BIS: African & African American Studies, Asian Languages & Literatures, Dance.
My mother is Muslim Indian, and my father is Catholic Black and Chinese.
BIS: African & African American Studies, Asian Languages & Literatures, Dance My mother is Muslim Indian, and my father is Catholic Black and Chinese. Both of my parents are from a small country in the Caribbean, Guyana, where diversity is widely embraced. Throughout my life I have found a humbling sense of fulfillment in the array of civic engagement programs I have worked with including volunteering for Make A Stand (a diversity appreciation mentorship youth group), participating in University of Minnesota cultural groups (Black Student Union, Asian Student Union, Al-Madina), and working for the Common Link-Owakihi (a for-profit organization for at-risk youth and people with disabilities). My involvement with these organizations has heightened my awareness of how minority communities can both struggle and succeed in working amongst and against themselves with differing communities. Similarly, through my participation with various events and clients, I have become more vigilant of injustices encountered by “minority” populations in regard to money, health care, and education. My proposed BIS program, along with my prior knowledge and experience, will prepare me for a career in education administration and help me discover inspiration for my future with dance. To merge my diverse ethnic and cultural background with my love for dance and working with urban communities, I have chosen to concentrate on the following areas in my proposed Bachelor of Individualized Studies program: African and African American Studies, Asian Languages and Literatures, and Dance. My three areas of concentration stem from who I am, what I have done, what I am doing, and what I hope to accomplish. The concentrations focus on the aesthetics of arts within Black and Asian communities in order to make sense of their histories and contrast them to the colonization of the Western world. The African and African American Studies concentration is aimed at understanding psychological adversities faced by communities of color and introduces coping mechanisms utilized to help restore these peoples through the understanding of Black history from
Africa to the United States. The Asian Languages and Literatures concentration examines the changes of the East before, during, and after the invasion of Europeans and concentrates on the cornerstones of culture within China and India which were deconstructed during colonial empowerment and reconstructed after gaining independence. My Dance concentration demonstrates my awareness of dancers as historians as it will introduce me to how moving bodies adjust to the times and lands. Taken at face value, the importance of learning about diverse cultures is sometimes overlooked by artists, yet I find it to be vital when working with any art form. My dance training is primarily with a local company called Ananya Dance Theatre that is strictly comprised of women of color. We aspire to dance the struggles, triumphs and dreams to come for international communities while integrating a social justice theme, thus making our company unique since production concepts are drawn from cultures, histories, lifestyles, and movements worldwide. Ananya Dance Theatre not only emphasizes beautiful dancing but also passionate emotionality derived from empathizing with people from communities of color. I, therefore, want to blend my newfound knowledge of Black Studies and Asian Studies to further comprehend how their histories can be transmitted viscerally through dancing bodies. African and African American Studies The goal of my African and African American Studies concentration is to make sense of Black history by finding commonalities between the native and diasporic people from Africa. My fascination with this concentration comes from my belief that African slaves experienced the most dehumanizing acts throughout their diasporic journeys which have been forgotten and not recognized by the White community. For example, there is the perception that Black Americans “believe” in physical punishment when disciplining their children because they are “violent people” rather than considering that during slavery they had been punished likewise. Or the failure to understand that Black Americans are more likely to get diabetes because they were constantly fed sugar cane during slavery, not because
it is strictly genetic. I hope to learn and prove that Africans and African Americans failed to assimilate because their sense of “African-ness” persevered viscerally and subconsciously. My African and African American Studies courses address the psychology of African Americans and analyze popular artistic modes of conveying a variety of issues. AFRO 3072 Racism: Social & Psychological Consequences for Black Americans defined different terms including prejudice versus individual and institutional racism. The content of this class was key in helping understand how racial injustices occur within a range of peoples and our governmental system. AFRO 3543 Psychology and the Black American Experience called upon statistics to inform us about the psychological impact racism had on Black people. It presented studies justifying why races should not be compared, because at the top of comparison charts “the White way” seems to be “the right way.” For example, one study showed that White students learned more through lectures whereas Black students learned more through activity and interaction; yet the current standard way of teaching in schools is via lecture. I would like to implement this concept one day by opening my own school. This class also informed me about the most common coping mechanism in the Black community: church. It is important to understand the importance church has within Black families because if a family is in need, they are more likely to seek spiritual help before seeking help from any kind of doctor. AFRO 3601 African Literature compared and contrasted novels, drama, and poetry from all locations of Africa and discussed story-telling themes such as the role of the trickster, the significance of repetition, and the moral of the story. Knowing that the tradition of storytelling is comparable to our modern day purpose of the historian helps me realize the profound intelligence Africans possess which is not recognized according to today’s “standards” (White standard). I was able to link some of my own culture’s oral traditions/stories to the ones covered in class either by similar means of telling the story or by similar words used for activities or characters – for example, the African villain is called Ntzomi
