Although viewed (and dismissed) by many as primarily a tool for communication, language (and literature) cannot be understood only in relation to "what" it communicates. A study of "how" it is shaped uncovers the social forces that provide its broad and complex template in the acts of reading and writing. This article focuses…

This study explores the pedagogical approaches to internationalizing World Literature and English Composition courses at Albany State University, a small HBCU in Albany, Georgia. This attempt to internationalize the World Literature curriculum introduces, adds, and (re)positions strategically multimedia texts, such as "My Mother the Crazy…

Malaika Favorite's "Furious Flower Poetry Quilt" (2004) is an acrylic painting that depicts 24 portraits of leading poets of the African Diaspora. Commissioned by Dr Joanne Gabbin, English professor and director of the Furious Flower Poetry Center at James Madison University, the painting is part of a larger programme of poetry…

Using a feminist lens and a constructivist approach as the theoretical framework, we used rap lyrics and videos to help college students explore mass media's representation of the "independent" Black woman and the concept of "independence" in general. Students must be able to formulate their own concept of independence to…

Thomas Sayers Ellis, assistant professor of creative writing at New York's Sarah Lawrence College, is one of many scholars fighting for the soul of Black poetry, a struggle that takes place largely off-campus. Unless one is accepted into a top-level graduate poetry program, such as Boston University's program or the Iowa Writing Workshop, a poet's…

The "ISSS Annual Conference Proceedings" is a peer-reviewed professional publication published once a year following the annual conference. (Individual papers contain references.) [For the 2009 proceedings, see ED504973.]