Class Notes 5/9

At the beginning of class we started class with a presentation about mass incarnation. It talked about what 13^th had talked about as well. It discussed how people, especially African American’s were accused of things they didn’t do just because of their color. We then talked about Jordan Edwards and how to cope with his death, and how to view his death. We were shown a quote that talked about the death of Jordan Edwards and how his death should not be viewed as bad just because of how good of a person he was, but because he was a person. The quote also brought attention to the fact that through a Christian lens everyone is fearfully and wonderfully made, and that’s how we should talk about the death of people regardless if you felt they were worth killing or not.

We then moved on to talk about the poem, “Cells and Windows.” Professor West told us how this poem used institutionalized rhetoric. She spoke about the poem and how the author discusses a standardized test that is twisted so there are different right answers depending on what you believe. Dr. West also talked about how the author makes it seem that if this poem is a test she is refusing to follow the standardized rules. The author attempts to put the information in a box and categories and she proves that this does not work. The artist that the author is referring to also clumps things by colors and lines, and when referencing the artwork, the poet makes it known that we should not do that with people. She makes it known that this approach does not work. However, it has been seen all throughout history and still today, that people have been placed into certain categories due to their skin color or social class. This poem raises awareness to this issue, and the author wants the reader to know that approach does not work.

We then had a group discussion about the documentary 13^th. We all went around the room and discussed the impact that this film had on us. We talked about certain scenes and images that were most memorable to us, and many people stated how the film brought up different things about America, and politics that they had never known before. Some also stated that because this film discussed very current racial issues, it seems like nothing has changed from history in terms of racism. After this observation was mentioned Dr. West then told us about how it is easy to look at the film and think that very little has changed, and asked us how we as Christian’s can respond to that without just feeling helpless and in despair?

From this question the class talked about how society has changed, and as Christians we become more aware of what is wrong. We also talked about how there can be a redesigning of laws, rather than reforming of laws. This makes it hard to completely change everything. As Christians we can’t be surprised that the world is broken, we have to realize that evil is constantly changing its shape and when it finds a way that works, evil will redesigns itself.

Dr. West then put a verse up on the board from Hebrews that stated, “Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured.” (Hebrews 13:3) The class then talked about how we must remember those who are in prison whether they should be, or because they are not able to go to trial, or because they simply can’t afford bail. As Christians we cannot look away from those hard things. Instead we should step up and do the hard work. As the verse states are all called to be aware to those who are hurting, and to weep with them. We also discussed how should think of the best justice we can hope for in sinful situations while being realistic, because this gives us a goal to strive for because there is no perfect solution. We then discussed how it is easy to feel hopeless, like we can’t do anything, but we should not just settle for that. But instead continue trying and not giving up, just as Christ did not give up on us.

Dr. West then told us a story about how her eyes were open to the ways in which the world is set up and how it is easy for some people to move around, and harder for others (comparing to people with wheelchairs vs. people on foot, and how there are more stairs than ramps).  This Literature and Human Rights class has opened our eyes similarly to her experience because it has shown us new ways that the world has been set up to advantage certain people and disadvantage other people. We then discussed how this does not mean that white people were in fact bad and hold a secret hate in their heart for African American’s it just means that there are certain instances that we are now able to look at and dissect with our knowledge through this course to decide whether or not it was intentional mistreatment, or due to societal norms and beliefs.

We wrapped up class discussing Coates, Between the World and Me and briefly talked about three main quotes from the text. The first being, “Remember that this consciousness can never ultimately be racial; it must be cosmic” (128). This was explained as consciousness being related to the world and largely hard to understand. Therefore there is more too it than just racism, but much more that is hard to understand and has more going into it. Then we talked about that part of our responsibility is to care for the earth. We discussed the quote,  “once the Dream’s parameters were caged by technology and by the limits of horsepower and wind… (150) Dr. West told us how part of what we are after in terms of justice is how we treat creation as well as how we treat one another. It is not about blaming all white people for what has happened, but to resist the dream that we could perhaps have some kind of life that doesn’t have consequences for other people. The last quote we talked about stated, “I often wonder if in that distance I’ve missed something, some notions of cosmic hope, some wisdom beyond my mean physical perception of the world, something beyond the body, that I might have transmitted to you” (139).  This resulted in us talking about how she can respond to the death of her son through the church and faith. This is because faith is what allows us to face these situations with hope and not despair and seeing the world as physical struggle, but it is because of God we are able to know about a world after this place of sin.