whereas in the Caribbean we call it Nanzi. AFRO 3654 African Cinema helped me become more knowledgeable about the evolving state of Africa and how the European and other outer influences impacted the continent because each film shoed the progression made in achieving national freedom. African Cinema was important because it revealed the progression of all the countries’ paths leading up to independence. Each film pushed another button; the primary hardship was finding a way to fight censorship so that their stories regarding their hatred towards European colonizers could be shared globally. AFRO 3301 The Music of Black America will reflect on how “Africanisms” are maintained in Black American music such as call and response, and the tradition of the griot (similar to the storytelling methods found in African literature). This course sheds light on the way that African music links the sacred and everyday life since everything has a sense of religious purpose. This concept is essential to understand at it relates to the coping mechanism of turning to God for help in times of need. ENGL 3300 Multicultural American Literatures and Cultures explores literature of the African diaspora, mainly of the Caribbean, and also that of Southeast Asia. Reading stories about and from people who are native to these locations will help my understanding of the peoples who once lived in these places decades and centuries before my family had. Asian Languages and Literatures The purpose of my Asian Languages and Literatures concentration is to gain a better understanding of varying Asian cultures’ histories by investigating a range of art forms that have changed very little even after European invasion. More specifically I have chosen to focus my studies on China and India because I am Chinese and Indian. I believe that choosing to study one area of Asia over another would not be beneficial to me because it would be like having to claim a single identity – Black, Chinese, or Indian – as I have often been forced to throughout my life. These countries share similarities such as the ability to both perform and sustain the importance of art forms specific to each
location. The art forms and histories have found a way to replenish themselves after deconstruction, even when outlawed by Westerners. Contrary to the “failure” to assimilate to European standards and lifestyles by African Americans, I intend to prove that Chinese and In dians directly “choose” not to assimilate to a Western way of life through reconstruction of their traditional art forms. My Asian Languages and Literatures courses investigate the impact Westerners had on Asia, and also examine popular and traditional artistic masterpieces and art forms of both East and Southeast Asia. ALL 3014 Art of India focused on South Asian art dating back to the Harappan Civilization up through the 20th century. This course taught me how to identify works by date according to key features found on pieces during different eras; key features often inform us about who waws in power, what religions were dominant and also how pieces were interpreted by the artists and archaeologists. Learning about ancient art from the harappan civilization simultaneously provided a link to my dance focus because it pinpointed a time in history where dance was firs tbeing preserved (since seals and figurines depicted yoga positions and string instruments – usually associated to Indian dance and theatre). CHN 3201 Chinese Calligraphy taught skills vital for writing Mandarin characters – one of the two languages I chose to study at the university. Technique was emphasized in order to beautifully execute this traditional art form. Specifically the lesson I share most often with my fellow dancers is that dance is like calligraphy, you can not spend time trying to master a character or choreography at one sitting, but rather you have to try it only a few times aned move on because otherwise you will keep repeating the same mistakes. ALL 3632 Islam Epic and Romance shed light on how Southeast Asian stories address themes of virtue, love, war and politics especially in regard to Islamic societies. Islamic Epic and Romance also provided historical knowledge of interactions of both Hindu and Islamic societies. I found that neither Africans nor Southeast Asians have any difference between the secular and sacred with proves how alike the two communities of color truly are. I learned for example that some people
believe in a sort of “divine love” (i.e. spouse, the bed you sleep in, the brush you paint with) that is found in everything. ALL 3920 Occidentalism in China examined the different states of China before, during, and post Occidentalism by the Western world and focused on how Occidentalism affected their politics, culture, language, and films. The most memorable lesson I took away from this course is that even during the Cultural Revolution, a time of rebellion, China was able to take the Western art form of ballet and made it a sort of “ethnic” dance by ridding it of truths and adding rifles and knives into scenes. ALL 3373 Religion and Society in Imperial China is designed to introduce the main religions of China – Buddhism, Daoism and Confucianism – and discusses the interrelationship between these religions and the social structure of the country. This cours will allow me to discuss the cultural differences between China and India as it proposes a link to both societies (since Hinduism and classical Indian dance come from Buddhist temple worship). MUS 5950 Intro to North Indian Vocal Music will teach the fundamentals of voice culture and rhythmic patterns of North India. Learning the different genres and history of music in North India comes from a “holy-scripture-like” book, known as Natyashastra. It is essential to all Indian performance artists (singers, dancers, and musicians) because it provides a framework for how all performance art should be put to work. Dance The Dance concentration of my program focuses on dance scholarship. Although I have learned a variety of forms including ballet, ballroom, salsa, and tap, I do not see myself using these forms extensively. My dance training is with Ananya Dance Theatre which uniquely combines contemporary dance with well-grounded Eastern dance forms versus elevated Western forms. I am choosing to study the history of dance as a whole by relating scholarly dance works to a populous of color which will in turn help me in my dance endeavors.
