TOPIC 4: Poetry and Stories from the City
Guests on Friday, July 30
Robert Robinson, Staff Volunteer, Partners for Dignity and Rights (formerly National Economic and Social Rights Initiative (NESRI))
Emanuel Xavier, American Latinx poet, spoken word artist, author, editor, and LGBTQ activist
Moderator: Christine Farias
Schedule (in outline)
Friday, July 30 — 9am – 2pm
| 9:00 | — | 9:15 | Greetings and check-in with Faculty Fellows |
| 9:15 | — | 10:30 | Presentation and Q&A with Robert Robinson |
| 10:30 | — | 10:45 | Break |
| 10:45 | — | 12:00 | Presentation and Q&A with Emanuel Xavier |
| 12:00 | — | 12:45 | Lunch break |
| 12:45 | — | 2:00 | In-depth round table discussion with all participants |
Description
This Friday/Tuesday explores the poetry, personal narratives, and creative engagements with city life that challenge us to think differently about housing insecurity. On Friday, Robert Robinson and Emanuel Xavier will present their activist, theoretical, and poetic work and discuss sources that have inspired them. Participants and guests will join in conversation about translating raw personal experience into creative and constructive work, and what this might mean for our students. On Tuesday, in addition to the pedagogy workshop, Jen Hoyer and Nora Almeida will lead participants in a teaching tour of the Interference Archive in Brooklyn, (https://interferencearchive.org). Participants will learn how an archive can be used to explore the relation between cultural production and anti-poverty movements. The pedagogy workshop will be led by Farias and O’Connor.
Key Questions
- What are some of the main drivers of homelessness and housing insecurity in NYC?
- How are both realities and cliches about homelessness conveyed and challenged by poetry, documentary, and personal testimony?
- How do creative writers and researchers use archives to uncover new voices and new visions of the past and future, and can our students learn to use archives as part of their studies?
- How can the use of personal narratives about poverty benefit our students?
- What are some of the specific challenges and creative responses to homelessness that come out of LGBTQIA+ experiences?
- How can CUNY students’ diverse local neighborhoods become areas of historical and literary interest to them?
Topic 4 – Required Readings and Resources
Required readings will be available on our website and @ the “Required Readings Folder.”
[readings-and-resources]
Topic 4 – Additional Readings and Resources Folder
> Click the above link to go to the Institute Folder for Additional Readings and navigate to Topic 4 for an evolving list of readings and resources.
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