Impact Magazine Spring 2009

NONPROFIT ORG US POSTAGE PAID PERMIT No. 10 COLLEGE PARK, MD

impact

profiles

Office of the Vice President for Research 2133 Lee Building University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742-5121

Stop, Look and Listen Jefferson Pinder produces provocative art, such as “Afro Cosmonaut” (shown at right), a self-portrait that captures the conflict of breaking free. “I consider my art to be passive activism—it’s there for the taking if people are interested in probing deeper,” says Pinder, an assistant professor of art.

He sees his role as an artist as not necessarily defining the African-American experience, but instead using the rich histories and hard-earned knowledge from the AfricanAmerican community as a muse of inspiration. “My job is to help people ask questions,” Pinder says, “questions not only about the black experience, but also about the human experience.” m

IMPACT

Vol. 4 No. 1

Impact is published by the Office of the Vice President for Research and is mailed to members of the mid-Atlantic research community and others who have an interest in the latest research at the University of Maryland.

Your comments and feedback are welcome; please e-mail your comments to impact@umd.edu or fax them to Anne Geronimo, executive editor, at 301.314.9569.

If for any reason you would not like to receive this publication, contact us using the same information above.

research & education

spotlight

publisher Mel Bernstein Vice President for Research executive editor Anne Geronimo Director for Research Development managing editor Tom Ventsias

Old Traditions, Modern Stories “African-American theater tells the stories of the post-diaspora experiences of Africans in America,” says Walter Dallas (left), senior artist in residence in the Department of Theatre.

Dallas is a critically acclaimed director and playwright with more than three decades of national and international work to his credit. He was lead writer for the Grammy award-winning documentary, Standing in the Shadows of Motown, and directed the world premiere of August Wilson’s Seven Guitars.

Dallas has come to Maryland to teach and share his experiences with students, fellow faculty members and the community at large. “I want to give my students the skills that allow them to go into the profession and have careers instead of occasional jobs,” he says.

His most recent work, Lazarus, Unstoned, combines traditional African storytelling techniques with contemporary media, including hip-hop, spoken word, crunk and postmodern dance.

The opera features traditional African rituals that Dallas observed from his many trips abroad, while also using a potpourri of music that reflects his own roots in African-American gospel, pop and rhythm and blues.

“In order to know fully who we are as a people—and as a culture—it is important that we understand and celebrate all of these stories,” both old and new, Dallas says. m

creative director and photographer John T. Consoli

Before he became a senior artist in residence, Walter Dallas was a guest director at Maryland for “The Amen Corner” (below), James Baldwin’s play that examines the role of the church in the African-American family.

art director Jeanette J. Nelson cover photo Christopher Anderson Image courtesy of Bryan Carter, developer of Virtual Harlem.

Harlem Renaissance Revisited

ZITA NUNES

What might Langston Hughes, the poet and playwright at the heart of the Harlem Renaissance, say about the election of Barack Obama? Or how would Zora Neale Hurston or W.E.B. DuBois—also major players in the flowering of black artists and intellectuals in 1920s Harlem—respond to today’s hip-hop culture? Students are addressing these questions and more by communicating through Second Life in an online world called Virtual Harlem, a vibrant place where the Cotton Club is in full swing and thoughtful discussions on race, music and poetry abound.

Zita Nunes, associate professor of comparative literature, leads a class of Maryland undergraduates

who communicate online with peers in France and at Central Missouri State University, where the project originated. All are required to thoroughly research the historical figures they represent online, getting to know the person’s work and how he or she might have dealt with social or aesthetic issues. “We wanted to develop new ways to make this material relevant, and were pleasantly surprised to see students quoting extensively from an author’s work in many of their online conversations,” Nunes says.

For more information on innovative education, research and scholarship in the arts and humanities at the University of Maryland, visit www.arhu.umd.edu. m

The African-American experience is a topic of thoughtful,

earnest exploration in the College of Arts and Humanities, whether on the page, on the stage or in the digital world.

