ENGL 4984 / AFST 4984

The Arts and Social Transformation

Professors: Erika Meitner | Ali Colleen Neff

meitner@vt.edu | mail@alicolleenneff.com
Offices: 410 Shanks, 510 Mcbride
Office Hours: by appointment (email us)

Overview

Outcomes

How can students engage in both the arts and research as social praxisas a
process not just of (re)presentation, but also of transformation? How can we
create a community of praxis that reaches towards mutual empowerment across
artistic modes and genres? How can students use their own histories, skills, and
perspectives to become actively engaged in social transformation through the
arts?

Through creative nonfiction, poetry,

multimedia, digital design and
performance, students will be able to
document the ways in which broader
social and cultural phenomena map onto
their lives and the lives of others.

Students with interests or engagement in writing, the visual arts, performance,

digital design, documentary work, and other modes of artistic practice will,
through this class, explore the ways in which their work can make a social
impact and create new possibilities for social change. As we analyze and critique
the work of various contemporary arts and media, students will hone their own
creativity to create the kinds of impact that will transform the world around
them.

Students will develop the ability to

represent contemporary social issues
through established methods in creative
writing, the fine arts, theatre, ethnography,
film and audio production.

In this practice-based course, students will not only learn how to activate and
develop their own creative engagements, but will also learn to put their work in
critical dialogue with the perspectives of their peers, community members, and
various potential audiences. Because all art with social dimensions involves
processes of representation (of people, historical events, social issues, and
cultures), students will learn to work collaboratively with those represented in
their work. Each week, the class will spend half their time in discussion around
course materials and meeting with visitors, and half their time in generative and
critical workshops focused on their own creative work.
Using medium or media of their choicefrom poetry to digital documentary
students will think critically about the ways in which their work will reach the
world. They will also, in turn, think about how their work be challenged,
transformed, and opened to new possibilities as it travels through the circuits of
new audiences and new readings.
The course is being taught in partnership with the VT Center for the Arts, and
will feature the work of Aaron Jafferis (Librettist), Byron Au Yong (Composer),
and Charlotte Braithwaite (Director), who will be in residence for a full month of
spring semester as they install their groundbreaking work, (Be)Longing--a new,
staged oratorio (featuring locally cast singers, beatboxers, and hip-hop artists)
about belonging, isolation, healing, and community, developed through research
and creative residencies in Blacksburg and other locations.
Students will complete individual projectsdeveloped throughout the course of
the semester in conversation with their peers, professors, and others whom their
work concernsthat they will present as a group installation in the Moss Center
for the Arts in April 2017.

Materials
a. Field Notebook/Journal
b. all readings will be posted on and linked through Canvas
c. Free tickets to a March 17 or 18 performance of (BE)LONGING will be
provided to students by the Center for the Arts at VT

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Students will be able to bring their chosen

modes of representation into conversation
with others through processes of dialogic
critique.
Students will be able to articulate the
ways in which critical praxis in the arts
contribute to the possibility of social
transformation and will be able to design
projects that will have a significant social
impact.

Practices
Complete and critically engage all
required reading and media
Complete all assignments on time and
with intellectual and academic integrity
Participate fully in the classroom
community by sharing your engagement
Communicate your needs and issues with
your classmates and with us
Turn off all internet and social media
when in the classroom (unless its part of a
specified lesson)
Take your classmates ideas seriously
Experiment intellectually: its the best way
to learn

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Assignment/Assessment

Point Total

A total of eight weekly auto-ethnographic and/or creative discussion posts in which you 5 pts each /
draw from the weeks readings or performances to documentthrough writing, sound 40 pts total
recording, video, artistic rendering, or other multimediathe connections the texts
inspire for you, as well as two short responses to your classmates posts per session;
we will have prompts, but also encourage you to shape responses of your own
Project 1 due 2/7: Instagram essay (photographic & textual) representation of a
classmate (grade from three-page justifications and assessment of collaborative work
by classmate/partne

10 pts

Project 2 due 2/28: Ethnographic Interview & Short Creative Piece

10 pts

Final Project to be installed/performed/presented at the Moss Center for the Arts (15
points) & 10-minute, In-Class Presentation of Project (5 pts)

20 pts

Course participation and attendance

20 pts

COURSE SCHEDULE
INTRODUCTION Week 1 (1/17): A Model - Methods & Process
Materials: bring a field notebook/journal

UNIT 1: RESEARCHING, MAKING, PERFORMING

Week 2 (1/24): (Be)Longing
Materials: (Be)Longing text (libretto)
Guest Visitors: Aaron Jafferis (Librettist), Byron Au Yong (Composer), & Charlotte Braithwaite (Director)
of (Be)Longing
Due: one of eight weekly auto-ethnographic and/or creative discussion posts

Week 3 (1/31): Poetry & Performance

Materials: The Black Arts Movement (Larry Neal); On Black Art (Ron Karenga); Slam Poetry and the
Cultural Politics of Performing Identity (Susan Somers-Willett); selected poems from Amiri Baraka,
Carolyn Rodgers, Nikki Giovanni, Sonia Sanchez, Allen Ginsberg, Patricia Smith, Roger Bonair Agard

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Due: one of eight weekly auto-ethnographic and/or creative discussion posts

Week 4 (2/7): Multimedia

Materials: Black Lives Sounding (Ali Neff); A Tribe Called Red (selected videos); Humans of New York
(website - photo/text); Still Fighting the Beast: Guerrilla Television and the Limits of YouTube (William
Merrin); A Queer Social & Cultural Media Study (multimedia documentary project)
Project 1 due 2/7: Instagram essay (photographic & textual) representation of a classmate (grade
from three-page justifications and assessment of collaborative work by classmate/partner)

