This weekend, Dr. Nancy Nenno will be presenting on her most recent research at the annual conference of the German Studies Asociation in San Diego. Her presentation, entitled “Black Austrians and Civic Identity: Charles Ofoedu and Operation Spring,” is part of the GSA Seminar “Making Democratic Subjectivities II: Margins, Centers, Intersection.”
On September 29th, Dr. Irina Erman gave a 2 hour lecture/workshop on “19th Century Russian Writers and Romantic Nationalism” to 20 faculty members at Claflin University, as apart of their Mellon “Internationalize the Humanities” series.
I am a historian, and so I have no illusions about whether the past often rhymes with the present or whether the past intrudes upon the present. It does. Often rudely. As a scholar who writes about the legacies of lynching, I have seen in the past and in the present the indifference and tacit approval with which so many Americans look upon violence against African American bodies and spirits. Recent coverage of police violence has simply revealed stories that have been told in African American communities and other communities of color for centuries, stories that didn’t need video evidence to be recognized as truth. In my courses, I want my students to see through what Charles Mills calls “a certain schedule of structured blindness and opacities” in order to connect past violence to present violence and to see how violence is but one way in which the West has sustained centuries of systemic exploitation of non-white people. So many of my students already know this reality all too well. They see it in their own lives.
I started all three of my classes yesterday with Elizabeth Alexander’s poem, “Smile.” We talked about the poem and Terence Crutcher and double consciousness. We talked about the lessons parents pass on to their kids to protect them from destruction—keep your hands on the steering wheel, no sudden movements, cooperate. We talked about the limits of such lessons in a nation in which an unarmed man with hands raised is shot and killed by the police. We talked about what is lost—what part of the soul is crushed—in that space between obsequious and safe. Two of my students were brought to tears. I would like to think their tears came from a place of catharsis, not pain, but it was, in all likelihood, pain. Raw pain—pain that they so often mask behind smiles in different company around campus.
Smile
by Elizabeth Alexander
When I see a black man smiling
like that, nodding and smiling
with both hands visible, mouthing
“Yes, Officer,” across the street,
I think of my father, who taught us
the words “cooperate,” “officer,”
to memorize badge numbers,
who has seen black men shot at
from behind in the warm months north.
And I think of the fine line—
hairline, eyelash, fingernail paring—
the whisper that separates
obsequious from safe. Armstrong,
Johnson, Robinson, Mays.
A woman with a yellow head
of cotton candy hair stumbles out
of a bar at after-lunchtime
clutching a black man’s arm as if
for her life. And the brother
smiles, and his eyes are flint
as he watches all sides of the street.
During the Summer 2016 Aisha Gallion, who is double majoring in African American Studies and Anthropology, participated in the Moore Undergraduate Research Apprentice Program (MURAP) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This program is a graduate-level research experience for highly talented undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds who are interested in pursuing doctorates in the humanities, social sciences or fine arts. Each summer MURAP selects 20 rising juniors and seniors in college to participate in their intensive, ten-week research experience. Aisha decided to research authenticity and masculinity in hip-hop beefs. She specifically, focused on the recent Drake and Meek Mill beef. Aisha submitted a paper titled, “Gettin’ Bodied by a Singin’ Nigga: What’s Really Real? Questioning Authenticity and Masculinity in the Drake and Meek Mill Beef”. She also presented her work to her cohort and other mentors (professors at UNC Chapel Hill).
African American Studies is very proud to share the exciting news of our majors and the events in their lives.
Some words from Brian McGee, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs.
Much time will rightly be spent reflecting on Conseula’s many accomplishments at the College. Like many of you, I mourn her loss as a friend, as a tireless and energetic force working for the good of this institution, and as a constant voice of reason.
Conseula’s talents were many. She was a formidable intellect who could make a hard day shorter and a difficult meeting easier. There was no burden she could not lighten, no path she could not straighten, by applying her unique combination of good humor and keen insight. Conseula was patient when patience was productive, impatient when action was needful.
Conseula first came to the College of Charleston as Assistant Professor of English in 2002. In 2007, she was appointed Director of the African American Studies Program and played a critical role in the growth of the program and the development of the African American Studies major.
