Capstone Reflection
Discovering my capstone topic began as a process of determining what I both excelled at and deeply appreciated within the disciplines of English, Rhetoric, and Humanistic Studies. After bouncing back and forth between ideas of classic American Poetry, Spoken Word studies, and an extension on a Summer research project, I decided to research Spoken Word as a unique and effective genre. As a participator and fan of the art form, my research began eagerly looking through other scholars’ research to determine what had not yet been talked about regarding the genre of Spoken Word. In this area I was able to explore the idea of “finding the gap,” and inserting my own voice into a larger literary conversation.
The gap that I found in the research was that of “intersectionality” as a specific approach to Spoken Word, both by the practitioner and the audience. Through my own experience as a fan of Spoken Word I was aware that many artists often get caught up in identity politics or identity essentialism. They then run the risk of accidentally subscribing to reductive identifiers that limit their poetry to one sociopolitical approach or another. The antidote that I found to be effective was this theory of intersectionality, which I adapted from Kimberle Crenshaw. The theory emphasizes the intertwining and overlapping of varying demographical identifiers that comprise and poet’s aesthetic, background, and poetic voice. Approaching Spoken Word through a lens of intersectionality, I discovered, allows a poet to avoid being trapped by identity essentialism and, in turn, convey a more authentic voice and genuine identity to their audience. I discovered this lens through careful research into the VMI databases, employing the skills I’ve gained in researching and finding credible, scholarly sources through the online archives available to me. Thankfully my education within ERHS prepared me to look critically at secondary sources and outside voices in this larger conversation.
The aspects of Spoken Word that make it so unique are the live-action response, audience engagement, and mandatory judgement call on the artist’s identity. Intersectionality is so important to Spoken Word precisely because these factors of the genre that make it so unique and distinguished from its counterpart genres. If that identity is incorrectly placed or far too limited, the artist becomes significantly less authentic, and their perspective limits itself without a conscious effort to do so. So intersectionality becomes necessary to emphasize all the varying demographical identifying factors of a poet that create and shape their voice. The best way to explain how intersectionality was a positive and effective approach to Spoken Word, I determined, was to analyze Spoken Word poets who effectively employed the theory as well as close-read and watch their work. What my education prepared me to do in this way was to approach a critical framework of which I was not the originator, and apply it to my particular objective with a personally adapted style. I was able to analyze the theories which I discussed earlier, and then apply them to work to which they had yet to be applied.
Through searching for examples of Spoken Word artists, I discovered the book Word Warriors: 35 Women Leaders in the Spoken Word Revolution. My goal was to analyze these poets and their work and explain why their poetry was so effective specifically due to their intersectionality. The two poets who exemplified intersectionality most effectively were Suheir Hammad and Sarah Jones; I then analyzed the work of Andrea Gibson for a broader perspective on the potentially negative effects of intersectionality. I analyzed the work of Hammad and Jones’ on paper as well as their recorded performances, emphasizing the aspects of their live performance that drew on intersectionality and distinguished the sub-genre from other poetic sub-genres. Through these analyses, I practiced my developed abilities to close-read poetry, dissect language, and analyze rhetorical tools in “speech giving.” I have been close-reading literature since my beginnings as an English major, so to be able to employ that practice was very representative of my education. Ultimately, I took a genre which I loved but had not had the opportunity to study in the current curriculum, and applied the academic ideals by which I have done a large portion of my work to this point. This demonstrated to me that I have developed the ability to take my academic perspective and use it to understand and process those resulting passions of mine that don’t always immediately correlate directly with my education.
Overall, my Capstone experiences allowed me the liberty to take the academic skills I’ve gained during my time in the ERHS department and filter my passions through that lens. As an aspiring Spoken Word artist, capstone afforded me the opportunity to think critically about the subjects I love, research in a way the renders accurate and helpful information, and hone my own craft to make it as effective as possible. The freedom to put a capstone on my education that consists of a genre with which I have fallen in love was a wonderful “end” to my education.
