ACES Colloquium Series: Dr. Portia Owusu (ENGL) 2/2/2021
“Beyond the View: African Worldviews of Death in African American Literature”
Meeting ID: 960 6030 2154
Password: Owusu
“Beyond the View: African Worldviews of Death in African American Literature“
Zoom Meeting information:
Meeting ID: 960 6030 2154
Password: Owusu
https://tamu.zoom.us/j/96060302154?pwd=WVo1RCtFM1BXdnZMcmYyR1ErQTZPUT09
Dr. Portia Owusu
Assistant Visiting Professor, English, Glasscock Affiliated Fellow (ACES), Texas A&M University
Abstract:
This paper is a part of a larger project interested in African cultural philosophies of death and its manifestations in African diaspora literature. In this presentation, Dr. Owusu discusses Amiri Baraka’s historical play, Slave Ship: A Historical Pageant (1967) and Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon (1977) as exemplars of texts that negotiate meanings of Black American deaths and survival by implicitly and explicitly referencing African traditions and cultural philosophies of death. She argues that these frame radical methods, posed by both authors, as response to the racial turmoil of 1960s and 70s America.
Please note that this is not a lecture, and thus, is not suited for class attendance. The Colloquium Series is intended to provide the presenter with a forum to discuss their research and receive feedback from colleagues.
PLEASE NOTE: Unlike our Faculty and Graduate Fellows’ Colloquia, we do not pre-circulate a draft paper of the work-in progress for ACES Colloquia.
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