To learn how, look inside …

| Spring 2009

impact impact

overview overview

Race Matters MARYLAND FACULTY AT THE FOREFRONT OF A TIMELY, RELEVANT DISCUSSION

COVER ILLUSTRATION: A member of the Maryland Dance Ensemble performs in “How Long, Brethren,” choreographer Helen Tamiris’ 1937 classic that depicts the despair of unemployed Southern blacks during the Depression.

research, scholarship & the performing arts LOCATION The university’s location, just outside Washington, D.C., allows faculty researchers and visiting scholars access to a trove of historical resources, including the Library of Congress, the National Archives and the Smithsonian Institution. The area also has a wealth of art galleries and performance venues that stimulate creativity in the college and offer internship and research opportunities. Among them are the National Gallery of Art, the National Portrait Gallery, historic Ford’s Theater and the Folger Shakespeare Library/Folger Theatre. m

F

a new section to the anthology called “Slavery, Race rom a historical perspective, says Ira Berlin, and the Making of American Literature,” as well as new renowned scholar of 19th-century Africanselections from women journalists interested in social American life, the national debate over race class, effectively rewriting American literary history. started with a critical phrase in the Declaration The anthology gets students to think more about race of Independence: “All men are created equal.” and class, Levine says. “We often focus too exclusively That debate continues today as the first Africanon race, and we need to think more about connections American president settles into the White House—a among racial and class histories.” structure built by slaves. As Barack Obama redefines the roles African Americans can aspire to, questions persist regarding blacks’ unequal access to education, health The Diversity of Research care and housing.

The university stands at the forefront of diversity Through individual projects, interdisciplinary coleducation and commitment, with its Diversity Initiative laborations and live performances, faculty and students recognized by the White House as a national model. The in the university’s College of Arts and Humanities are English Department’s study of African-American literaadvancing a broad conversation on race, diversity and ture is ranked in the top 10 by U.S. News & World Report. the African-American experience.

Among the key areas of research in the “We are home to a vast range of We know that the college, Bonnie Thornton Dill, professor research activity that transforms our and chair of the Department of Women’s current generation national conversation about difference,” Studies, is founding director of the uni[of students] says James Harris, dean of the college. versity’s Consortium on Race, Gender and “One of our real strengths is that we can has a great interest Ethnicity. It explores the intersections of look at these questions in so many ways— inequality as they shape the construction in unsolved quesliterature, history, the visual and performand representation of identities, behavior tions concerning ing arts, to name but a few.” and complex social relations.

Berlin’s research on the diverse race.” —Ira Berlin The Freedmen and Southern Society everyday lives of slaves on American soil Project, directed by Leslie Rowland, assois considered the seminal work on this ciate professor of history, is considered one of the most topic. A distinguished university professor of history, important resources in the U.S. for the study of ReconBerlin says that slavery is welded to American society; struction. Funded in part by the National Endowment for after all, much of the nation’s prosperity was built on it. the Humanities, the project has created a history of the He teaches an undergraduate course that explores the emancipation of slaves in the United States from 1861 university’s relation to slavery, which students research to 1867, using first-person narratives drawn from the using historical documents.

National Archives.

“We know that the current generation [of students] Professor Carla Peterson studies 19th-century black has a great interest in unsolved questions concerning women, particularly in the North, who pushed to have race,” he says. “This generation—the post-civil rights their voices heard, whether through the written word generation—has discovered that many things that we or public speaking. A noted author, she is working on a thought were solved with the civil rights movement are book about black New Yorkers in the 19th century that actually not.” combines family biography with social history.

Robert Levine, professor of English, also examines Peterson says current author Toni Morrison, a the past to offer insight into the future. Levine has writmainstay in English classrooms, illustrates the value of ten numerous books, including a detailed study of two the arts and humanities in discussing race. When Morof the most significant African-American leaders of the rison was unable to find a definitive narrative about the 19th century, Martin Delany and Frederick Douglass. “I interior lives of slaves—what they did besides toil in the am very interested in addressing questions of race in fields from sunup to sundown—she created a fictional literature and culture. Race is not a biological category,” account. The result was the Pulitzer Prize-winning book, he says. “It is ideological.”

Beloved.

Levine also serves as editor of The Norton Anthology “The use of imagination in the creative arts,” Peterof American Literature, required reading for tens of thouson says, “invites people to challenge their own assumpsands of undergraduates each year. He has introduced tions and sense of complacency.”

IRA BERLIN

ROBERT LEVINE

THE DRISKELL CENTER

BONNIE THORNTON DILL

The David C. Driskell Center (above) provides an intellectual home for artists and scholars to study the visual arts and culture of African Americans and the African diaspora. The center, the only facility of its kind at an American research university, is named for the distinguished university professor of art, emeritus, one of the leading authorities on the subject of African-American art and the black artist in American society.

