Fellow Profile
Francesca Royster, PhD PROFESSOR| ENGLISH CRITICAL ETHNIC STUDIES COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES
By Amanda Matthews
Q: So, you’re currently on sabbatical. Would you care to talk about what some of your current research interests are? And what does your research entail? A: So during this sabbatical, I’m working on a new book project, called “Listening for my Mother: Travels in Music from Chicago to Bahia." This book will explore the theme of historic erasure, grief and resistance through music by women of the African Diaspora. The book will be one-part critical analysis, one-part memoir. It will begin with a journey—my mother’s, who traveled twenty years ago to Salvador, Bahia for a music conference and, at age 57, unexpectedly died there. Music will connect my story of personal loss to the grieving and healing of other women artists in the Black Diaspora. I will write about the voice of feminist protest in current Brazilian Black women’s music, who sing about Brazil’s continuing racism, domestic violence and sexual pleasure, and then songs about history, grief and collective healing, from Angelique Kidjo to Rhiannon Giddens. The project situates itself historically in the aftermath of the transatlantic slave trade, as well as the grief of the present, in light of racial violence and loss of lives during the covid19 pandemic. So far this year, I’m spending time doing background reading about Black Brazilian history and culture, especially in terms of music—and also teaching myself some elementary Portuguese (Duo Lingo is great!). I hope to travel to Bahia as soon as some of the challenges of the pandemic ease up a bit. And I’ve been listening to a lot of music, from Brazilian Tropicale music from the 1970’s to new Black Country Music to Silk Sonic! I love getting lost in Youtube wormholes to think about performance and echoes across histories and traditions. Over the sabbatical, I’ve also been finishing up two other book projects, which are now forthcoming: Black Country Music: Listening for Revolutions (University of Texas Press, expected in Fall 2022) and a memoir, Choosing Family: A Memoir of Black Resistance and Queer Motherhood (Abrams Books, also expected in Fall of 2022). This past Fall and the first weeks of Winter 2022, I’ve been revising, copyediting and getting those books ready for publication as I also work on the new project. Q: What do you find most interesting about your research subject? A: I am especially excited about thinking about the role of music in healing, and in helping people tell difficult stories about their lives and histories. I’m super-excited to think about the ways that specific histories and musical histories in different regions in the African Diaspora are both particular and connected. So right now, reading about Black freedom movements in Brazil and the U.S. and the importance of music to protest and bring communities together has been super exciting.
10
