The first Tea Talk of 2021 — “Miss Me with the Misogynoir": Combating Anti-Black Gendered Racism through Black Women's Literature, Poetry, and Music — will be presented by Dr. Ashley Burge.
The annual Tea Talks are sponsored by Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies.
Description: Malcolm X famously said, “The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the Black woman. The most neglected person in America is the Black woman."
Black women have been historically plagued by what Moya Bailey calls "misogynoir,” the "anti-black racist misogyny that Black women experience."
This talk will explore Black women's literature, poetry, essays, and music as avenues of empowerment in the midst of anti-Black gendered racism.
Dr. Burge will explore early American and Reconstruction activists Harriet Jacobs and Ida B. Wells, contemporary literary artists Toni Morrison, Zora Neale Hurston, and Audre Lorde, and contemporary music artists Beyoncé and Megan Thee Stallion to show how Black women continue to challenge one-dimensional, denigrating constructs of Black womanhood.
Dr. Ashley Burge is an assistant professor of African American literature at Augustana College. Her teaching and research emphasize the intersections of race, gender, sexuality, and class and their connection to Black feminism, the Black body, and ecocriticism.
She has published essays in the North Carolina Literary Review, The Encyclopedia of African American Culture, the MLA Approaches to Teaching series, and the anthology "Through Mama's Eyes." Her current book project uses Toni Morrison's oeuvre to create a theoretical paradigm that transmutes Black trauma into healing, catharsis, and redemption. She is currently developing courses on the full works of Toni Morrison and on Black horror in literature and film.
In February, the physics department will launch a mentorship program to support majors of underrepresented identities through personal connections with peers and alumni.
The Dahl Presidents Home at Augustana was built in 2004 with a $1.5 million gift from alumni John and Robert Dahl, the trustees of the Arthur E. Dahl & Dorothy E. Dahl Charitable Trust established by their late parents.
"This home will serve Augustana presidents long into the future, not only as a home for the president and his or her family but also as an important resource for the president in taking a visible leadership role on campus and in the community," said Brenda Barnes, chair of the Augustana Board of Trustees, when plans for the home were announced in 2003.
Augustana College will present the psychological thriller "Speaking in Tongues" by Australian playwright Andrew Bovell Jan. 28-31.
The play is open to students and college employees only. Attendance will be capped. Tickets will be sold at the door if still available at show time.
Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, and 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
"Nine parallel lives, interlocked by four infidelities, one missing person and a mysterious stiletto, are woven through a fragmented series of confessionals and interrogations that gradually reveal a darker side of human nature." (Goodreads).