We ended class going over the final exam and talking about what is expected of us for our final take-home.

Class Notes 5/2

Checklist for class today-

• Reading response to, between the world and me- How did it make you feel to read Between the World and Me and why?
• Understanding- Wealth and equality among African Americans and white Americans
• Red- negro concentration- category for whether a neighborhood was good or bad was based on race- 1930s-1940s
• FHA granting mortgages, would not finance a home in a red area- “Red lining”
• FHA refused to finance home in these red areas
• Return to groups- think about quotes in lens of the rest of the book
• Use quotes as a catalyst for discussion
• Have big discussion about quotes etc.
• Go in groups, chronologically, pausing to discuss what the groups have shared
• 1. Coates- Definition of racism- right quotes
• Whiteness becomes an idealized norm
• Race is a by product of racism
• Psychological perception of your own race
• White people held to a standard as well
• What does he mean by the people who believe that they are white? 42,98
• “In order to believe in your whiteness you have to ascribe to it”- Dr. West
• White Supremacy- language of cultural superiority
• 3. What role does innocence play in this story? Why does that matter? 96-97
• Flip side to innocence is naivety
• How do we determine who is guilty?- Dr. West
• Part of what Coates learns that he is not innocent and if he is flawed everyone is flawed.
• 2. Democracy and American Exceptionalism- What does American exceptionalism mean?
• Comparing our government to other countries- creates an allusion
• Fine print- involuntary capitalist exceptionalism
• 4. Because criminal justice system is flawed- it has potential to break someone
• We think about racism as individual acts of meanness”
• He is talking about systemic injustice/institutional injustice- Housing, jailing
• “I'm not a racist”- washes the hand of what inequality does exist
• we blame the victim
• 5. The dream-
• Intention- slave owners didn’t mean to be cruel or some were good to their slaves- the dream is a way in which we hope for a way of living without realizing the effects on other people, minorities- this white picket fence dream is not beneficial to all
• 6. What it means to be a writer-
• Means of recognizing- no one is really innocent
• Motive
• Pg. 29- writing as a means to getting an answer to the question at hand
• He learns he has a different way of seeing the world and wants to ask questions
• Personal Responses to the Book
• Who is the intended audience beyond his son?
• Dreamers who might not see themselves but might relate to the logic of cultural superiority

Dehumanization, which marks not only those whose humanity has been stolen, but also (though in a different way) those who have stolen it, is a distortion of the vocation of becoming more fully human” -  Paulo Freire Pedagogy of the Oppressed

4/27 Class Notes Summary:

Class started off with Dr. West sharing her opinions on Black lives matter, and how we as Christians should at least be willing to listen to those crying out for equality and true freedom. She highlighted what Bethany mentioned a few classes back that “history asks us to know something, but literature allows us to feel something”.

We then looked at the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and discussed about the importance of having equal access to justice. Then, touching on the poem “From the Mothers of Murdered Sons”, we saw the importance of the meanings that blood and birth brings. The symbolism that blood brings both life and death, and the reference of woman with Trinity. Even through anger and rage, the poet still turns to God. Which brings about hope knowing that the presence of God is still there.

As we dive into the poem “Left”, we came upon two important ideas. We mentioned the misspelling such as the missing “e” in “Please”, which reflects the importance of education and its privilege. Finney then connects this to those left behind, and being left out of such privilege. Not only that, Courtney brought out the importance of the repetition “Eenee Menee Mainee Mo”. This brought up a great discussion on how the poet uses the refrain and broken epigraph to thread the ironic fact that us (as readers) are watching a game. The entire poem threads along cultural moments and a sense of combat which makes us question who the hero and victim in the poem is, and ties along powerful allusions to current events.

Jay also presented on the importance of black power, and how Malcom X’s ideology influenced the perspectives of many through his legacy and his autobiography.

