Category Archives: collaboration

Black Pittsburgh

Posted on May 2, 2012 by wcd2

May 2, 2012 I’ve been here before, but it hit me again this time, coming into the city at night. This has got to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The river and the bridges all lit up — there are … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, African-American literature, Arabic, Arts communities, collaboration, Contemporary Art, Educational institutions, Ethnicity, Islam, jazz, Media, Music, peripheral networks, Theater, twentieth century art, Twentieth century literature, Visual arts, world literature, World religions | Tagged Abdullan Ibn, Billy Strayhorn, Brenda Buxton, bridges, Buhaina, Duke Ellington, Earl Hines, Fate Marable, Hill Distict, King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Mary Lou Wiliams, Nation of Islam, New Orleans, Paris, Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Cycle, riverboats, Romare Beaden, Stanley Theater, The Piano Lesson, West Afraica | 21 Comments

Iraq in Poetry: Brian Turner

Posted on April 4, 2012 by wcd2

April 4, 2012 Teaching his poetry was easy. There was never any doubt in my mind that it belonged in the course – along with Whitman on the Civil War; John Hersey on Hiroshima; Ha Jin on Korea; Michael Herr … Continue reading →

Posted in Arabic, Classics, collaboration, Contemporary novel, contemporary poetry, Cuneiform, Educational institutions, epic, Handwritten script, Islam, lyric, Media, Mesopotamia, Middle East, Near Eastern poetry, Translation, Twentieth century literature, Universities, world literature | Tagged Alhazen of Basra, American Civil War, analytical geometry, Brian Turner, Divisadero Street, Eulogy, Fresno, Gilgamesh. John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Ha Jin, Here Bullet, Hiroshima, John Hersey, Katyusha rockets, Korean War, Michael Herr, Vietnam, Walt Whitman | 3 Comments

Moving Modernisms: Oxford 2012

Posted on March 28, 2012 by wcd2

March 28, 2012 I missed a whole day of the conference (had to teach, there was no getting around it). What did Paul Saint Amour say about slowness; Maud Ellmann about bi-location; Enda Duffy about high energy modernism; Ato Quayson … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, collaboration, Comparative literature, Contemporary novel, Educational institutions, film medium, globe, Media, Modernist poetry, print medium, Twentieth century literature, Universities, world literature | Tagged Ato Quayson, cognitive science, emotional intelligence, Enda Duffy, Jean-Michel Rabaté, Julian Murphet, Maud Ellmann, modernism, Morocco, New College, Nigeria, Oxford University, Paul Saint-Amour, Route 66 TV series, Samuel Beckett, Tangerine Dream, Wole Soyinka | 6 Comments

Sudan: George Clooney, Dave Eggers, Valentino Achak Deng

Posted on March 21, 2012 by wcd2

March 21, 2012 Last Friday George Clooney was arrested protesting the new humanitarian violations in Sudan. The Satellite Sentinel Project, which he co-founded with John Prendergast in October 2010, collects digital images analyzed by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and used … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, collaboration, Contemporary novel, Ethnicity, film medium, Global South, Islam, Media, print medium, world literature, YouTube videos | Tagged Arabs, Dave Eggers, George Clooney, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, John Prendergast, Josiah Henson, Middle East, Nuba Mountains, Omar al-Bashid, Satellite Sentinel Project, Sudan, Valentino Achak Deng, What is the What, YouTube | 6 Comments

Edwidge Danticat: French, English, Creole

Posted on March 14, 2012 by wcd2

March 14, 2012 Her first languages were Creole and French. At 12, she spoke almost no English. At 26, her collection of short stories, Krik? Krak!, was nominated for the National Book Award. It’s mind-boggling to think of that trajectory … Continue reading →

Posted in African-American literature, Caribbean literature, collaboration, Comparative literature, Contemporary novel, Creole, Gender, Global South, Igbo, Latin America, Media, mixed races, peripheral networks, print medium, Radio, Remediation, Translation | Tagged Chinua Achebe, Creole, Edwidge Danticat, French, Haiti, Igbo language, Joseph Conrad, Krik? Krak!, literacy, mediascape, National Book Award, Paris Review, Polish, Radio Lumière | 82 Comments

The Global South: Miami 2012

Posted on March 7, 2012 by wcd2

March 7, 2012 From where we were sitting, we could see the different kinds of palm trees. Brian Breed, David Borman, Carolina Villalba, Izabella Zieba — fourth year, third year, and second year students in the English Department. There … Continue reading →

Posted in collaboration, Comparative literature, contemporary poetry, Global South, Islam, Israeli literature, Latin America, Middle East, Near Eastern poetry, Palestinian film, Palestinian literature, peripheral networks, Translation, Twentieth century literature, Universities, world literature | Tagged A. B. Yehoshua, Amos Oz, Anton Shammas, Columbia, Cuba, Daniella Carmi, David Grossman, Dominican Republic, Edwidge Danticat, Escobar, Faradis, Ghassan Kanafani, Haiti, Miami, Mutiny Hotel, Ranen Omer-Sherman, Sahar Khalifeh, Sayed Kashua, University of Miami, Yayha Yakhlif, Yehuda Amichai | 42 Comments

World, Globe, Planet: UCLA

Posted on February 29, 2012 by wcd2

February 29, 2012 I’ve always loved the big white buildings of Berkeley, but the brick buildings of UCLA (russet and ochre, so different from the plain red of the east coast) must be more habitable? Royce Hall, with its twin … Continue reading →

Posted in African-American literature, Afro-Asian alliances, collaboration, Comparative literature, Global South, globe, peripheral networks, planet, public universities, Twentieth century literature, world literature | Tagged Ahmed Sékou Touré, Bandung Conference, Berkeley, Cesar Vallerjo, Frantz Fanon, Kwame Nkrumah, Patrice Lumumba, Richard Wright, Sino-African alliance, UCLA, W B Yeats | 42 Comments

Yusef Komunyakaa and Chad Gracia, Gilgamesh

Posted on February 22, 2012 by wcd2

February 22, 2012 I’ve never given a talk at UCLA. Caltech, yes, in nearby Pasadena; also the Huntington Library. But never at the famed Royce Hall, 405 Hilgard Avenue. So I’m a bit anxious about tomorrow: a graduate student … Continue reading →

Posted in adaptation, Classics, collaboration, Comparative literature, contemporary poetry, Cuneiform, Dance, epic, Handwritten script, Mesopotamia, Near Eastern poetry, Remediation, Theater, Translation, Visual arts, world literature | Tagged Caltech, Chad Gracia, Cunieform, Enkidu, epic, Gilgamesh, Huntington Library, Ode to the Maggot, Our Oriental Heritage, Pasadena, Sumeria, UCLA, Will Durant, Yusef Komunyakaa | 67 Comments

Langston Hughes, Jacob Lawrence

Posted on February 8, 2012 by wcd2

February 8, 2012 Langston Hughes never went to Black Mountain College, but maybe he didn’t need to. 1948-49 was emblematic. A no doubt incomplete list of what happened during those months: in June 1948, Langston Hughes moved into 20 East … Continue reading →

Posted in abstract expressionism, collaboration, Cuban poetry, Media, Modernist poetry, print medium, Remediation, Translation, twentieth century art, Twentieth century literature, Visual arts | Tagged Arno Bontemps, Ben Frederic Carruthers, Black Mountain College, City Center, Cuba, Cuba Libre, Haiti, Home in a Box, Jacob Lawrence, Kurt Weill, Langston Hughes, New York, Nicolas Guillen, One-Way Ticket, Poetry of the Negro, Street Scene, Troubled Island, William Grant Still | 21 Comments