Once the last episodes of this short #IssaThrone season have aired, the party’s over for summer. But that’s OK. Fall is going to be wall-to-wall fun, back in the classroom, and (wow!) tenure review.
Couple things:
First, check out this beautiful view in Aruba.
Yeah.
I listened to this excellent interview on KPFA’s Against the Grain with Melissa Nelson about her contribution to Critically Sovereign: Indigenous Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies, and you should, too!
Nelson’s work is incredibly rich, and it reminds me of how much the pleasures of vernacular culture link together the erotic and the ludic. When we aren’t afraid to remember the stories of our youth, we open ourselves up to re-learning so much. The discussion of the chapter, which is titled ” Getting Dirty: The Eco-Eroticism of Women in Indigenous Oral Literatures,” gave me some ideas regarding the value of oral traditions (Indigenous/decolonial critique of epistemology for the win) and whether I might bring back a course I’ve developed in other locations: Gender & Sexuality in the Americas. I know more about sexuality, Diaspora, and perspectives on sexuality across cultures than I did when I taught it for the first time. If I do, I will probably develop it online, right here, like I did with my Blackness & Utopia course! I’ll post the syllabus and selected materials if and when I get the time. But in short, I feel that my current plans to re-up LGBT Literature & Culture would go along well with a renewed version of Gender & Sexuality in the Americas, as a way to seriously distinguish the fields of knowledge named by those terms. And I’d like to deliver a version of gender and sexuality studies that doesn’t necessarily play into a predetermined politics of education.
Also, Escape Velocity is coming! I will post from there, in all likelihood, because it’s going to be lit. No, really, the presentations I’m doing are on the Literary Track. Ya boy gets to be in conversation with the Sheree Thomas and the De Witt Kilgore! Aaaaaaaaaah!
Furthermore, in October, I will be making my first (belated) trip to Indiana to discuss race & SF with once and future colleagues including Rebekah Sheldon and the aforementioned De Witt Kilgore. Students will be there, which is awesome. I’m excited and glad this worked out–believe it or not, sports actually affected my ability to make the trip. Funny story, tell you later.
That same week, closer to home, I will be presenting at a wonderful one-day conference titled Graphic Thinking at Temple University! Distinguishing the panel will be Nicole Georges. And Ponyo! Also present before and during the conference: Nick Sousanis, Jennifer Crute, and Eric Battle. Whereas Escape Velocity will be lit, this conference will be ?.
It might be a good hook to get students to sign up for my Comics & Graphic Novels class in Winter term… but who am I kidding, that class is always full. Now if I could only get the same contrarian nerds enthusiastic young media critics to sign up en masse for my Global Black Lit class…