Group Project Ideas/Thoughts

Group 6: Jennie, Zulmary, Francine, Joe L.

For the final project, the majority of the group is thinking to do some type of video project. We were talking through a script/ talk show of some sort that would incorporate interviews taken between us and other students (not sure of the specifics yet). During the interview we would talk about racial violence and class differences in today’s society,with reference to the book The Garies and Their Friends, to compare how it was like being black living in philly in the 19th CE because of racism. In addition, in terms of movement and constraint, we could also talk about the constraint that black people (and lower income), feel about living in areas where they are the minority. We want to use aspects of today and the occurrences of being black in America today, how the promote or constraint us in terms if systematic racism, to see what has continued and what has slowed down/progressed in today’s day and age.

Email Final Project Preferences by 9/18 @4pm

Email me by this Saturday, September 18th at 4:00 pm if you have any preferences about the final project that might influence which group I assign folks.  

In general, I’m wondering if you have any particular interest in working (or not working) with a particular text, theme, and/or medium.   

  • For example: If you would really like to do a project that works with  music let me know, and I will try to match you up with folks who are also hoping to do something with music. 
  • Or, for example: If you know that you hate to do any kind of acting or performing, let me know and I will try not to put you with the three folks who definitely want to stage Zora Neale Hurston’s short play in the quad.   

I encourage you to look at the list of previous projects (at the bottom of the assignment description page).  Looking at the list (along with the assignment objectives and guidelines) should give you a sense of just how creative your group can get with this project. 

Keep in Mind:  Expressing interest in working (or not working) with a particular text, theme, and/or medium is just so I can try to put you in a group with similarly interested folks.   Your group may ultimately decide to go in another direction. 

 If you would like to express preferences of any sort, please make sure you email me by this Saturday, September 18th at 4:00 pm.  

  • You may list as many preferences as you prefer, but if you list more than two preferences, please rank them in order of most important to least important.  
  • If you do not have any preferences, you do not need to contact me. 

Week 2 Updates

Hi All, 
This post (like the class email I just sent) contains several updates and important information. Please read carefully.

Overview

  • Important Date(s)
  • Readings for Next Week
  • Schedule of Assignments Changes
  • Signing Up for Panel Paper Presentations
  • Office Hours

Important Date(s):

Saturday, September 9th at 4:00 pm 

  •   Deadline to email me your top two priorities for the Panel Paper assignments [See Line H]

Readings for Next Week: 

Next week, we will put the two slave narratives pieces in conversation with contemporary artists’ reflections and / or revisioning of slavery and slave narratives. 

A)  If you have not finished the Jacobs and Brown readings, you should do so.

B)  You should read, watch, and view the various texts listed on the syllabus under “Neo Slave Narratives”

C)  Because there are a bunch of little texts for Kara Walker, the link on the schedule of assignment page takes you to a post on the site dedicated specifically to the Kara Walker related texts.   The Ailey video and the two poems (one by Shockley and the other by White) have links directly to the text.

D) Realistically, we won’t talk about all of these texts on Tuesday.  However the hope is that we will start discussing the two poems on Tuesday.  I then suggest looking at the Kara Walker selections.  Ailey’s Revelations is the longest piece, and I am pretty sure we will not discuss it on Tuesday.

Schedule of Assignment Changes

E) FYI, We will begin discussing The Garies and Their Friends the following week (which is a change.  We were supposed to start it next Thursday, but I pushed it back).  

F) Since, I pushed the Webb novel back, I also pushed back the deadline for Panel A presenters back to our last class on  Webb.

Signing up for Panel Presentations

G)  We need to assign folks to specific panels, so that Panel A folks have enough time to get going.  

H)  Please email me your two main priorities for panel assignments by this Saturday, September 11th at 4pm  (note: priorities could be your top two preferred panels, but they could also be your two least preferred panels, or your most preferred and least preferred, or whatever the two things you want me to keep in mind).

I) On the schedule of assignments, the panels are listed as “Panel A” “Panel B”;  the central text for each panelist’s paper will be the main text for that week on the syllabus.  If you’re confused, you can check the “Panel Assignments” page. You can find it on the drop down menu and as a link on the assignment description page. 

J)  If I do not receive your priorities, I will assign you to a panel.

K) I will post panel assignments by Monday morning on 9/13.  

L) Panel assignments will be considered final by the end of class on Tuesday, 9/14.

​Office Hours

M) I will hold some virtual office hours tomorrow, Friday, September 10th between 4-6pm.  Zoom Link: (See Class Email)

N) If you wish to reserve an office hour slot, please email me prior to 2:00 pm tomorrow. Note: If no one signs up for the second half (5-6pm) before 2pm, I will cancel the second half. ​​

P)  Next Week Office Hours will be both virtual and in-person.  The in-person office hours will be by appointment only. 

  • Virtual
    • Wed 4:30 -6:00 pm
  • In-Person: 
    • Tues:  12:00 – 12:45 pm  (by appointment only; appointments must be confirmed by 10:00 am that Tuesday.)
    • Thurs:  3:00 – 4:00 pm  (by appointment only; appointments must be confirmed by 10:00 am that Thursday.)

Q) All virtual office hours this semester will use the same Zoom link, which you can access in the email version of this update sent on Thursday 9/9/21.

Best,
AC

Kara Walker

Note: All Kara Walker texts at “Kara Walker.” art21.org. < https://art21.org/artist/kara-walker/ > Accessed 9/9/2021.

  • WATCH CLIPS:
    • “Sending Out a Signal” (9:23 );
    • “Starting Out” (4:31);
    • “Kara Walker in ‘Stories'” (12:14);
    • “Season 2 of ‘Art in the Twentieth Century’ Trailer” (7:45).
  • Videos can be found at “Kara Walker.” art21.org. To locate, scroll down to the video carousel (may need to use the arrows on the upper left hand corner of the carousel to access all four clips). Web. < https://art21.org/artist/kara-walker/ > Accessed 9/9/2021.
  • READ INTERVIEWS:
    • “Projecting Fictions: ‘Insurrection! Our Tools Were Rudimentary, Yet We Pressed On'”
    • “The Melodrama of Gone with the Wind.”
  • Interviews can be found at “Kara Walker.” art21.org. To locate scroll down below the video carousel and below the yellow banner of site categories. Web. < https://art21.org/artist/kara-walker/ > Accessed 9/9/2021.