “locals price”. no idea what theirs were saying. I know this is our leader in the jungle taught me all the township called Phillippi and dropped in a friendship and relationship with them that  (bottom) “One of my best going to sound really cliché, but I realized that complexities about the jungle’s species and Living with all those di erent host families classroom of 7 students with just myself, my helped them unravel many stereotypes of race, friends, Comfort, and I ‘helping’ one of the most important things I could do how they worked. Cab drivers, host families, and meeting so many people from all over camera, and a list of photography vocabulary. nationality, and class they had never had to was exactly as Ghandi said, and be the change and the kids I worked with all helped me the world constantly forced me to challenge The students were all Xhosa speaking (yes, the chefs at a local township confront before. I wanted to see in South Africa. It was the improve my Spanish and French constantly previous ideas. Everyday I learned something the language with the clicks), but could barbecue house called Mzoli’s.” little exchanges that showed my students that If I leave you with one thing today, I want to correcting me and developing my vocabulary. about a place, a person, or a part of society understand a bit of my English if I spoke I was as much their teacher as their equal, the encourage you to not just “be the change” Tours of historical sites and museums in Cape I didn’t know before. Every day something slowly. They were between the ages of 17 and other art program students had taken a fi eld comments and discussions in class where I but fi rst, fi nd it. Learn and experience. This Town taught me about the nation’s horrifying pushed me out of my comfort zone and forced 20 and all but one had never worked a camera. trip to the National Art Museum in Cape Town challenged South African students stereotypes school has so many opportunities available history of Apartheid and the Civil-rights like me to learn something new about myself or They lived in what is called a “township;” to see a photography exhibit. We were waiting of me as a white American. I may not have to you all- take advantage of them. Keep movements against it. about others. what most would call a shanty town or slum outside for the other van to come pick us up solved all the problems of their community, searching, don’t settle for something you feel consisting of scrap iron houses, dirt roads, But some of the learning was a bit less direct I began to learn and understand parts of the afterwards and I started chatting with one of but I did make a change in their world. And average about, fi nd something your passionate stolen electricity, and the occasional port-o- and only evident upon refl ection. I had to world I never knew and was hooked. I fell the girls. She asked me what I was doing that that’s the thing about creating change- its not about. If you keep exploring, as I have, your potty. These townships are the remnants of learn how to be responsible; navigate airports, in love particularly with South Africa. Its weekend and I said I was probably going to always huge, its not always “saving the world” passion may just fi nd you. It’s something that Apartheid. They are the informal housing trains, work assignments, and tricky situations complexities challenged me, its beautiful Mzoli’s, a restaurant in a black township where as I say. Sometimes it is just making a positive challenges you and forces you out of your outside the city were thousands of blacks and by myself. “Africa time” forced me to learn façade but deep seeded sadness and inequality you bought your meat at the deli next store, di erence in a few people lives. comfort zone. But at the same time, something “coloureds” were made to live, often by forced patience. Being a two hr boat ride from the perplexed me. I wanted to know more, to they grilled it, and you ate it with your hands that is rewarding and that you feel good about. removal from their homes closer to the city, There is a quote by Jane Goodall I really like nearest village with no electricity taught me know the country and its people better. So I and danced the afternoon away with the DJ. Its taken me a long time and many experiences by Apartheid laws laying racial claims over that I think goes along perfectly with the to enjoy simplicity. In Senegal, where 90% vowed to go back. She was amazed that I would be going into a to even start to begin to know where my future certain areas. They went to a school with not chapel theme. She says, “only if we understand were Muslim and 100% were African, I learned township to eat. She asked me why? I said it lies, and trust me, I’m still barely there. But for But fi rst, I returned home and started at the a single white person nor anyone of any other can we care, only if we care will we help, only what it felt like to be a minority, constantly was fun. She then asked me, shocked, so you now, I know where that passion lies and that’s College of William and Mary in Virginia. My tribe or race for that matter, and I was the fi rst if we help shall we all be saved.” The whole being picked out, treated di erently, and taken have black friends? Assuming I would only be enough for me to feel hopeful that I’ll make a fi rst semester I took a Modern History of American they’d met. point of me