Performative Intergenerational Dialogues of a Black Quartet promotes the importance of intergenerational Black dialogue as a collaborative spirit-making across race, genders, sexualities, and cultures to bridge time and space.
The authors enter this dialogue in a crisis moment: a crisis moment at the confluence of a pandemic, the national political transition of leadership in the United States, the necessary rise of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color activism-in the face of the continued murders of unarmed Black and queer people by police. And as each author mourns the loss of loved ones who have left us through illness, the contiguity of time, or murder, we all hold tight to each other and to memory as an act of keeping them alive in our hearts and actions, remembrance as an act of resistance so that the circle will be unbroken. But they also come together in the spirit of hope, the hope that bleeds the borders between generations of Black teacher-artist-scholars, the hope that we find in each other's joy and laughter, and the hope that comes when we hear both stories of struggle and strife and stories of celebration and smile that lead to possibilities and potentialities of our collective being and becoming-as a people.
So, the authors offer stories of witness, resistance, and gettin' ovah, stories that serve as a road map from Black history and heritage to a Black futurity that is mythic and imagined but that can also be actualized and embodied, now. This book will be of interest to scholars, students, and activists in a wide range of disciplines across the social sciences and performance studies.
Autorentext
Bryant Keith Alexander is a professor and Dean in the College of Communication and Fine Arts, and an Interim Dean in the School of Film and Television at Loyola Marymount University, USA. He is author or co-editor of six previous books.
Mary E. Weems is a poet, playwright, scholar, and author of 14 books including Blackeyed: Plays and Monologues, and five chapbooks. Weems was awarded a 2015 Cleveland Arts Prize for her full-length drama MEAT and has also been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Weems may be reached at www.maryeweems.org.
Dominque C. Hill, PhD, is a Blackqueer feminist whose scholarship interrogates Black embodiment with foci in girlhood, education, and performance. An artist-scholar, Hill is Assistant professor of Women's Studies at Colgate University. Co-author of Who look at me?!: Shifting the Gaze of Education Through Blackness, Queerness, and the Body.
Durell M. Callier, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Leadership at Miami University. An artist-scholar his research interrogates the lived experience of Black youth and the racialized queer dynamics of power within educative spaces. He is co-author of Who look at me?!: Shifting the Gaze of Education Through Blackness, Queerness, and the Body.
Klappentext
Performative Intergenerational Dialogues of a Black Quartet promote the importance of intergenerational Black dialogue as a collaborative spirit-making across race, genders, sexualities, and cultures to bridge time and space.
The authors enter this dialogue in a crisis moment; a crisis moment at the confluence of a pandemic, the national political transition of leadership in the United States, the necessary rise of Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) activism-in the face of the continued murders of unarmed Black and queer people by police. And as each author mourns the loss of loved ones who have left us through illness, the contiguity of time, or murder we all hold tight to each other and to memory as an act of keeping them alive in our hearts and actions; remembrance as an act of resistance so that the circle will be unbroken. But they also come together in the spirit of hope; the hope that bleeds the borders between generations of Black teacher-artist-scholars; the hope that we find in each other's joy and laughter; the hope that comes when we hear both stories of struggle and strife, but also stories of celebration and smile that leads to possibilities and potentialities of our collective being and becoming-as a people.
So, the authors offer stories of witness, resistance, and gettin' ovah. Stories that serve as a roadmap from Black history and heritage to a Black futurity that is mythic and imagined, but can also be actualized and embodied, now. This book will be of interest to scholars, students and activists in a wide range of disciplines across the Social Sciences and Performance Studies.
Inhalt
Performative Intergenerational Dialogues: An Introduction
The Black Quartet
Section I: Tribute and Libation to A Black Quartet
1. Generational Drama/Intergenerational Trauma
Bryant Keith Alexander
2. When You Hear It From HER
Dominique C. Hill
3. I Wish Cotton was a Monkey
Mary E. Weems
4. And the Protest Goes On...
Durell M. Callier
Section II: Motha/ Sista and Fatha/Brotha Wit: Listening to the Lessons
5. Motha Wit
Mary E. Weems and Dominique C. Hill
6. Fatha Wit (and Brotha Wit)
Bryant Keith Alexander and Durell M. Callier
7. I Affirm
Bryant Keith Alexander and Dominique C. Hill
8. Reading (to/for) Daddee
Bryant Keith Alexander
Section III. Letters to Those Who Mattered
9. To Daddee (Love, Keith)
Bryant Keith Alexander
10. Dear Grandpa (Love, Cookie)
Mary E. Weems
11. What Becomes (Possible) When a Black Woman Sees You: A Gratitude Meditation for Mama Crystal
Dominique C. Hill
12. A Praisesong to Softness: Reflecting on Soft Black Masculinities and Survival
Durell M. Callier
13. Tribute to Franklin (A Comic Appreciation)
Bryant Keith Alexander
Section IV: Monuments of Memory and Remorse
14. Monuments to Living (or, Finding and Reviving the Dead in a Graveyard)
Bryant Keith Alexander
15. Rice: A Visit to a 12-Year-Old Black Boy's Memorial
Mary E. Weems
16. The First Time . . .
Durell M. Callier
17. Going There
Bryant Keith Alexander
18. High Bar Love
Dominique C. Hill
19. Standing at the Intersection of 38th Street E and Chicago Avenue S
Bryant Keith Alexander
Section V: B(l)ack Talk
20. April 20, 2021: On Luther and Chauvin
The Black Quartet
21. Trilogy of Terror on the Black Hand Side
Bryant Keith Alexander
22. Feel/Think the Kink: Response to Kink Jubi Arriola-Headley's Original Kink
Mary E. Weems and Bryant Keith Alexander
23. Spell Casting as Talking Back
Dominique C. Hill
24. Admirable or Ridiculous: Talkin' Black, Back & Between Kin Folk
Durell Callier and Mary E. Weems
25. Feeling Real: Reprise (Talking B(l)ack to a Younger Brother)
Bryant Keith Alexander
Section VI: Voting Rights and Writing Volition
26. Why Black People Voted for Trump
The Black Quartet
27. Another Prayer Meeting
Bryant Keith Alexander
28. We are the People (July 4th, 2021)
The Black Quartet
29. What's the Matter? (A Play)
Mary E. Weems
30. The Will to Love: Dialogues on Loving Blackness in an Anti-Black World
Dominique C. Hill and Durel…