Dance courses I have already completed allowed me to blend dance scholarship and research to analyze moving bodies from communities of color. DNCE 3488 Dance as a Cultural Practice articulated the evolution of dance as it traveled along the Silk Road and into the Americas. The course also reiterated that the beginning of dance comes from Southeast Asia and was passed on through the first barefooted dancers. DNCE 4454 (Re)Writing the Dancing Body taught us how to analyze and interpret dancing bodies and translate what we see into expressive and meaningful writing that can be understood by dancers and non-dancers. We had to write a dance review, ethnography, and dance anthology for this class – the types of critical dance writing desperately needed to help advance the field of dance studies today. DNCE 3487 Ethnic Dance Traditions in American Society will provide an overview of traditional dances from Asian-African-Native Americans and Latinos and study the adaptations and changes made to these forms by European Americans. It is important to note how dances changed over time due to European colonizers’ conquests of foreign lands. These foreign dances became glamorized, sexualized, often times copied and exploited by colonizers. This course helps to define the term “ethnic” which stems from the likes of “exotic” and “primitive” – all words never used to describe European dances. DNCE 3401 and DNCE 3402 examine dance forms in ancient civilizations such as Egypt, Greece, and India and then progressively trace the development of dance through church and courts in Europe primarily focusing on the West. Dance history challenges us to find significant shifts and connections within the evolving practice of dance so that we can successfully argue our positions on how dance should be interpreted. After graduating I would like to work with the Teach for America program since I have been a “teacher” all my life. Ideally I would like to open a school which caters to Generation Y by having cultural studies at the forefront of lesson plans. I would like to incorporate acting, dancing, third and fourth language classes, calligraphy, and graffiti art into the curriculum since I have learned that urban
communities learn better with the addition of arts. In fact, one of my mentors who provided me with my first internship has moved on to become the deputy directory of recruiting and admission for an organization in New York called New Leaders for New Schools whose purpose is to help people with dreams as big as my own open their own schools for urban communities. Thus my BIS program is the first step needed to help me accomplish this goal.
Name: ID#:
BIS/IDIM Program Course Worksheet
Total number of credits in proposed program: Total number 3/4/5xxx level credits in proposed program: Total credits in program left to complete:
Title: Dept.
Course Code AFRO 3072 AFRO 3301 AFRO 3543 AFRO 3601 AFRO 3654 ENGL 3300 TOTALS:
Title: Dept.
Course Code ALL 3014W CHN 3201 ALL 3373 ALL 3632 ALL 3920 MUS 5950 TOTALS:
Title: Dept.
Course Code DNCE 3401W DNCE 3402W DNCE 3487W DNCE 3488W DNCE 4454W TOTALS:
57 57
African & African American Studies Course Title
Complete: Not Complete: Credits (Grade) Credits (Term) Racism: Social & Psychological Consequences of Black3Am The Music of Black Americans 3 Psychology and the Black American Experience 3 African Literature 3 African Cinema 3 Multicultural American Literatures and Cultures 3 3xxx-5xxx level credits in Area: 18 Total Credits in Area: Asian Languages & Literatures Course Title
Complete: Not Complete: Credits (Grade) Credits (Term) Art of India 4 Chinese Calligraphy 2 Religion and Society in Imperial China 3 Islamic Epic and Romance 3 Occidentalism in China 3 Intro to North Indian Vocal Music 3 3xxx-5xxx level credits in Area: 18 Total Credits in Area: Dance Course Title
Complete: Not Complete: Credits (Grade) Credits (Term) Dance History 1 3 Dance History 2 3 Ethnic Dance Traditions in American Society 3 Dance as a Cultural Practice 3 (Re)Writing the Dancing Body 3 3xxx-5xxx level credits in Area: 15 Total Credits in Area:
