Project MUSE®: CLA Journal - Latest Articles
https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/779
Project MUSE®: Latest articles in CLA Journal.daily12026-05-12T00:00:00-05:00text/htmlen-USVol. 60 (2017) through current issue
Latest Articles: CLA JournalTWOProject MUSE®CLA Journal2766-02650007-8549Latest articles in CLA Journal. Feed provided by Project MUSE®“He Don’t Need No More Reading, Writing, and ’Rithmetic”: Relearning Literature as Liberative Pedagogy in A Lesson before Dying
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/987793
<p></p>
When Grant Wiggins, Ernest Gaines’s protagonist-narrator in A Lesson before Dying, begins visiting Jefferson in his jail cell, he fails completely. Though university-educated and bitterly sophisticated about the mechanics of oppression, he brings comic books, pecans, Grandma’s fried chicken during his visits, and all the while, Jefferson continues to reassert his prescribed hog identity and refuses to engage. Grant possesses what Paulo Freire would call “critical consciousness.” He understands systemic racism, can articulate how white supremacy operates, knows the history of Black subjugation, particularly for his people in the quarter. Yet, he cannot reach a young man facing execution. It is not until Grant
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/987800">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-12T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/779/image/coversmall“He Don’t Need No More Reading, Writing, and ’Rithmetic”: Relearning Literature as Liberative Pedagogy in A Lesson before Dying2026-04-09text/htmlen-US“He Don’t Need No More Reading, Writing, and ’Rithmetic”: Relearning Literature as Liberative Pedagogy in A Lesson before Dying2026-04-092026TWOProject MUSE®365512026-05-12T00:00:00-05:002026-04-09The Hidden Orisha: Oyá in Francisco Arriví’s drama Vejigantes
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/987794
<p></p>
Dedicated to Roberto Ramos Perea, the protégé of Francisco ArrivíFrancisco Arriví’s 1958 drama Vejigantes acknowledges the negative consequences of allowing external forces–namely those of the United States to control Puerto Rico’s destiny. The play underscores the complexities of internalized self-hatred based on Black identity while at the same time acknowledges the historical and cultural value of the island’s African-inspired musical and dance tradition known as bomba.1 This rich musical tradition unified the Black community on holidays and was traditionally prominent in the towns of Ponce and Loíza. While bomba music and dance are overt in the play, one African-inspired cultural element that is very easy to
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/987800">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-12T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/779/image/coversmallThe Hidden Orisha: Oyá in Francisco Arriví’s drama Vejigantes2026-04-09text/htmlen-USThe Hidden Orisha: Oyá in Francisco Arriví’s drama Vejigantes2026-04-092026TWOProject MUSE®503872026-05-12T00:00:00-05:002026-04-09“Centering Black Life, History, and Culture into Writing Curricula at HBCUs”
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/987795
<p></p>
“A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin, and culture is like a tree without roots.”“When you control a man’s thinking, you do not have to worry about his actions.”“You don’t start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it’s good stuff, and then gradually, you get better at it. That’s why I say one of the most valuable traits is persistence.”“If people cannot write well, they cannot think well, and if they cannot think well, others will do their thinking for them.”For 150 years, HBCUs have developed successful strategies, techniques, and relevant materials to teach Black students to improve their writing skills. In 1937, the College Language Association (CLA) was
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/987800">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-12T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/779/image/coversmall“Centering Black Life, History, and Culture into Writing Curricula at HBCUs”2026-04-09text/htmlen-US“Centering Black Life, History, and Culture into Writing Curricula at HBCUs”2026-04-092026TWOProject MUSE®812682026-05-12T00:00:00-05:002026-04-09A Journey of Being: An Interview with E. Patrick Johnson
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/987796
<p></p>