Conseula’s scholarly work focused on American and African American literature, with a more recent focus on romance novels and popular fiction. In 2011, Conseula earned the College’s highest honor as an instructor, the Distinguished Teaching Award.
As Associate Provost, Conseula had essential leadership responsibilities for the College’s curriculum and for our complex web of obligations to accreditors and to state and federal agencies. We are a much better university because of her good work.
More information about Conseula’s career was posted earlier this morning on Yammer by Professors Claire Curtis and Larry Krasnoff, along with their first thoughts on Conseula’s passing.
Dr. Scott Peeples, Professor and Chair of the Department of English, has offered the following reflection: “Conseula’s humor, her candor, and her dedication to students inspired us all in the English Department and across campus. I don’t think I’ve ever worked with a teacher whose classroom instincts were as strong or who had the kind of impact she had on students. I can’t tell you how many times I heard or read the words `changed my life’ in reference to Conseula’s teaching. The word `passion’ is a little over-used these days, but Conseula had more of it than anyone I’ve ever known, for her students, her family, her friends, and for life itself.”
To Conseula’s family and friends I can only convey my sorrow at this profound loss. Our community has lost one of its great voices.
Brian
Brian McGee
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs
College of Charleston
66 George Street
Charleston, SC 29424
o 843.953.5527
f 843.953.5840
To assist the family going forward, college savings funds for Conseula’s and Brian’s daughters, Frances and Cate McCann, are now being established.
To contribute to those funds, please send a check made out to “Future Scholar 529 Savings Plan.” In the notes section, please write “50% Frances, %50 Catherine McCann.” That will ensure that the funds can be split between the two accounts. Checks can be sent to Larry Krasnoff in the Department of Philosophy, College of Charleston, Charleston SC 29424. Feel free to forward this notice to those who might also want to contribute.
Future Scholar 529 oversees the South Carolina 529 college savings plan. If you are a South Carolina resident, your contribution is fully deductible on your South Carolina state income tax return – even if the beneficiary is the McCann children rather than your own child. No federal tax deduction is permitted for this contribution.
Please share your condolences in the in comment section below.
This weekend was a busy one for German and Russian Faculty at CofC. Dr. Nancy Nenno presented her research at the annual conference of the Philological Association of the Carolinas in Charlotte in a talk entitled “Angelo Soliman: Exemplum of Austrian Multiculturalism, Today and Yesterday.”
Meanwhile, back at CofC, the German program hosted the annual workshop of the South Carolina chapter of the American Association of Teachers of German (SCAATG). 26 German teachers attended the conference and the final presenter was our very own Stephen Della Lana, who gave an excellent presentation on his German Contemporary Issues class entitled “Incorporating current events in the classroom.” Many thanks to everyone, especially to LCWA board member Bill Semmes, who helped sponsor the SCAATG meeting!
The SCAATG workshop also happened to be during Accepted Students Day at CofC, where our faculty and students were also involved: Dr. Irina Erman gave a lecture on her Vampires course at noon and German and Russian Studies students Todd Middleton and Tyler Owens manned the German and Russian Studies table at TD arena from 10-1, while Dr. Koerner ran back and forth between Accepted Students events and the SCAATG workshop!
This weekend, Dr. Irina Erman, program director and assistant professor of Russian Studies at CofC, is presenting her research in Philadelphia at the annual conference of the Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies.
On Thursday she served as a respondent on a panel entitled “Writing Crime and Literary Theft,” and today she gives a talk on her most recent scholarly work: “Nation and Vampiric Narration in Aleksey Tolstoy’s ‘The Family of the Vourdalak’.”
Russian Studies minor Kathleen Holden ‘015 writes about her fantastic, transformative experience in Oksana Ingle’s Maymester in Russia program: http://magazine.cofc.edu/2015/10/21/pulling-back-the-curtain-kathleen-holden-russia/
Stephen Della Lana’s popular and successful summer internship program to Germany is profiled in this fall’s edition of College of Charleston Magazine:
http://magazine.cofc.edu/2015/10/21/guten-tag-opportunity-summer-internship-program-germany/