Taught by Literature, "Lifting Their Voices" Video Series

The Taught by Literature team has launched “Lifting Their Voices,” a series of short videos featuring contemporary Black women educators — including the English Department's own Dr. Crystal Lucky!  — reading aloud texts by Black women intellectuals of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. 

Villanova faculty, students (both undergraduate and graduate), and scholars from outside Villanova worked together on this public humanities project, funded in part by a grant from the College of Arts and Sciences and the McNulty Institute's Idol Family Fellows Program. In each video, a reader shares a short historical text and reflects on its personal significance and relevance today. Along with the video series, TBL has produced a set of free curricular materials for middle school and high school teachers to help them bring the rich history and literature of Black women into their classrooms. Villanova students created the curricular materials and are now leading efforts to share these resources with public school teachers, with the goal of making underrepresented voices more widely available in an array of educational spaces.

BIPOC Writing Hangouts Are Back!

The monthly BIPOC creative writing hangouts are for Villanova community members—current students, staff, faculty, and alumni—who identify as people of color. No creative writing experience is necessary! This term, we will have three in-person hangouts hosted by BIPOC faculty in the English Department. Pizza, prompts, and spectacular company will be provided. So, mark your calendars for 6:00-7:30 pm on September 17th, October 22nd, November 19th, and come write with us in 402 SAC! As always, we'll provide creative writing prompts to get folks started. For those who like to share their brilliant words, there will be time for that too. Email Tsering Wangmo at twangmo@villanova.eduwith any questions. 

Professor Takahata Takes Part in Land Acknowledgement Panel

On February 21st, VU English Professor Kimberly Takahata moderated a discussion on approaches to including and teaching Lenape materials in the classroom, featuring Adam DePaul, the Chief of Education and tribal storykeeper of the Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania.

This discussion followed a panel on the impact of Land Acknowledgements at academic institutions and why they are merely a starting point to supporting indigenous communities. The panelists included Adam DePaul, Chief of Education and Tribal Storykeeper; Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania; as well as Modonna Kongal, Meg Martin, and Autumn Coard from N.I.S.A, the Native Indigenous Students Association. Elisha Chi, a white settler descendant of the Iñupiat of the Bering Straits region, moderated the panel. 

Kimberly Takahata and Adam DePaul