Reading With A Social Justice Lens

As we engage in conversations about the power of language to oppress and empower, it seemed fitting to bring in Keno evol, a local spoken word artist, poet, activist, and social justice educator.  Keno is a Washburn alum and an extremely talented and passionate educator.  This is my third year collaborating Keno, and I've found that I've learned so much from his work and teaching practice.

For this workshop, Keno guided students to draw connections between Their Eyes Were Watching God and any current social justice issue.  It was not challenging for students to come up with a social justice issue- these last weeks have been flooded with tragedy- globally and locally.  Inspired by the advice that Janie, the novel's protagonist, receives from townsfolk, Keno prompted the students to write a piece of advice for some party involved in the social justice issue.  Here's what students came up with:

"No means no." And, "Yes means yes."

"Turning a blind eye to an issue makes you part of the problem."

"People aren't afraid of angry words; they are afraid of change."

To the protesters in North Minneapolis:
 "Be intentional, be smart, go to the source."

Many pieces of advice were concerned with developing awareness:
"Be educated about groups of people; don't stereotype."

"Don't paint a group of people with the same brush."

From these lines of advice, questions emerged.  How do we communicate with each other?  Which communities are we prioritizing?  Why?  How do we show solidarity?  How do we stay informed?  How do we develop insight around the context of news media?  What does news media leave out?  What does it include?  Why?  To whose benefit?

Applying a social justice lens to Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God leads students to conversations about the argument for safety in exchange for freedom.  Students also analyzed the impact of trauma, in this case, sexual violence, across three generations of African American women. What does this pattern convey about social relationships?  About resilience?  About power and privilege?  About survival?

At the time of publication, Hurston's novel was not considered a "political" or social justice text.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, she was criticized by other authors for what they believed was a lack of urgency about the injustices that African Americans faced.  Through Keno's workshop, students learned to read critically between the lines.  Slavery's scars are present in the novel, just not always overt.  Unlike Richard Wright's characters, Janie (and Janie's narrator) lead the reader along a path that is ultimately Janie's.  Her journey is not fully predetermined due to society (though it is surely influenced) because she never loses hope.  In this way, I see Their Eyes Were Watching God novel as political.  To be political doesn't mean a work has to be angry, it can be controversial in that it reveals a unique direction or future.  Keno told the class, "The poem at its best is a snapshot of a situation.  It doesn't need to have an answer."  I agree with him, and I think Hurston would too.