The center provides an interdisciplinary forum for discussions on race, and sponsored a learning community that joined faculty from women’s studies, history, comparative literature, theatre, art, art history and biological anthropology. This eclectic group created an interdisciplinary curriculum for Maryland students on issues related to race and the mission of the humanities, and other universities across the country later used the course. m

THE CLARICE SMITH CENTER

CARLA PETERSON

OPPOSITE PAGE: People and events that help define the AfricanAmerican experience include (clockwise from top right) Frederick Douglass, Reconstruction, historically black colleges like Howard University, a Tuskegee Airman, Martin Delany, the Greensboro, N.C., lunch counter sit-ins, Rosa Parks in Birmingham, Ala., the 1920s Harlem Renaissance and the 2008 election of Barack Obama.

The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, one of the largest, most advanced performance complexes in the U.S., promotes learning, exploration and growth, reinforced by its commitment to the work of artists from diverse cultures. The center regularly brings to the community a rich array of artists who explore through their work the most profound aspects of identity, race and shared human experience.

“There had been a longstanding neglect on the national level of African-American theater for the past 25 or 30 years—but the field is now expanding enormously,” says Heather Nathans, associate dean and associate professor of theatre.

A recent issue of the scholarly journal, Theatre Survey, published by Cambridge University Press, hailed the University of Maryland for drawing attention to the resurgence of AfricanAmerican theater. “We have been privileged to bring in people like Faedra Carpenter, Walter Dallas and Scot Reese—some of the leading voices in African-American theater and scholarship,” Nathans says. m The origins of modern jazz can be traced to early 20th century African-American communities in the southern United States. Today’s notable jazz artists include saxophonist Wayne Shorter, who performed at the Clarice Smith Center in 2008.

Photo by Paul Slaughter

impact impact

overview overview

Race Matters MARYLAND FACULTY AT THE FOREFRONT OF A TIMELY, RELEVANT DISCUSSION

COVER ILLUSTRATION: A member of the Maryland Dance Ensemble performs in “How Long, Brethren,” choreographer Helen Tamiris’ 1937 classic that depicts the despair of unemployed Southern blacks during the Depression.

research, scholarship & the performing arts LOCATION The university’s location, just outside Washington, D.C., allows faculty researchers and visiting scholars access to a trove of historical resources, including the Library of Congress, the National Archives and the Smithsonian Institution. The area also has a wealth of art galleries and performance venues that stimulate creativity in the college and offer internship and research opportunities. Among them are the National Gallery of Art, the National Portrait Gallery, historic Ford’s Theater and the Folger Shakespeare Library/Folger Theatre. m

F

a new section to the anthology called “Slavery, Race rom a historical perspective, says Ira Berlin, and the Making of American Literature,” as well as new renowned scholar of 19th-century Africanselections from women journalists interested in social American life, the national debate over race class, effectively rewriting American literary history. started with a critical phrase in the Declaration The anthology gets students to think more about race of Independence: “All men are created equal.” and class, Levine says. “We often focus too exclusively That debate continues today as the first Africanon race, and we need to think more about connections American president settles into the White House—a among racial and class histories.” structure built by slaves. As Barack Obama redefines the roles African Americans can aspire to, questions persist regarding blacks’ unequal access to education, health The Diversity of Research care and housing.

The university stands at the forefront of diversity Through individual projects, interdisciplinary coleducation and commitment, with its Diversity Initiative laborations and live performances, faculty and students recognized by the White House as a national model. The in the university’s College of Arts and Humanities are English Department’s study of African-American literaadvancing a broad conversation on race, diversity and ture is ranked in the top 10 by U.S. News & World Report. the African-American experience.

Among the key areas of research in the “We are home to a vast range of We know that the college, Bonnie Thornton Dill, professor research activity that transforms our and chair of the Department of Women’s current generation national conversation about difference,” Studies, is founding director of the uni[of students] says James Harris, dean of the college. versity’s Consortium on Race, Gender and “One of our real strengths is that we can has a great interest Ethnicity. It explores the intersections of look at these questions in so many ways— inequality as they shape the construction in unsolved quesliterature, history, the visual and performand representation of identities, behavior tions concerning ing arts, to name but a few.” and complex social relations.