Analyzing “To Malcom X on His Second Coming”, we discussed how the poem started off with Malcom resurrecting, and landscaping through his own prophecy. Yet what he sees is not a positive image, and was not what he had envisioned for the black people. Rather, he sees signs of materialistic wealth, and griefs upon what he sees. The plantation porch addressing to Liza also signifies the different type of enslavement and division, reminding us that slavery is not dead. The poem ended with a powerful message to the reader. That we should anoint the young and to continue to hold on to the vision of what it means to be powerful as a black.

As we read the next poem, “Blues for Malcom X”, the figures that are put on the stamps signifies the attempt of trying to silence the voice of each of the figures. But the poet was able to show that the voice of Malcolm will not and cannot be silenced. We ended class with a powerful video on Finney’s Acceptance Speech.

Personal Notes:

Class Notes 4/25

Today we are talking about the present and thinking about our knowledge of our past shape our lives today. We also talked about Black Lives Matter and Malcolm X and his life. We started out by thinking about human rights in our contemporary context. We did a reading accountability about Black Lives Matter, Hurricane Katrina and the way it affected our school, home and church lives. We also wrote about the essays that we read for today; “Black and Blue” and “The condition of Black Life is One of Mourning” and how they tell us about the state of racism in our contemporary context. The Black Lives Matter movement has been made easier to see with the invention of social media and that allowing people to see the way that Blacks were treated throughout our American History and even in the current society. It is offensive to say all lives matter instead of black lives matter because it diminishes the way that people feel about the suffering of the black community.

Dr. West then started talking about the 16th Street Baptist Church shooting and the Mother Emanuel. We learned that the Black church has been a target for white supremacist groups because the churches are the only thing that the Black community could own and control and the white supremacist groups tried to take that away. We then talked about the devastating Hurricane Katrina and how it affected the people of New Orleans. We then saw the statistics about the Hurricane and out of the ones who could not evacuate, 93% were black. The statistics also showed that the most devastated part was the ones in poverty. As a class, we then moved to a class discussion about “Of Poetry and Protest”, and the way that it talked about the murders and the way it had the list of deaths. Jordan made a comment about how important the movements are and that they have to work together to make the movement work. The essays set the stage of continuity of history with racism.

The two essays that we read for today, gave us a good look into the different treatment that whites get from blacks. We look at “The Condition of Black Life is One of Mourning” and can see that the continuity throughout our history and present of racism. The following quote caught the eye of us today in the discussion and shows us the way that the Black community lived through their days knowing that death is common amongst African Americans. “Dead blacks are a part of a normal life here” she would say it with very little emotion like they were very common amongst the African American lifestyle in the United States. The ability to tell your story and being heard is a huge stepping stone for moving forward with our history and present. All during our history as Americans, there have been differences between different types of people. Some were affected more so than others, for instance, the black community has been affected by the memory of slavery amongst other Americans. “Walking is as simple as putting one foot in front of the other, however walking is not so simple if you’re black” - (Black and Blue). This quote shows that not only is hard enough to live in the present, but when you have all of the stereotypes and memories of the past to live with, it makes it even harder. If you’re a part of a black community in America then it is tough for you and that’s why this quote was a big part of our class discussion for the day. Another quote that we talked about for the day was, “Do not run you have no rights”  (New Rules of the Road 87). This poem had a unique style it was written in to show that it was similar to the miranda rights, and that it also had no continuity.

In the end, today’s lesson was about breaking the continuity of racism. When you think back across American history, you can see little glimpses of racism no matter what era you are from. In the modern day, we have the shooting of Trayvon Martin and the Mother Emanuel shooting to show us that although we are not completely segregated like our predecessors, we are still drawing imaginary lines across the race gaps in America, whether we know it or not.  We as a whole need to break the continuity of our past and bring out the new age for all people.

4/6 Class Notes

Today in class, Dr. West encouraged to share our own experiences and influences that have shaped our relationship with race and racism in our in-class writing at the beginning of class. Dr. West mentioned the importance of this activity was to help us start to understand racial justice. We must start with the mind and “notice the water we swim in” which is often heavily influenced by our race. We should not feel the heavy burden of taking responsibility for our ancestors, rather be honest about our history and not gloss it over. She discussed the importance of balancing stories (the unfortunate details and the themes of love and resiliency of the human spirit) since there is an entanglement of goodness and brokenness.

