Foreword:
This cultural connections project is a composite of engaging with literature and music written by African American women, reading nonfiction writing composed by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Melissa Harris-Perry, and an interview I conducted with student leader on UConn’s campus. This student represents the African American Cultural Center and Women’s Center with pride. She has served as a senator in USG for multiple years, largely representing the voices of minoritized communities. She is an activist on campus and was elected homecoming queen this past fall. She is also a Black, Muslim, woman, living and learning in a space, which like most in society, is still dictated by a white, Christian, male, set of norms. I am lucky to have her as a friend and coworker. …show more content…
I wanted to talk to someone who could speak to being a minoritized student leader and what she needed from educators, and someone who represents the future trends of activism, identity negotiation, and leadership. I was also interested in learning more about the feminism of Black women, because as a white feminist I felt it was my responsibility to continue to enrich my understanding of intersectional feminism. The following writing is my reflection on themed experiences presented in the texts and interview, and my reflection on the implications for my teaching. In her text Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America Melissa Harris-Perry introduces each section with quotes poem or song lyrics, I have chosen to replicate this structural pattern in my own original writing, composing poems of empathy in response to the sources I engaged with, and providing accompanying brief traditional prose analytical
This cultural connections project is a composite of engaging with literature and music written by African American women, reading nonfiction writing composed by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Melissa Harris-Perry, and an interview I conducted with student leader on UConn’s campus. This student represents the African American Cultural Center and Women’s Center with pride. She has served as a senator in USG for multiple years, largely representing the voices of minoritized communities. She is an activist on campus and was elected homecoming queen this past fall. She is also a Black, Muslim, woman, living and learning in a space, which like most in society, is still dictated by a white, Christian, male, set of norms. I am lucky to have her as a friend and coworker. …show more content…
I wanted to talk to someone who could speak to being a minoritized student leader and what she needed from educators, and someone who represents the future trends of activism, identity negotiation, and leadership. I was also interested in learning more about the feminism of Black women, because as a white feminist I felt it was my responsibility to continue to enrich my understanding of intersectional feminism. The following writing is my reflection on themed experiences presented in the texts and interview, and my reflection on the implications for my teaching. In her text Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America Melissa Harris-Perry introduces each section with quotes poem or song lyrics, I have chosen to replicate this structural pattern in my own original writing, composing poems of empathy in response to the sources I engaged with, and providing accompanying brief traditional prose analytical