Month: July 2021
(E.R.)
Tuesday, August 10, 2021
TOPIC 5: Exploring Poverty through Elements of Theater
Workshop Leaders on Tuesday, August 10
Sangeeta Bishop and Mahatapa Palit
Schedule (in outline)
Tuesday, August 10 — 9am – 2pm
| 9:00 | — | 10:00 | Reflection and discussion about topic themes and readings |
| 10:00 | — | 10:15 | Break |
| 10:15 | — | 12:00 | Pedagogy Workshop |
| 12:00 | — | 12:30 | Plan together for fellows follow-up meeting (scheduled for August 16) & Complete Post-Institute Survey. |
| 12:30 | — | 1:00 | Lunch break |
| 1:00 | — | 2:00 | TBD (We may choose instead to reconvene in the early evening for a happy-hour celebration in honor of all the participants) |
Description
The last topic of our Institute will look at the various ways playwrights, and performers give critical expression to poverty and social identity. On Friday Erica Richardson will discuss the Harlem Renaissance in relation to African American Drama. Deepa Purohit will discuss the intersectionality of poverty with the concepts of class, caste (as defined in the Indian subcontinent) and gender – from both the historical point of view and immigration in the U.S. Karl O’Brian Williams will lead a workshop on dramatizing learning and discuss strategies for helping students reinforce their learning through low stakes dramatic writing and role-play. On Tuesday, facilitated by Institute co-directors Bishop and Palit, we will share our lesson plans and curricular ideas in progress and we will reflect on how this work relates to the multi-year project, “Voices and Experiences of Poverty – A New Interdisciplinary Humanities Curriculum.”
Key Questions
- How did Harlem Renaissance theater educate and influence its various audiences?
- What makes an expression “authentic”?
- How do specific plays open us up to thinking about the intersectionality and distinctions among and between caste/class/poverty + wealth.
- The translator’s point of view: What is it and how does it impact the translation and, in turn, the reading of a text?
- What is it like to “be” another person (rich, poor) and imagine a life quite different from one’s own through theater?
- How can CUNY students be empowered to think critically by engaging in/with theater?
- Why would the “alienation effect” in art be important for fighting Poverty?
Topic 5 – Required Readings and Resources
Required readings will be available on our website and @ the “Required Readings Folder.”
[reading-and-resources]
Topic 5 – Additional Readings and Resources Folder
Click the above link to go to the Institute Folder for Additional Readings and navigate to Topic 5 for an evolving list of readings and resources.
Friday, August 6, 2021
TOPIC 5: Exploring Poverty through Elements of Theater
Guests on Friday, August 6
Erica Richardson, Assistant Professor of English, Baruch College
Deepa Purohit, Artist, Playwright and Founder of Finding Your Authentic Voice.
Karl O’Brian Williams, Deputy Chair/Theatre Arts Coordinator, Department of Speech, Communications, and Theatre Arts at BMCC and Artistic Director, Braata Productions
Moderator: Sangeeta Bishop
Schedule (in outline)
Friday, August 6 — 9am – 2pm
| 9:00 | — | 9:10 | Greetings and check-in with Faculty Fellows |
| 9:10 | — | 10:10 | Presentation by Erica Richardson |
| 10:10 | — | 10:20 | Short break |
| 10:20 | — | 11:20 | Presentation by Deepa Purohit |
| 11:20 | — | 11:30 | Short break |
| 11:30 | — | 12:30 | Presentation/workshop with Karl O’Brian Williams |
| 12:30 | — | 1:00 | Lunch Break |
| 1:00 | — | 2:00 | Discussion of the day’s activities with the three guests and all participants. |
Description
The last topic of our Institute will look at the various ways playwrights, and performers give critical expression to poverty and social identity. On Friday Erica Richardson will discuss the Harlem Renaissance in relation to African American Drama. Deepa Purohit will discuss the intersectionality of poverty with the concepts of class, caste (as defined in the Indian subcontinent) and gender – from both the historical point of view and immigration in the U.S. Karl O’Brian Williams will lead a workshop on dramatizing learning and discuss strategies for helping students reinforce their learning through low stakes dramatic writing and role-play. On Tuesday, facilitated by Institute co-directors Bishop and Palit, we will share our lesson plans and curricular ideas in progress and we will reflect on how this work relates to the multi-year project, “Voices and Experiences of Poverty – A New Interdisciplinary Humanities Curriculum.”