*Note: Aaron Jafferis (Librettist) & Byron Au Yong (Composer) will be in residence full time at VT
from 2/13 - 3/19*

UNIT 2: REPRESENTATION & ETHICS

Week 5 (2/14): Ethnographies, Oral Histories, & Truths
Materials: Selections from Drylongso: A Self-Portrait of Black America (John Langston Gwaltney);
Selections from Woman, Native, Other: Writing Postcoloniality and Feminism (Trinh Minh-Ha); Deep
Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight (Clifford Geertz); Interventions and Radical Research (Dwight
Conquergood)
Due: one of eight weekly auto-ethnographic and/or creative discussion posts

Week 6 (2/21): Representation & Power

Materials: Selections from Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices (Stuart
Hall); The Heart Broken in Half (film, Dwight Conquergood); selections from You Have Seen Their Faces
(Caldwell and Bourke-White); selections from Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (Agee and Evans)
Due: one of eight weekly auto-ethnographic and/or creative discussion posts

Week 7 (2/28): Ethical Concerns

Materials: Revisit (Be)Longing; obtain research materials and source materials for the project from
Aaron and Byron to share with students
Guest Visitors: Aaron Jafferis (Librettist) & Byron Au Yong (Composer)

Project 2 due 2/28: Ethnographic Interview & Short Creative Piece (10 pts)

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UNIT 3: RESEARCH & THE ARTS AS SOCIAL PRAXIS
Week 8 (3/14): Theater as Praxis
Materials: "A Short Organum for the Theatre" (Bertolt Brecht); additional texts t.b.a.
Due: one of eight weekly auto-ethnographic and/or creative discussion posts

*Performances March 17-18 of (BE)LONGING"* Please plan to attend; tickets will be provided to
students of this course free of charge.

Week 9 (3/21): Documentary as Praxis

Materials: L'arrive d'un train en gare de La Ciotat (film, 1895); Selections from Nanook of the
North (film, 1922); Selections from Book of the Dead (Muriel Rukeyser); One Big Self: An Investigation
(C.D. Wright); Selections from Women of Troy (multimedia, Susan Somers-Willett & Brenda Ann
Kenneally)
Due: one of eight weekly auto-ethnographic and/or creative discussion posts on performance of
(BE)LONGING

Week 10 (3/28): Writing & Research as Praxis

Materials: Texts provided by Jim Hawdon; selections from The Big Smoke (Adrian Matejka); selections
from Citizen: An American Lyric (Claudia Rankine); The Condition of Black Life is One of
Mourning (Claudia Rankine)
Due: one of eight weekly auto-ethnographic and/or creative discussion posts

UNIT 4: WORKSHOPPING PROJECTS TOWARDS SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION

Week 11 (4/4): How to Workshop/Critique
Materials: Selections from Critical Response Process (Liz Lerman and John Borstel); Selections from
Power and Identity in the Creative Writing Classroom (Anna Leahy); Selections from Does the Writing
Workshop Still Work? (Diane Donnelly)
Guest Visitor: Jon Catherwood-Ginn (Moss Arts Center)
Due: one of eight weekly auto-ethnographic and/or creative discussion posts

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Week 12 (4/11): Building a Community of Praxis: Workshop
Materials: Selections from Culture Builds Communities: The Power of the Arts to Strengthen
Neighborhoods (Maura C Ciccarelli Green, Sue Coppa), Look over the Counter Cartographies
Collectives website, Community Arts Exhibitions, As a Form of Group Knowledge Production (Hazel
Bryce), Sex and Laughter in Women's Music, 1970-77 (Sarah Dougher)

Week 13 (4/18): More Workshop & Implementation, Funding, Community-Building

Materials: Appalachian Regional Commission: How to write a Grant Proposal; Social Brite: A Step-bystep Guide to Creating a Media Strategy; How Do I Get a Curator to Look at My Work? (Joanne
Mattera), 8 Tips for Writing a Great Press Release (Zach Cutler)

Week 14 (4/25): FINAL PRESENTATIONS / TED-style talk about issues that concern students and
a synopsis of their final projects
Final Project to be installed/performed/presented at the Moss Center for the Arts (15 points) & 10minute, In-Class Presentation of Project (5 pts)
4/27 - Moss Arts Center Exhibit of Student Projects in Upper Gallery*
Week 15 (5/2): Wrapping UP

Honor Code
The Undergraduate Honor Code pledge that each member of the university community agrees to abide
by states: As a Hokie, I will conduct myself with honor and integrity at all times. I will not lie, cheat, or
steal, nor will I accept the actions of those who do. Students enrolled in this course are responsible for
abiding by the Honor Code. A student who has doubts about how the Honor Code applies to any
assignment is responsible for obtaining specific guidance from the course instructor before submitting
the assignment for evaluation. Ignorance of the rules does not exclude any member of the University
community from the requirements and expectations of the Honor Code. All assignments submitted
shalbe considered "graded work and all aspects of your coursework are covered by the Honor Code. All
projects and homework assignments are to be completed individually unless otherwise specified. For
additional information about the Honor Code, please visit: https://www.honorsystem.vt.edu/

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Disability Statement
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Reasonable accommodations are available for students who have a disability. Students should contact
the Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD - www.ssd.vt.edu) to register. Students with disabilities
are responsible for self-identification....To be eligible for services, documentation of the disability from a
qualified professional must be presented to SSD upon request. If you are a student with special needs
or circumstances, if you have emergency medical information to share with us, if you need special
arrangements in case the building must be evacuated, or feel that you may need an accommodation
because of a disability (learning disability, attention deficit disorder, psychological, physical, etc.) please
see one of us as soon as possible during our office hours.

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