Voices of the past, present, and future : how eighteenth-cen-tury Black writers reshape twenty-first-century academia — talking back to the enlightenment : practicing anti-racist teaching and learning in eighteenth-century British litera-ture (Roundtable)

To study US history, one must reopen wounds from the past trauma that has seeped down from generation to generation, inflicting pain on individuals of the Black com-munity. The same discrimination remains an ugly scar that is ever present in today’s social climate. This cycle of hatred has evolved o...

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Main Author: Valenzuela, Jessica
Other Authors: School of Humanities
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/148561
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author Valenzuela, Jessica
author2 School of Humanities
author_facet School of Humanities
Valenzuela, Jessica
author_sort Valenzuela, Jessica
collection NTU
description To study US history, one must reopen wounds from the past trauma that has seeped down from generation to generation, inflicting pain on individuals of the Black com-munity. The same discrimination remains an ugly scar that is ever present in today’s social climate. This cycle of hatred has evolved over time, rooted in the transatlantic slave trade. Studying the writings of Black authors—such as Phillis Wheatley, Olaudah Equiano, and Ottobah Cugoano—is necessary to reshape academic discourse. These writings serve as important foundations for progressive acts toward racial justice. In an attempt to incorporate more Black voices into class curricula, members of academia have an important role in decid-ing who will be included on course reading lists and research activities. If students and teach-ers want to shape an inclusive space, they must hold conversations and discuss not only the root causes of racial discrimination but also how it has affected the current social climate in the United States. It is important to consider Black voices of the eighteenth century because students should be made aware of why the past is connected to racial discrimination in the present and why these issues perpetuate themselves. Wheatley, Equiano, and Cugoano each contribute to this dialogue. These writers were able to defend themselves, often writing with tropes like the “noble Negro” and using scriptural passages as a means of disproving the slan-der spewed by white egotistical male theorists like Immanuel Kant and David Hume.
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spelling ntu-10356/1485612021-05-19T20:10:35Z Voices of the past, present, and future : how eighteenth-cen-tury Black writers reshape twenty-first-century academia — talking back to the enlightenment : practicing anti-racist teaching and learning in eighteenth-century British litera-ture (Roundtable) Valenzuela, Jessica School of Humanities Humanities::Literature::English To study US history, one must reopen wounds from the past trauma that has seeped down from generation to generation, inflicting pain on individuals of the Black com-munity. The same discrimination remains an ugly scar that is ever present in today’s social climate. This cycle of hatred has evolved over time, rooted in the transatlantic slave trade. Studying the writings of Black authors—such as Phillis Wheatley, Olaudah Equiano, and Ottobah Cugoano—is necessary to reshape academic discourse. These writings serve as important foundations for progressive acts toward racial justice. In an attempt to incorporate more Black voices into class curricula, members of academia have an important role in decid-ing who will be included on course reading lists and research activities. If students and teach-ers want to shape an inclusive space, they must hold conversations and discuss not only the root causes of racial discrimination but also how it has affected the current social climate in the United States. It is important to consider Black voices of the eighteenth century because students should be made aware of why the past is connected to racial discrimination in the present and why these issues perpetuate themselves. Wheatley, Equiano, and Cugoano each contribute to this dialogue. These writers were able to defend themselves, often writing with tropes like the “noble Negro” and using scriptural passages as a means of disproving the slan-der spewed by white egotistical male theorists like Immanuel Kant and David Hume. 2021-05-11T03:36:22Z 2021-05-11T03:36:22Z 2021 Journal Article Valenzuela, J. (2021). Voices of the past, present, and future : how eighteenth-cen-tury Black writers reshape twenty-first-century academia — talking back to the enlightenment : practicing anti-racist teaching and learning in eighteenth-century British litera-ture (Roundtable). Studies in Religion and the Enlightenment, 2(2), 20-21. https://dx.doi.org/10.32655/srej.2021.2.2.7 2661-3336 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/148561 10.32655/srej.2021.2.2.7 2 2 20 21 en Studies in Religion and the Enlightenment © 2021 Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, & the Brigham Young University Faculty Publishing Service. application/pdf
spellingShingle Humanities::Literature::English
Valenzuela, Jessica
Voices of the past, present, and future : how eighteenth-cen-tury Black writers reshape twenty-first-century academia — talking back to the enlightenment : practicing anti-racist teaching and learning in eighteenth-century British litera-ture (Roundtable)
title Voices of the past, present, and future : how eighteenth-cen-tury Black writers reshape twenty-first-century academia — talking back to the enlightenment : practicing anti-racist teaching and learning in eighteenth-century British litera-ture (Roundtable)
title_full Voices of the past, present, and future : how eighteenth-cen-tury Black writers reshape twenty-first-century academia — talking back to the enlightenment : practicing anti-racist teaching and learning in eighteenth-century British litera-ture (Roundtable)
title_fullStr Voices of the past, present, and future : how eighteenth-cen-tury Black writers reshape twenty-first-century academia — talking back to the enlightenment : practicing anti-racist teaching and learning in eighteenth-century British litera-ture (Roundtable)
title_full_unstemmed Voices of the past, present, and future : how eighteenth-cen-tury Black writers reshape twenty-first-century academia — talking back to the enlightenment : practicing anti-racist teaching and learning in eighteenth-century British litera-ture (Roundtable)
title_short Voices of the past, present, and future : how eighteenth-cen-tury Black writers reshape twenty-first-century academia — talking back to the enlightenment : practicing anti-racist teaching and learning in eighteenth-century British litera-ture (Roundtable)
title_sort voices of the past present and future how eighteenth cen tury black writers reshape twenty first century academia talking back to the enlightenment practicing anti racist teaching and learning in eighteenth century british litera ture roundtable
topic Humanities::Literature::English
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/148561
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