Key Questions
- How did Harlem Renaissance theater educate and influence its various audiences?
- What makes an expression “authentic”?
- How do specific plays open us up to thinking about the intersectionality and distinctions among and between caste/class/poverty + wealth.
- The translator’s point of view: What is it and how does it impact the translation and, in turn, the reading of a text?
- What is it like to “be” another person (rich, poor) and imagine a life quite different from one’s own through theater?
- How can CUNY students be empowered to think critically by engaging in/with theater?
- Why would the “alienation effect” in art be important for fighting Poverty?
Topic 5 – Required Readings and Resources
Required readings will be available on our website and @ the “Required Readings Folder.”
[readings-and-resources]
Topic 5 – Additional Readings and Resources Folder
Click the above link to go to the Institute Folder for Additional Readings and navigate to Topic 5 for an evolving list of readings and resources.
Tuesday, August 3, 2021
TOPIC 4: Poetry and Stories from the City
Guest on Tuesday, August 3
Jen Hoyer and Nora Almeida, volunteers, Interference Archive, Brooklyn
Workshop leaders: Christine Farias and Cara O’Connor
Schedule (in outline)
Tuesday, August 3 — 9am – 2pm
| 9:00 | — | 10:00 | Reflection and discussion about topic themes and readings |
| 10:00 | — | 10:15 | Break |
| 10:15 | — | 11:15 | Virtual Teaching Tour led by volunteer Jen Hoyer and Nora Almeida |
| 11:15 | — | 11:30 | Break |
| 11:30 | — | 12:30 | Pedagogy Workshop |
| 12:30 | — | 1:00 | Lunch break |
| 1:00 | — | 2:00 | Pedagogy Workshop, cont. |
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.”
[reading-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.
(J.H.)
Gottesdiener, Laura
Gottesdiener, Laura. 2013. A Dream Foreclosed: Black America and the Fight for a Place to Call Home. New York: Zuccotti Park Press.
Friday, July 30, 2021
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.
Tuesday, July 27, 2021
TOPIC 3: Intersections between poverty, care, embodied identity, and personal motivation
Guest
jean amaral, Open Knowledge Librarian and Associate Professor, BMCC
Workshop leaders
Cara O’Connor and Christine Farias
Tuesday, July 27 — 9am – 2pm
| 9:00 | — | 10:00 | Reflection and discussion about topic themes and readings |
| 10:00 | — | 10:15 | Break |
| 10:15 | — | 12:30 | Pedagogy Workshop with jean amaral |
| 12:30 | — | 1:00 | Lunch break |
| 1:00 | — | 2:00 | Pedagogy Workshop with Farias and O’Connor |
Description
The focus of the day will be exploring identity and types of embodiment and their implications for how we think about poverty, care, and aspiration. On Friday Ramos-Zayas, Wolfe, and Morton will bring their expertise to different facets of this topic. On Tuesday we will have workshops and a discussion about locating resources led by jean amaral and institute co-directors O’Connor & Farias.
Key Questions
- What does it mean to “embody” poverty and deprivation, on the one hand, or well-being on the other?
- What do looks, acts, gestures, and accents have to do with perceptions of who is poor and what “kind” of poor person they are? (deserving or undeserving; safe or dangerous)
- Why is dependency treated as the exception rather than the norm?
- What are the potential costs of upward mobility?
- How do first person-narratives push back against objectification of poor bodies?
- How do representations of poverty affect the way people see themselves?
- What does addressing poverty tell us about ethics of care and what does ethics care tell us about addressing poverty?
Topic 3 – Required Readings and Resources
Required readings will be available on our website and @ the “Required Readings Folder.”
[readings-and-resources]
Topic 3 – Additional Readings and Resources Folder
> Click the above link to go to the Institute Folder for Additional Readings and navigate to Topic 3 for an evolving list of readings and resources.