Berlin’s research on the diverse race.” —Ira Berlin The Freedmen and Southern Society everyday lives of slaves on American soil Project, directed by Leslie Rowland, assois considered the seminal work on this ciate professor of history, is considered one of the most topic. A distinguished university professor of history, important resources in the U.S. for the study of ReconBerlin says that slavery is welded to American society; struction. Funded in part by the National Endowment for after all, much of the nation’s prosperity was built on it. the Humanities, the project has created a history of the He teaches an undergraduate course that explores the emancipation of slaves in the United States from 1861 university’s relation to slavery, which students research to 1867, using first-person narratives drawn from the using historical documents.

National Archives.

“We know that the current generation [of students] Professor Carla Peterson studies 19th-century black has a great interest in unsolved questions concerning women, particularly in the North, who pushed to have race,” he says. “This generation—the post-civil rights their voices heard, whether through the written word generation—has discovered that many things that we or public speaking. A noted author, she is working on a thought were solved with the civil rights movement are book about black New Yorkers in the 19th century that actually not.” combines family biography with social history.

Robert Levine, professor of English, also examines Peterson says current author Toni Morrison, a the past to offer insight into the future. Levine has writmainstay in English classrooms, illustrates the value of ten numerous books, including a detailed study of two the arts and humanities in discussing race. When Morof the most significant African-American leaders of the rison was unable to find a definitive narrative about the 19th century, Martin Delany and Frederick Douglass. “I interior lives of slaves—what they did besides toil in the am very interested in addressing questions of race in fields from sunup to sundown—she created a fictional literature and culture. Race is not a biological category,” account. The result was the Pulitzer Prize-winning book, he says. “It is ideological.”

Beloved.

Levine also serves as editor of The Norton Anthology “The use of imagination in the creative arts,” Peterof American Literature, required reading for tens of thouson says, “invites people to challenge their own assumpsands of undergraduates each year. He has introduced tions and sense of complacency.”

IRA BERLIN

ROBERT LEVINE

THE DRISKELL CENTER

BONNIE THORNTON DILL

The David C. Driskell Center (above) provides an intellectual home for artists and scholars to study the visual arts and culture of African Americans and the African diaspora. The center, the only facility of its kind at an American research university, is named for the distinguished university professor of art, emeritus, one of the leading authorities on the subject of African-American art and the black artist in American society.

The center provides an interdisciplinary forum for discussions on race, and sponsored a learning community that joined faculty from women’s studies, history, comparative literature, theatre, art, art history and biological anthropology. This eclectic group created an interdisciplinary curriculum for Maryland students on issues related to race and the mission of the humanities, and other universities across the country later used the course. m

THE CLARICE SMITH CENTER

CARLA PETERSON

OPPOSITE PAGE: People and events that help define the AfricanAmerican experience include (clockwise from top right) Frederick Douglass, Reconstruction, historically black colleges like Howard University, a Tuskegee Airman, Martin Delany, the Greensboro, N.C., lunch counter sit-ins, Rosa Parks in Birmingham, Ala., the 1920s Harlem Renaissance and the 2008 election of Barack Obama.

The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, one of the largest, most advanced performance complexes in the U.S., promotes learning, exploration and growth, reinforced by its commitment to the work of artists from diverse cultures. The center regularly brings to the community a rich array of artists who explore through their work the most profound aspects of identity, race and shared human experience.

“There had been a longstanding neglect on the national level of African-American theater for the past 25 or 30 years—but the field is now expanding enormously,” says Heather Nathans, associate dean and associate professor of theatre.

A recent issue of the scholarly journal, Theatre Survey, published by Cambridge University Press, hailed the University of Maryland for drawing attention to the resurgence of AfricanAmerican theater. “We have been privileged to bring in people like Faedra Carpenter, Walter Dallas and Scot Reese—some of the leading voices in African-American theater and scholarship,” Nathans says. m The origins of modern jazz can be traced to early 20th century African-American communities in the southern United States. Today’s notable jazz artists include saxophonist Wayne Shorter, who performed at the Clarice Smith Center in 2008.