telling you all this is that these advantage of. It wasn’t always fun and easy. going to a township with black people. I said change somewhere, sometime. South Africa class and by the time second experiences in South Africa and on my gap Handling a room full of screaming kids who A particular incident stands out in my mind yes, I have black and white friends and friends semester had come around I was planning year helped me do this- understand, care, help. don’t speak your language by yourself can be where I realized the importance of our from all over. She then got really quiet for a my study abroad and had declared myself an a bit intimidating. Having to be picked up and interactions. My students and a bunch of the moment then said, I wish I had a white friend. According to Jane’s quote the fi rst part of 15 KUUMBA 2013 KUUMBA 2013 16 ALUMNI AND FRIENDS Your News and Contact Information For your convenience, we have provided an online form (www.wm.edu/as/africanastudies/alumni/ AFRICANA sendusyournews) for your news and contact information. As always, we look forward to your visit to campus. Alumni Career Connections One of the most helpful and popular resources provided by the Office of Career Services is Alumni Career Connections-a searchable database of alumni who have volunteered to support students and STUDIES fellow alumni by sharing information about their career field, internships and job search strategies CURRICULUM: SUPPORT AFRICANA STUDIES at William & Mary MAJOR AND MINOR  Cape Town, South Africa Ways to Contribute Disciplines Studied: You can contribute online now with your credit card, using our secure Anthropology web server. The contribution form will be pre-selected to direct your gift to the general academic fund for the Africana Studies Program, which MISSION AND STRUCTURE STUDENT ACTIVITIES AND RESEARCH Art and Art History supports student and faculty needs directly. Africana Studies is an interdisciplinary major Students are supported by over thirty affiliated Economics To contribute by mail, make your check pay able to The College of that explores the scholarship on the history and faculty. Majors are expected to engage in research English William and Mary Foundation. Please be sure in your check’s memo cultural traditions, and the political and economic in various forms, including independent study, area to note how you are designating your gift. Mailing address: circumstances which together define over 1.2 Honors, and structured internships. Majors and Government billion people of African descent. Students take a Minors are encouraged to combine their scholarly History The College of William and Mary common set of core courses, and may select one study with service learning, study away in the P.O. Box 1693 Modern Languages and of three tracks in which to concentrate: Williamsburg, VA 23187-1693 U.S., and study abroad, especially in Africa, the Literatures Caribbean, and Latin America. The Program is a Music For more Information African-American Studies lead sponsor of the W&M summer program in Cape Town, South Africa. In the near future, we Philosophy To further explore giving options that will be meaningful and benefi cial to hope to add summer programs in the Caribbean you, please contact Arts & Sciences Development at (757) 221-7737. Religious Studies African Studies and Brazil. The student-run African Cultural Society, Black Studies Club, and Africana House Sociology CONTACT: African-Diaspora Studies are open to all members of the William and Mary Theatre, Speech, and Dance community. Website: Distinguishing Features: The central mission of the program is to prepare www.wm.edu/africanastudies Foreign Languages students for lifelong learning, graduate study in CAREERS AND GRADUATE STUDY Main O ce: various fields, and careers in private and public Students with a major in Africana Studies (or its Research Methods predecessors, African Studies and Black Studies) Jenny M. Holly, Academic Coordinator organizations worldwide. Africana studies seeks Core and capstone to develop a habit of thinking that is inter- have attended graduate programs in various Morton Hall, Room 322 Interdisciplinary disciplinarily analytical and a habit of heart that disciplines and professions. Several alumni have 757-221-2477 is cross-culturally empathetic. Embracing more joined the public sector at all levels, while others Globally comparative work for a variety of private employers. Many Program Director: than the centrality of race, it is designed to apply Melds the Local with the served as Peace Corps volunteers or joined a Francis Tanglao-Aguas, Class of 2015 Distinguished a comparative lens to the study of imperial, Diasporic national, ethnic, linguistic, and religious currents variety of non-profit organizations in the U.S. The Associate Professor of Theatre & Africana Studies and intersections in Africa, and its far-flung analytical skills and broad perspectives acquired Study away [email protected] Diaspora in North America, the Caribbean Basin, in life-long learning or to prepare for myriad Study abroad PBK Hall Room 224 occupational opportunities. 757-221-2684 Latin America, the Middle East, South Asia, and Internships Western Europe. Community Engagement AFRICANA STUDIES @ WILLIAM & MARY AFRICANA STUDIES @ WILLIAM & MARY AFRICANA STUDIES @ WILLIAM & MARY

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