First of all, thank you to everyone who attended for making our fundraiser so successful! And to those of you who couldn´t make it to the event but supported us in other ways, thank you, also!
Well, it was a bit stressful trying to put on this fundraiser with just one week in DC beforehand, but with the help of a bunch of wonderful friends and colleagues, we pulled it off. We asked three experts on race and racism to introduce the topic, and then had readings from our collection of narratives.
Dr. Sharon Moses, a visiting professor in the Anthropology Department at AU, was our first speaker. She shared incite on how race is lived in America
Our advisor and professor of Anthropology at AU, Dr. Brett Williams, spoke next and highlighted the pertinence of this project. Radhika Miller, a civil rights attorney in DC, spoke about structural racism and the importance of all communities coming together to fight racism.
The volunteers readings sample narratives did an amazing job. We selected sixteen interviews from our preliminary research—we attempted to get the widest range of views and backgrounds—and the readers really stepped into these characters so much more deeply than I expected. It was especially impressive considering the material—not easy stuff to put your voice behind in many cases. The monologues express very personal perspectives and controversial opinions.
Something I had particular trouble with was the language used in some of the monologues. Aditi and I read through the monologues aloud many times before the event, and every time we found it difficult actually let “the N word” leave our lips. (I don´t even want to write it!) We would either say, “the N word” in place of what was written, mumble, or bleep ourselves. Once we divided up the monologues for readers, I realized the narrative I would be reading included the word… twice. I don´t think I´ve ever actually said this word, and now I would have to say it… loud, articulated, and in front of an audience. I felt anxious.
When later we talked with some of our readers whose narratives also included the word, we found that they were also having trouble saying it, and asked if they could use some substitute. But our interviewees use of this word is a part of their story, and as uncomfortable as we were with using it, we needed to.
We were overwhelmed by the response to our fundraiser. Afterward, people were so excited to talk to us about the project, ask us questions, and to get involved in whatever way they could. Honestly we weren´t expecting so many people to offer their help, and now we are thinking about ways we can get more people involved.
So now starts the fieldwork stage. I will be in Rochester , New York Morgantown , West Virginia , in November, and next semester I´ll be in New Orleans and Miami
