A Feast of Words - Fall 2006 - Department of English - Virginia Tech

Symposium on Race and Representation Encourages University-Community Partnerships
by Katie Fallon
On Monday, April 24, 2006, the Department
of English’s new Center for the Study
of Rhetoric in Society, in conjunction with
the Office of Multicultural Affairs, sponsored
a symposium focusing on “Representations
of Race and the African-American Community.”
The day-long event featured plenary
and keynote addresses by nationally-known
scholars; panels comprised of students, community
leaders, and Virginia Tech faculty;
opportunities for small group discussions;
and a reading by poet Nikki Giovanni. The
symposium was attended by more than one
hundred Virginia Tech faculty, students, and
staff, as well as members of the New River
Valley communities. The Center for the Study
of Rhetoric in Society (CSRS), directed by Associate
Professor of English Kelly Belanger,
was created “to advance the study of rhetoric
and writing through projects and partnerships
that promote the public good.” According
to Belanger, the purpose of this symposium
was to “open lines of communication and
expand understanding about issues of race
and language while creating a foundation for
community-university partnerships that extend
beyond the event itself.”
After the program was opened by remarks
from Provost Mark McNamee, Barbara
Pendergrass, retired Dean of Students, and
Department of English Chair Lucinda Roy, the
morning session centered on Historical Representations
of Race. The first plenary address,
Panelists Tracey Patton and Jo Evans react to a question.
Keith Gilyard delivers the keynote address
at the Representations of Race and the African
American Community symposium.
“One Tall Order: Trust Production in the Face
of History,” delivered by Catherine Prendergast,
Associate Professor of Writing Studies at
the University of Illinois, analyzed the rhetoric
of several Supreme Court decisions, including
Brown vs. the Board of Education. The address
was followed by a panel discussion that
examined the ways trust can be produced or
broken. In addition to Prendergast, the panel
included Mary Bishop, a retired Roanoke
Times reporter; Elaine Carter, Director of the
Christiansburg Institute, Inc.; Fred D’Aguiar,
Professor of English and Co-Director of Creative
Writing at Virginia Tech; Charles Johnson,
owner of New Image Barber Shop and
longtime Blacksburg resident; and Lisa Tabor,
Center for Public Administration and Policy
doctoral student. The panel was moderated
by Virginia Fowler, Virginia Tech Professor of
English and Director of Literature, Language,
and Culture. Following the panel, groups of
audience members discussed issues raised
throughout the morning, especially ways to
rebuild broken trust and strengthen existing
trust among people of different races.
At the conclusion of the morning session,
lunch was served and poet Nikki Giovanni
read from her award-winning book Rosa.
Following the reading, Ben Dixon, Vice
President for Multicultural Affairs, presented
the CSRS with a framed copy of Virginia
Tech’s Principles of Community for working
towards making the campus environment more
inclusive.
The afternoon
session focused
on Representation
of Race Today
and began
with the second
plenary address,
“Jim Crow on
Fraternity Row:
The Phenomenon
of Blackface
in the White
Southern Fraternal
Order,” by
Tracey Patton,
Associate Professor
of Communication and Journalism at
the University of Wyoming. Patton’s presentation
explored the ways that African Americans
have been recently represented by members of
Southern fraternities. She showed slides of
images originally posted on fraternity websites
of white members dressed in blackface. The
panel discussion that followed, moderated by
Kelly Belanger, included Muriel Best-Vinson,
a tenth-grader at Christiansburg High School;
Jo Evans, Chief of Staff for Delegate James
M. Shuler; Penny Franklin, Chair of the
Montgomery County School Board; Ellington
Graves, Associate Director of Virginia Tech’s
Race and Social Policy Research Center; and
Giovanni Turner, a graduate student in the
Department of English. In the subsequent
small group discussions, topics ranged from
the Duke lacrosse rape case to symbols such
as the Confederate flag.
The keynote address, delivered by Keith
Gilyard, Distinguished Professor of English at
the Pennsylvania State University, summarized
the day’s events and offered suggestions for
further conversations. Gilyard commented
that research centers, like the CSRS, can
play an important role in shaping the way
race is talked about in our country. We at
the CSRS hope the conversations started at
“Representations of Race and the African-
American Community” will continue, and that
the campus-community partnerships formed at
the event will flourish.
10 A Feast of Words