Photo by Paul Slaughter

impact impact

overview overview

Race Matters MARYLAND FACULTY AT THE FOREFRONT OF A TIMELY, RELEVANT DISCUSSION

COVER ILLUSTRATION: A member of the Maryland Dance Ensemble performs in “How Long, Brethren,” choreographer Helen Tamiris’ 1937 classic that depicts the despair of unemployed Southern blacks during the Depression.

research, scholarship & the performing arts LOCATION The university’s location, just outside Washington, D.C., allows faculty researchers and visiting scholars access to a trove of historical resources, including the Library of Congress, the National Archives and the Smithsonian Institution. The area also has a wealth of art galleries and performance venues that stimulate creativity in the college and offer internship and research opportunities. Among them are the National Gallery of Art, the National Portrait Gallery, historic Ford’s Theater and the Folger Shakespeare Library/Folger Theatre. m

F

a new section to the anthology called “Slavery, Race rom a historical perspective, says Ira Berlin, and the Making of American Literature,” as well as new renowned scholar of 19th-century Africanselections from women journalists interested in social American life, the national debate over race class, effectively rewriting American literary history. started with a critical phrase in the Declaration The anthology gets students to think more about race of Independence: “All men are created equal.” and class, Levine says. “We often focus too exclusively That debate continues today as the first Africanon race, and we need to think more about connections American president settles into the White House—a among racial and class histories.” structure built by slaves. As Barack Obama redefines the roles African Americans can aspire to, questions persist regarding blacks’ unequal access to education, health The Diversity of Research care and housing.

The university stands at the forefront of diversity Through individual projects, interdisciplinary coleducation and commitment, with its Diversity Initiative laborations and live performances, faculty and students recognized by the White House as a national model. The in the university’s College of Arts and Humanities are English Department’s study of African-American literaadvancing a broad conversation on race, diversity and ture is ranked in the top 10 by U.S. News & World Report. the African-American experience.

Among the key areas of research in the “We are home to a vast range of We know that the college, Bonnie Thornton Dill, professor research activity that transforms our and chair of the Department of Women’s current generation national conversation about difference,” Studies, is founding director of the uni[of students] says James Harris, dean of the college. versity’s Consortium on Race, Gender and “One of our real strengths is that we can has a great interest Ethnicity. It explores the intersections of look at these questions in so many ways— inequality as they shape the construction in unsolved quesliterature, history, the visual and performand representation of identities, behavior tions concerning ing arts, to name but a few.” and complex social relations.

Berlin’s research on the diverse race.” —Ira Berlin The Freedmen and Southern Society everyday lives of slaves on American soil Project, directed by Leslie Rowland, assois considered the seminal work on this ciate professor of history, is considered one of the most topic. A distinguished university professor of history, important resources in the U.S. for the study of ReconBerlin says that slavery is welded to American society; struction. Funded in part by the National Endowment for after all, much of the nation’s prosperity was built on it. the Humanities, the project has created a history of the He teaches an undergraduate course that explores the emancipation of slaves in the United States from 1861 university’s relation to slavery, which students research to 1867, using first-person narratives drawn from the using historical documents.

National Archives.

“We know that the current generation [of students] Professor Carla Peterson studies 19th-century black has a great interest in unsolved questions concerning women, particularly in the North, who pushed to have race,” he says. “This generation—the post-civil rights their voices heard, whether through the written word generation—has discovered that many things that we or public speaking. A noted author, she is working on a thought were solved with the civil rights movement are book about black New Yorkers in the 19th century that actually not.” combines family biography with social history.

Robert Levine, professor of English, also examines Peterson says current author Toni Morrison, a the past to offer insight into the future. Levine has writmainstay in English classrooms, illustrates the value of ten numerous books, including a detailed study of two the arts and humanities in discussing race. When Morof the most significant African-American leaders of the rison was unable to find a definitive narrative about the 19th century, Martin Delany and Frederick Douglass. “I interior lives of slaves—what they did besides toil in the am very interested in addressing questions of race in fields from sunup to sundown—she created a fictional literature and culture. Race is not a biological category,” account. The result was the Pulitzer Prize-winning book, he says. “It is ideological.”

Beloved.

Levine also serves as editor of The Norton Anthology “The use of imagination in the creative arts,” Peterof American Literature, required reading for tens of thouson says, “invites people to challenge their own assumpsands of undergraduates each year. He has introduced tions and sense of complacency.”

