Inclusion Imperative Humanities Symposium
May 3, 2019
Colleagues from UMBC, Bowie State University, Coppin State University, and Howard University gathered for the first Inclusion Imperative Diversity Teaching Network Humanities Symposium at Bowie State University on May 3, 2019. The Symposium featured faculty panels and lightning round presentations on the theme, Being Human: How the Humanities and Arts Expand Boundaries and Inspire Action in the 21st Century.
The discussions and presentations were inspired by questions related to the Symposium theme:
How does work in the humanities and arts change the way we think about, and act upon our contemporary world?
How do philosophical, historical, communicative, or aesthetic perspectives help us understand and work towards social justice?
What teaching practices help foster social and community engagement among our students?
How might we work together with students to expand boundaries and promote action on diversity, inclusion, inequity, and social justice?
Program
Keynote – “Towards an Aesthetic of Liberation: Affirming Human Life in the Biosphere,” delivered by Frederick Mills, Professor, Department of History, Bowie State University
Panel One: Teaching Towards Action
A.J. Verdelle, Assistant Professor, Department of English, Morgan State University, “The Poem Heard Round the World: Celebrating the Centennial of Claude McKay’s ‘If We Must Die’”
Jennifer White-Johnson, Assistant Professor, Department of Fine and Performing Arts, Bowie State University; and Elena Velasco, Assistant Professor, Department of Fine and Performing Arts, Bowie State University, “Socially Engaged Design, and Theatre for Social Justice: Practice and Pedagogy”
Eliseo Jacob, Lecturer, Department of World Languages and Cultures, Howard University, “Students as Global Citizens: Creating Digital Publics in an Online Writing Across the Curriculum Course”
Panel Two: Inspiring Justice
Jennifer Maher, Associate Professor, Department of English, UMBC, “What Use Are the Humanities? Identifying the Good(s) in the Public Turn”
Katherine Bankole-Medina, Professor, Department of Humanities, Coppin State University, and Inclusion Imperative Visiting Faculty Fellow, Dresher Center for the Humanities, UMBC, “Social Media and Social Justice: Reflections on Humanities Pedagogy, Discourse and Technology”
Marina del Sol, Lecturer, Department of English, Howard University, “Spaces of ‘Black Excellence’: Multimodal Ethnography and Social Engagement in the First-Year Writing Classroom”
Nicole King, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of American Studies, UMBC, “Teaching Towards Justice”
Lightning Round Presentations
Sharon N. Tran, Assistant Professor, Department of English, UMBC, “Disability, Race, and Social Justice”
Sarah Fouts, Assistant Professor, Department of American Studies, UMBC, “Examining Inequity by Documenting Baltimore’s Historic Food Establishments”
Myron Smith, Adjunct Professor, Department of Fine and Performing Arts, Visual Communication and Media Design Arts, Bowie State University, “Teaching the History of Design”
Art Vidrine, Assistant Professor of Art, Department of Fine and Performing Arts, Bowie State University, “Digital Bodies, Real Empathy”
Jodi Kelber-Kaye, Associate Director, Honors College, UMBC, “Fostering Community Engagement in Seminars about Baltimore”
Kathryn Kawecki, Assistant Professor of Theatre, Department of Fine and Performing Arts, Bowie State University, “Creating Cre-Actors: Engaged (Non-Theatre) Students Staging ‘Happenings’ for Social Change”
Panel moderators: Tamara L. Brown, Associate Professor, Department of History and Government, Bowie State University; Benjamin Arah, Associate Professor, Department of History and Government, Bowie State University; and Scott E. Casper, Dean, College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, and Professor of History, UMBC, and co-Project Director of the Inclusion Imperative.
Special thanks to the Symposium Committee: Gina Lewis, Symposium Chair, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Fine and Performing Arts, Bowie State University; and Benjamin Arah, Symposium Co-Chair, Associate Professor, Department of History and Government, Bowie State University; with Jessica Berman, Director, Dresher Center for the Humanities, Professor of English, UMBC, and Project Director of the Inclusion Imperative, and Vernise Bolden, Inclusion Imperative Associate, UMBC.
Thank you to George Acquaah, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, for welcoming the Inclusion Imperative Humanities Symposium to Bowie State University.
Considering Diaspora Literacies
January 24, 2019
Presenter: Gloria Swindler Boutte, Carolina Distinguished Professor, Department of Education, University of South Carolina
During this “lunch-and-learn” session, Gloria Swindler Boutte led participants in thinking together about African Diaspora literacy in university settings and P-20 classrooms. The discussion included best practices in teaching and research and how to catalyze those practices.
Christine Mallinson, Professor, Language, Literacy, and Culture Program, and Director of the Center for Social Science Scholarship, UMBC, and her former students shared their video project, Voices of UMBC. The short film celebrates UMBC’s linguistic diversity as a cultural resource. The film has been praised as an example of cutting-edge linguistic outreach/engagement work in higher education.
The session was co-sponsored by the UMBC Education Department, as part of its Equity and Excellence program.