Comments from 2005 Participants

Dear Interad organizers, Dr. Jean Muteba Rahier, Dr. Percy Hintzen, Dr. Felipe Smith, Christi Navarro and sponsors, the Ford Foundation, FIU’s College of Arts and Sciences, and the Latin American and Caribbean Center:

Exceptional Opportunity

This is an official letter of appreciation for the International Graduate Summer Seminar (2005) Interrogating the African Diaspora (Interad). With your financial generosity, creative ingenuity in supporting and organizing Interad, I had the opportunity to receive one of the most intellectually and rewarding educational experiences I’ve had in my graduate studies. In my mind, the four-week intensive seminar of carefully selected, distinguished scholars [Dr. Joseph L. Graves (scientist), Dr. Lola Young (cultural historian), Dr. Nalini Persram (cultural historian), Shalini Puri (cultural studies)], weekly guest lecturers [(Dr. Nelson (art historian), Dr. Laylini Philips (historian), Gloria Brown-Simmons (artist)] as well as the process of peer commentary, review and editing, was a rare opportunity that inspired break-through in advanced scholarship in the area of African Diaspora studies. Equally important was the convenience of living in residence with similarly inspired and politically-minded graduate students from different parts of the world, providing an environment for impromptu sharing and discussions of research and ideas. During the four weeks, your presence at the seminars, either participating in the discussions, sharing your expertise or getting the group together for activities outside class hours, were valuable contributions to its success.

 

Establishes Research Futures

As a PhD candidate (School of Architecture, McGill University, Canada) focusing on architectural studies, the seminar marked a distinctive turning point in my future research path. It was phenomenal. My interest is to formulate a postcolonial architectural history, challenging the conventional canonicity of Western art and architectural history, which has historically silenced the diversity of peoples’ contribution in the production of everyday landscapes; I would like to write architecture into African American Studies. Indeed, this is an understudied area of research; however, the seminar has generously provided me with interdisciplinary approaches from anthropology, cultural theory, literary studies and history, related to African Diaspora studies, which has already effectively guided my direction in realizing this academic objective. For example, I came to realize that my workshop essay “Re-constructing Blackness: Fanny Jackson Coppin and the Institute for Colored Youth” has the potential to rethink new conceptualization of the African Diaspora and vice versa. It was at the seminar, through the carefully orchestrated weekly themes that I was able to imagine the proximity of architecture to space to the diasporan identities in modernity. The rewriting of the paper, the process of reflection and discussion with colleagues, also constituted to this break through. Moreover, the real bridging of Architecture and African Diaspora Studies became apparent at our closing conference where Dr. Hintzen’s discussion of the definition of the Diaspora as well as Dr. Smith’s insightful commentary on my paper. It was that moment my work mattered. For a young scholar, having established scholars recognizing the validity of ones work is edifying. Dr. Smith’s commentary also pointed to areas that needed further attention. As such, the seminar functioned at many levels for me – it provided me with cutting-edge analytical skills in African Diaspora studies, welcomed me into the academic discourse and community as well as recognized my research contribution. The seminar had a global influence on my academic career. In addition, I have learned to be a better teacher by example from the excellence and professionalism in our group discussions, which I deeply sensed mutual respect and willingness to help fellow students to grow.

Forms Community

Now I belong to a community of friends and young scholars of similar political goals. Because of our similarly shared experience and language at Interad, the group is committed to continue to support each others work. Dr. Rahier is organizing a web-based community where we will have an official site for group interaction. Among the students, we have discussed possibilities of collaborating on an e-journal, a conference, among many other exciting projects.

I hope that this letter provides a sufficient expression of my heart-felt thankfulness for this summer’s memorable experience. I truly hope, too, that other students would continue to have similar opportunities that I have had at Interad.

Thank you,

Kai Mah, McGill University

 

Dear Jean,

I wanted to express to you again how grateful I am to you for the experience I had in July at Interad. Being “nobody’s protégé,” as Felipe puts it, doesn’t even begin to capture the hostility and obstacles I’ve encountered in grad school in the particular departments that I’ve been in. Interad has been such a profound relief. I’ve always been through critical relationships that we grow and learn; so it’s for this reason that I felt so honored and excited to be a part of Interad and all of its relationships that teach as they simultaneously embrace. You were a wonderful host, with warm, easy, and spirited presence that set the right tone. Being welcomed into your home, meeting your family, and breaking bread and sharing stories were all so meaningful for me. I look forward to being able to share my family with ours, plus productive collaborations, down the road.

Much love and peace,

Tryon Woods, University of California, Irvine

 

Participation in the 2005 FIU summer graduate seminar on Interrogating the
African Diaspora has been one of the highlights of my academic career.
Engaging and collaborating with this dynamic group of scholars has been a
wonderful experience both academically and spiritually. The constructive
interaction between the module instructors, the students, weekly speakers, and
the seminar organizers, as well as the intensive peer essay reviews is a unique
and enriching intellectual challenge. The month long program provided a
supportive and creative space to share ideas, network, and develop my work.
More importantly, I have gained life-long friends and colleagues with whom I
share similar interests and goals.