IRA BERLIN

ROBERT LEVINE

THE DRISKELL CENTER

BONNIE THORNTON DILL

The David C. Driskell Center (above) provides an intellectual home for artists and scholars to study the visual arts and culture of African Americans and the African diaspora. The center, the only facility of its kind at an American research university, is named for the distinguished university professor of art, emeritus, one of the leading authorities on the subject of African-American art and the black artist in American society.

The center provides an interdisciplinary forum for discussions on race, and sponsored a learning community that joined faculty from women’s studies, history, comparative literature, theatre, art, art history and biological anthropology. This eclectic group created an interdisciplinary curriculum for Maryland students on issues related to race and the mission of the humanities, and other universities across the country later used the course. m

THE CLARICE SMITH CENTER

CARLA PETERSON

OPPOSITE PAGE: People and events that help define the AfricanAmerican experience include (clockwise from top right) Frederick Douglass, Reconstruction, historically black colleges like Howard University, a Tuskegee Airman, Martin Delany, the Greensboro, N.C., lunch counter sit-ins, Rosa Parks in Birmingham, Ala., the 1920s Harlem Renaissance and the 2008 election of Barack Obama.

The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, one of the largest, most advanced performance complexes in the U.S., promotes learning, exploration and growth, reinforced by its commitment to the work of artists from diverse cultures. The center regularly brings to the community a rich array of artists who explore through their work the most profound aspects of identity, race and shared human experience.

“There had been a longstanding neglect on the national level of African-American theater for the past 25 or 30 years—but the field is now expanding enormously,” says Heather Nathans, associate dean and associate professor of theatre.

A recent issue of the scholarly journal, Theatre Survey, published by Cambridge University Press, hailed the University of Maryland for drawing attention to the resurgence of AfricanAmerican theater. “We have been privileged to bring in people like Faedra Carpenter, Walter Dallas and Scot Reese—some of the leading voices in African-American theater and scholarship,” Nathans says. m The origins of modern jazz can be traced to early 20th century African-American communities in the southern United States. Today’s notable jazz artists include saxophonist Wayne Shorter, who performed at the Clarice Smith Center in 2008.

Photo by Paul Slaughter

NONPROFIT ORG US POSTAGE PAID PERMIT No. 10 COLLEGE PARK, MD

impact

profiles

Office of the Vice President for Research 2133 Lee Building University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742-5121

Stop, Look and Listen Jefferson Pinder produces provocative art, such as “Afro Cosmonaut” (shown at right), a self-portrait that captures the conflict of breaking free. “I consider my art to be passive activism—it’s there for the taking if people are interested in probing deeper,” says Pinder, an assistant professor of art.

He sees his role as an artist as not necessarily defining the African-American experience, but instead using the rich histories and hard-earned knowledge from the AfricanAmerican community as a muse of inspiration. “My job is to help people ask questions,” Pinder says, “questions not only about the black experience, but also about the human experience.” m

IMPACT

Vol. 4 No. 1

Impact is published by the Office of the Vice President for Research and is mailed to members of the mid-Atlantic research community and others who have an interest in the latest research at the University of Maryland.

Your comments and feedback are welcome; please e-mail your comments to impact@umd.edu or fax them to Anne Geronimo, executive editor, at 301.314.9569.

If for any reason you would not like to receive this publication, contact us using the same information above.

research & education

spotlight

publisher Mel Bernstein Vice President for Research executive editor Anne Geronimo Director for Research Development managing editor Tom Ventsias

Old Traditions, Modern Stories “African-American theater tells the stories of the post-diaspora experiences of Africans in America,” says Walter Dallas (left), senior artist in residence in the Department of Theatre.

Dallas is a critically acclaimed director and playwright with more than three decades of national and international work to his credit. He was lead writer for the Grammy award-winning documentary, Standing in the Shadows of Motown, and directed the world premiere of August Wilson’s Seven Guitars.

Dallas has come to Maryland to teach and share his experiences with students, fellow faculty members and the community at large. “I want to give my students the skills that allow them to go into the profession and have careers instead of occasional jobs,” he says.

His most recent work, Lazarus, Unstoned, combines traditional African storytelling techniques with contemporary media, including hip-hop, spoken word, crunk and postmodern dance.

