Poet From Presidential Inauguration Speaks In First Lecture Of New Series

"I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear … singing, with open mouths, their strong melodious songs." For Elizabeth Alexander, Whitman's words capture the contemporary "zeitgeist of America."

Wednesday, the African and African Diaspora studies programs hosted Elizabeth Alexander, President Obama's inaugural poet and professor of African-American Studies at Yale University, in the first of their "New Directions in African and African Diaspora Studies" series.

In a lecture titled "Hearing America Singing: Multi-vocal Cultures in America," Alexander discussed the importance of the written word in relation to the continuation and expansion of African-American studies at liberal arts colleges. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the inclusion of African-American studies in university curriculums.

Alexander began her lecture by giving an overview of the history of African-American studies from their beginnings in entirely black schools and universities. Alexander said that African-American studies "gained a foothold through student protests" in universities where the inclusion of the program was used by the institutions to satisfy student protests.

More recently, Alexander said the study of African-American history and culture has taken on an "auto-didactic" aspect. "Because of this, academic cannons were challenged and there was a dismantling of basic ideas about race," Alexander said.

However, she said, African-American and African Diaspora studies still lack the academic inclusion they deserve. "Blacks were made extrinsic to American society where the people who build the country are not actually of it," she said. Alexander said she advocates for an expansion of studies in width and a serious analysis of currently under-explored archives.

However, with the 40th anniversary discussions in similar academic institutions, Alexander said she hopes that awareness of the African-American curriculum will continue to expand. "We are a rapidly changing country and there is redefinition going on all the time," she said. "The world is white no longer and will never be white again."

Eatonia Davis, A&S '11, believes that the inclusion of African-American studies needs to take more precedence in the BC curriculum. "[The BC curriculum] is extremely drenched in solely Euro-centric teachings that only provides a one sided education," she said. "If BC or any school for that matter wants to claim the title of being a diverse university then they have to implement it in the curriculum and one course of 'cultural diversity' and not counting basically anything from the AHANA spectrum as core is no way to start bridging that gap."

Alexander said that the best way to promote African-American studies is through the written word. Alexander herself has worked to do this through her books, poems, essays and fiction. "I believe fundamentally and profoundly in the word; if the word is not precise we are in big trouble," she said. Without the power of critical thinking, analytical reasoning and all those texts - to ask how is this text working on me? - we are sunk without that. We are also sunk without the precisity of words. These skills are completely portable."

In the last year, Alexander said, the nation has been going through an "awkward conversation of race" with the election of President Obama. In response to a question about racial inclusiveness posed by Davis, Alexander said student groups should follow the President's stance: "I'm black; get over it."

"Celebration keeps no one out who is interested in learning," Alexander said. "If people need to learn then they need to learn. Learning is uncomfortable sometimes: everyone doesn't know everything. Black people don't know everything about black people. You have to look within and be honest about your spirit."

Davis agreed with Alexander that education has to be the basis of this discussion. "If people from all social and racial spheres of this country were educated on history in its entirety we wouldn't have to have these discussions," she said. "There would be no questions of why affirmative action is necessary or people feeling excluded because everyone would understand where everyone else is coming from. And possibly after re-educating ourselves we can come to a common ground, but it has to start today and no later so I'll definitely be there."

Davis said that Alexander's response was incredibly validating. "It's not up to just the 26 or 29 percent of this University to educate the other basically 70 percent," she said. "I am glad the University has taken initiative to form places where people can discuss race. But quite frankly this is a topic that has to go beyond a conversation."