Best wishes,
Marisabel Almer, University of Michigan

 

Leaving Miami was an emotional experience. Though the bus to the airport left me, (I couldn’t get up in time after a day long Conference and night long partying), I was still able to meet some of the other students at the airport and spend some time with them before we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. I start at the end to give an impression about the intensity of the Summer Diaspora Programme at FIU. I am many friends/colleagues richer and intellectually provoked, thinking still. As one of the lecturers commented, the seminar was like having a think tank at your personal disposal. The contribution of this seminar to my intellectual work far surpassed the chapter on which it was intended to focus; it opened my mind to possibilities for thinking more broadly and for being more grounded in my research and future academic endeavours. I’m already thinking about projects to come. I’m grateful that life brought me there.

Maziki Thame, University of the West Indies, Mona Campus

 

Below are some excerpts from the anonymous student evaluations of the 2005 Interrogating the African Diaspora Seminar.

 

Intellectual Knowledge & Achievement:
I gained so much knowledge during the seminar from both the instructors and my peers. One key theme throughout the seminar was the need to dialogue with other disciplines and to keep this in mind when doing our work. I also got so many great ideas regarding my paper and dissertation topic, and just new ways of approaching and analyzing my work. Being selected for, completing the seminar, and doing it well, to me is an achievement.

 

Career Development:
One of the reasons that this experience has been INVALUABLE is that it is the beginning of the formation of a community of young scholars of the African Diaspora. This has been truly motivating and energizing and so this alone has made the seminar a critical intervention in my academic career. As someone who has been lukewarm about pursuing a career in academia and found the most alluring thing about it to be the students and lifestyle, this opportunity to be surrounded by all of these incredibly intelligent, interesting, and yet humble people who share my passion for diaspora has made me excited at the prospect of integrating myself into the academy as a way to access this and similar communities of scholars. I thought that the tendency toward mentorship exhibited by some of the lecturers was really helpful in terms of navigating the terrain.

 

Interactions with Peers and Others:
As I said, I am really excited about this seminar being the genesis of the development of a community of scholars working on diapsora. My vision is that this will be the beginning of the institutionalization of an interdisciplinary network of diaspora scholars that is grounded in respectful, rewarding and productive professional/personal relationships. I say 'professional/personal' because I really liked the other members of the group as people along with having respect for their work. This is an ideal situation upon which to build safe and creative spaces for the production of knowledge. As the structure of the seminar facilitated, indeed, demanded, intense interaction with each others' work, I feel interested and invested in my colleagues' research and am eager to see how their projects will advance diaspora studies. I have really gained from being exposed on a brief but intense level to students of other disciplines and the in and out of class conversations.

 

 

Networking:
This was a great opportunity to meet and network with people already established in the field, as well as getting to know people that will continue to be my peers throughout my career. It is like having a small community or family within the academic world to whom I can turn, if needed.

 

Seminar Format
There are so many positive things about this seminar. First, it was absolutely a mind expanding and changing experience. Secondly, the intensity of the seminars—classes, readings, presentations, criticisms, guest lectures as well as living closely with colleagues—is unprecedented, academically.

 

FIU – North Campus
Bay Vista is a beautiful campus. I really enjoyed the location and the demographics meant a lot in relation to the seminar. It was also conducive to interacting with each other and organizing to share resources.

 

 

Other Comments
The art exhibit was exquisite. It was a rare opportunity for us to sample fine art from the source and experience the African diaspora outside of the confines of phenotype. Suzart remained a part of our group. This was an important lesson.

 

Seminar Format
Despite my enthusiasm for Tuesday’s opportunity to learn by delving into the readings, Wednesdays were probably consistently my favorite day of the week. I was repeatedly impressed with my colleagues’ criticisms, with their knowledge and insights. Our discussions also incorporated many of the issues discussed from the day before, especially if the faculty facilitator made a good contribution (Puri). Wednesday was also the feature of the seminar that I’d never experienced before—a supportive but critical session entirely devoted to providing feedback on individual work. Amazing experience. Something I try to do for my students but have never received from my faculty in graduate school. I think the format of having one person be primarily responsible for a critical presentation, with the author being silent, was excellent. It felt like a gift when my paper was being presented, and even better, it felt like giving gifts when other papers were being presented and discussed.
Thursday was a great continuation of the day before. Giving the author the opportunity to respond how s/he sees fit was good: a structure with lots of room to maneuver depending on the individual. Depending on the instructor that week, and depending on the authors’ responses and the specific topics of the papers, the opportunity was there to have a good free-flowing conversation that can deal with specific problems in the papers, or debate an issue that emerges from the papers but draws upon other issues on the table for the week.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR HAVING ME!

I can’t express enough my admiration and appreciation for how you have conceptualized this program. I think the plans for how to continue and build upon the network that’s been created here on into the future is very important.

 

This Lecture series is made possible thanks to a grant from the Ford Foundation and the support of FIU’s Latin American and Caribbean Center (LACC).