Next, Morgan shared his historical context about the Underground Railroad. The name refers to the secret communication of “conductors”, “passengers”, and “stationmasters”. Encoded letters and gospel songs sung while working on the plantations would pass along messages. White and black abolitionists worked to free 100,000 slaves and instigate the Civil War. Some key figures in the operation were: Isaac Hopper, Harriet Tubman, Levi Coffin, and Frederick Douglas.

Dr. West shared a presentation that continued to give us context for the novel in a chronological fashion. Prior to 1650, indentured servitude was utilised before slavery. Freedom was an option if servants were baptized, and children were free when they were born. Starting in 1650 until 1700, slavery was race-based in the New World. Slaves were treated as economic commodities, mere pieces of property rather than humans. Violence and terror were used as control mechanisms. Families and groups were divided by language so as to suppress communication. Children were now born as slaves and women were raped to produce more slaves. Baptism did not lead to freedom any longer. 1700-1860 was defined by violent slavery. These conditions were reported. Class and color hierarchies were formed to further division. Laws passed in 1850 made it very difficult to remain free. Female slaves turned to infanticide to protect their children from the horrors of life as a slave. This period of time was challenged by abolitionists such as Frederick Douglas, David Walker, and Harriet Jacobs. Looking back on this time is crucial to avoid repeating it, yet glossing it over is even more dangerous than ignoring it. Dr. West shared the importance of a plantation museum that was created recently that does not romanticize plantation life. The Whitney dedicated a monument to writing the name of each slave they could trace. Statues were erected all over so visitors would not be able to ignore the fact that slavery took place there.

Next, we watched an interview with Yaa Gyasi, the author of Homegoing. She discussed How she wanted to write about the legacy of Ghana in America. She is from Ghana, but has lived in America. During a trip to Ghana in college,she realized how much she did not know about Ghana and the slave trade and wanted to make that information easier to get a hold of. She wanted her book to be fiction that was factually correct without preaching.

We ended class with an activity that had partners dive into a specific chapter of the novel to analyze the plot (what?), setting (where/when?), and character (who?) in that chapter. We will be creating a map to keep everything straight. We created a basic timeline of each sister’s descendents:

Effia (~1770s; Fante village/Cape Coast Castle)

Quey (~1779; takes over for father in the castle, then village)

James (~1824; British and Asante Wars, Fante, Kumasi, near the castle, and village)

Abena (~1860s; village and Kumasi)

Esi (~1770s; Asante and then Castle)

Ness (~1796; Alabama cotton plantations)

Kojo (~1850s-1860s; Baltimore)

Class Summary 3/30

We began class with a free writing response to Things Fall Apart (chapter 11-end) in which we were able to share what we found interesting or compelling about the novel and bring to light any questions the novel had left us with. Afterwards, we viewed a video from 2008 with author of the book, China Achebe was celebrating 50 years after the publication of it.
Next, we shared the remaining passages from last class period pertaining to Umuofia as a community.
Here are some brief notes/thoughts on those passages:
Chapter 2: United by clan identity, justice is important, following the Oracle’s words, wrongs have to be paid
Week of Peace: not to be broken, communal, rest and fellowship are important in addition to work, service to the earth gods, the rules are sacred and must be followed. Violation of the rules requires punishment
Chapter 10: trial shows the importance of spirits; Evil Forest; custom of bride price; (exchange to build the community) importance of family; familial intervention within marriage
Chapter 5: The New Yam Festival. Community’s spirit of festivity and the importance of rituals of celebration; gathering unites them; connection to the land
Chapter 7: Death of Ikemefuna. Power of the clan identity; the la must be followed; role of the elder’s spirits; law and religion are intertwined.
Chapter 8: bride price. Marriage = is a bartering affair, the importance of negotiation; customs for compromise; woman is the object to be bought.

After this, we broke off into partners and participated in a "speed-dating" type of discussion about different themes of the book, such as: colonialism, Okonkwo: victim or tragic hero? fatal flaw of Okonkwo, gender!, sanctity of life and human rights...