On October 8, 2019, we (Tara T. Green, at the time the Linda Carlisle Excellence Endowed Professor of Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies, and Valerie Ann Johnson, at the time the Mott Distinguished Professor of Women’s Studies and Director of Africana Women’s Studies at Bennett College) hosted a public performance and lecture by E. Patrick Johnson on his book Black. Queer. Southern. Women. (2018) at the University of North Carolina–Greensboro’s (UNCG) Alumni House. Johnson performed a selection of stories from the book, acting out the narratives of joy, pain, eroticism, and humor relayed to him by the women he interviewed. After his performative reading, we interviewed Johnson, inviting him to talk more about his
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/987800">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-12T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/779/image/coversmallA Journey of Being: An Interview with E. Patrick Johnson2026-04-09text/htmlen-USA Journey of Being: An Interview with E. Patrick Johnson2026-04-092026TWOProject MUSE®331732026-05-12T00:00:00-05:002026-04-09The Underrated Art of Porch Sitting: Southern Sociality, Sister-Friends, and the Future of Black Queer Studies
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/987797
<p></p>
E. Patrick Johnson came to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro to give students, faculty, and staff a live performance of a selection of interviews he collected from Black Women practicing queerness who were living or raised in the south. I was present for several reasons: our class read excerpts from Black. Queer. Southern. Women. (hereafter B.Q.S.W), I was photographing the event in my capacity as the graduate assistant for the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department, and I was introducing Johnson. Primarily, however, I felt I was there to hear the echoes of my own voice reverberating through public space.Living only a few degrees of separation from any Black queer woman in the south and
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/987800">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-12T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/779/image/coversmallThe Underrated Art of Porch Sitting: Southern Sociality, Sister-Friends, and the Future of Black Queer Studies2026-04-09text/htmlen-USThe Underrated Art of Porch Sitting: Southern Sociality, Sister-Friends, and the Future of Black Queer Studies2026-04-092026TWOProject MUSE®297812026-05-12T00:00:00-05:002026-04-09“Sugar”
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/987798
<p></p>
There is a love between women that surpasses definition. This love is a necessity for survival.Sugar couldn’t breathe. Her lungs were at the point of collapse under the pressure of taut, elastic, cream-colored chiffon and pearl-studded appliqué. She was certain some man had created girdles. A pompous, celebrated General incapable of girding his own loins. That had to be the purpose for the marriage of metal and hooks and stretchy hell. She couldn’t breathe. She had loved Zola perfectly for eighteen years, and today there would be cake. Angel food with strawberries or maybe pound with lemon glaze. That was Zola’s favorite. There would be cake and flowers. Sugar hated flowers. They reminded her of death. There were
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/987800">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-12T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/779/image/coversmall“Sugar”2026-04-09text/htmlen-US“Sugar”2026-04-092026TWOProject MUSE®143322026-05-12T00:00:00-05:002026-04-09Esmeraldas en la imaginación literaria afroecuatoriana. Diáspora, Resistencia e Identidad by Marvin A. Lewis (review)
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/987800
<p></p>
Lewis reúne en este libro la poesía y narrativa de escritores afrodescendientes de la región de Esmeraldas, Ecuador. Los temas estos trabajos se centran en aspectos comunes de la diáspora africana tales como la discriminación, el prejuicio social y racial, los efectos de la esclavitud, y el tratamiento de la población negra dentro de la historia oficial. También en temas que son particulares a la realidad ecuatoriana y esmeraldeña. Cuentos y mitos de la región, la música de marimba, la relación entre la naturaleza y el hombre, la explotación de los recursos naturales, la relación afro-indígena, el cimarronaje en el periodo colonial, el cimarronaje cultural y la situación de la mujer esmeraldeña forman parte de
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/987800">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-12T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/779/image/coversmallEsmeraldas en la imaginación literaria afroecuatoriana. Diáspora, Resistencia e Identidad by Marvin A. Lewis (review)2026-04-09text/htmlen-USEsmeraldas en la imaginación literaria afroecuatoriana. Diáspora, Resistencia e Identidad by Marvin A. Lewis (review)2026-04-092026TWOProject MUSE®288562026-05-12T00:00:00-05:002026-04-09