Lastly, we had a large discussion about what we thought about human rights when there is a culture that sanctifies the killing of humans? and what are we to make of the portrayals of gender and women in the novel? We talked a lot about morality being relative tot he culture in which you are raised and the origins of these customs in general. Additionally, we talked about the universal treatment of women in most societies and how these gender roles are not specific to the Ibo people but that they occur throughout most cultures. Finally, we spoke about the ending of the novel and how the voice of the communal narrator is violated in the end with more violent and impersonal language and a shift in perspective as it ends with the Commissioner. 

Class Notes 3/28

Today in class, we started off by talking about which book from the first half of the semester we would eliminate if this class would become a two credit class. From there we began to talk about the elements of this class that were helpful to us and our learning styles. Some techniques for reading strategies were suggested as well. A few of the suggestions were to go to a quiet place to read, take the book with us everywhere we go, read before bed or first thing in the morning, divide the reading up between days, and skim the specific reading section first.

Larissa and Danny gave a brief historical background of “Colonialism in Africa” next. European colonization of Africa began in the early 20^th century and was mainly due to the economic reasons, like the European powers wanting more land and money. European countries had a fear of conflict and war and therefore they held the Berlin Conference. It was here that they decided African boundaries without a say from Africa, and developed the Berlin Act, which allowed imperialism between European countries. The British in Nigeria starting in 1884 caused divisions, poverty, disease, slavery, and lost traditions, while it also introduced cash crops, education, government structure, and international trade to the region. In Africa, there was no doctrine of ownership of land and they did not realize what they were signing when the Europeans forced them to give up their land.

After this, we listened to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in a TED talk. She discussed how impressionable English and British books were on her growing up in Africa. She also mentioned how surprised her roommate was to find out that she actually knew quite a bit about American things. Chimamanda described how too many people who grow up in the United States only have one perspective on people from Africa. Toni Morrison, an African American woman, also expressed how growing up in the U.S., she learned about Africa in this way and thought that Africa needed white people to save them.

After getting different perspectives on Africa, we began discussing the author of Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe. Written in 1958, his novel is one of the few to have an author with an African voice in this time period. Achebe was impacted by his parents’ conversion to Christianity and his schooling in the United States. Inspired by The Heart of Darkness, Achebe wrote his book at age 28. The title, Things Fall Apart, comes from “The Second Coming”, a poem by W. B. Yeats, written at the start of WWI. Achebe says in An Image of Africa that every culture has strange customs and superstitions and those who read Things Fall Apart shouldn’t be surprised at the amount of customs they read about. In this book, Achebe writes in both English and Ibo and has the narrator be the voice of the villagers. The setting is Nigeria mid 19^th century and throughout the book there are folktales told and binary opposition between ideas, like masculine/feminine, spiritual/physical, good/evil, individual/community, and strong/weak.

One of the big parts of the book is character development. In class we split into groups and were each assigned a passage of the book to read and pick out different character traits of Okonkwo. In chapter one, we see that he values his status, resents his father and therefore is motivated by fear of being like his father, and masks his emotions. In the next section, we talked about how Okonkwo doesn’t want to be seen as weak in front of his family, violates the laws of the clan, and loves his family but struggles to show it. After the death of Ikemenfuna, we see Okonkwo feeling guilty. “He tried not to think about Ikemenfuna, but the more he tried the more he thought about him.” (pg. 63). In chapter nine, Okonkwo shows a small amount of love and affection by doing all that he can to take care of Ekwefi when she is sick. “Ekwefi went to bring the pot and Okonkwo selected the best from his bundle…” (pg. 85) As we continued throughout the different sections, groups pointed out that Unoka (Okonkwo’s father) was seen as a coward, unmotivated, without a title, and “agbala”, which means woman or man without a title. Nwoye (Okonkwo’s son) cherishes the stories of his mother (pg. 53), wants to impress his father, and is very influenced by Ikemenfuna and develops a level of morality. Obeirika (Okonkwo’s friend) is the opposite of Okonkwo and questions traditions, cares for the earth and people, and regrets getting another title (pg. 69). We are going to start the next class with finishing up this activity.

The main focus of today was trying to understand the time period and develop more knowledge about Africa and European colonialism. We also looked at some other perspectives of this time period and learned background information about Chinua Achebe. Lastly, we finished class with talking about the characterization of Okonkwo and how the author describes him and uses his foil characters to develop him even more.