The opera features traditional African rituals that Dallas observed from his many trips abroad, while also using a potpourri of music that reflects his own roots in African-American gospel, pop and rhythm and blues.

“In order to know fully who we are as a people—and as a culture—it is important that we understand and celebrate all of these stories,” both old and new, Dallas says. m

creative director and photographer John T. Consoli

Before he became a senior artist in residence, Walter Dallas was a guest director at Maryland for “The Amen Corner” (below), James Baldwin’s play that examines the role of the church in the African-American family.

art director Jeanette J. Nelson cover photo Christopher Anderson Image courtesy of Bryan Carter, developer of Virtual Harlem.

Harlem Renaissance Revisited

ZITA NUNES

What might Langston Hughes, the poet and playwright at the heart of the Harlem Renaissance, say about the election of Barack Obama? Or how would Zora Neale Hurston or W.E.B. DuBois—also major players in the flowering of black artists and intellectuals in 1920s Harlem—respond to today’s hip-hop culture? Students are addressing these questions and more by communicating through Second Life in an online world called Virtual Harlem, a vibrant place where the Cotton Club is in full swing and thoughtful discussions on race, music and poetry abound.

Zita Nunes, associate professor of comparative literature, leads a class of Maryland undergraduates

who communicate online with peers in France and at Central Missouri State University, where the project originated. All are required to thoroughly research the historical figures they represent online, getting to know the person’s work and how he or she might have dealt with social or aesthetic issues. “We wanted to develop new ways to make this material relevant, and were pleasantly surprised to see students quoting extensively from an author’s work in many of their online conversations,” Nunes says.

For more information on innovative education, research and scholarship in the arts and humanities at the University of Maryland, visit www.arhu.umd.edu. m

The African-American experience is a topic of thoughtful,

earnest exploration in the College of Arts and Humanities, whether on the page, on the stage or in the digital world.

To learn how, look inside …

| Spring 2009

NONPROFIT ORG US POSTAGE PAID PERMIT No. 10 COLLEGE PARK, MD

impact

profiles

Office of the Vice President for Research 2133 Lee Building University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742-5121

Stop, Look and Listen Jefferson Pinder produces provocative art, such as “Afro Cosmonaut” (shown at right), a self-portrait that captures the conflict of breaking free. “I consider my art to be passive activism—it’s there for the taking if people are interested in probing deeper,” says Pinder, an assistant professor of art.

He sees his role as an artist as not necessarily defining the African-American experience, but instead using the rich histories and hard-earned knowledge from the AfricanAmerican community as a muse of inspiration. “My job is to help people ask questions,” Pinder says, “questions not only about the black experience, but also about the human experience.” m

IMPACT

Vol. 4 No. 1

Impact is published by the Office of the Vice President for Research and is mailed to members of the mid-Atlantic research community and others who have an interest in the latest research at the University of Maryland.

Your comments and feedback are welcome; please e-mail your comments to impact@umd.edu or fax them to Anne Geronimo, executive editor, at 301.314.9569.

If for any reason you would not like to receive this publication, contact us using the same information above.

research & education

spotlight

publisher Mel Bernstein Vice President for Research executive editor Anne Geronimo Director for Research Development managing editor Tom Ventsias

Old Traditions, Modern Stories “African-American theater tells the stories of the post-diaspora experiences of Africans in America,” says Walter Dallas (left), senior artist in residence in the Department of Theatre.

Dallas is a critically acclaimed director and playwright with more than three decades of national and international work to his credit. He was lead writer for the Grammy award-winning documentary, Standing in the Shadows of Motown, and directed the world premiere of August Wilson’s Seven Guitars.

Dallas has come to Maryland to teach and share his experiences with students, fellow faculty members and the community at large. “I want to give my students the skills that allow them to go into the profession and have careers instead of occasional jobs,” he says.

His most recent work, Lazarus, Unstoned, combines traditional African storytelling techniques with contemporary media, including hip-hop, spoken word, crunk and postmodern dance.

The opera features traditional African rituals that Dallas observed from his many trips abroad, while also using a potpourri of music that reflects his own roots in African-American gospel, pop and rhythm and blues.

“In order to know fully who we are as a people—and as a culture—it is important that we understand and celebrate all of these stories,” both old and new, Dallas says. m

creative director and photographer John T. Consoli

Before he became a senior artist in residence, Walter Dallas was a guest director at Maryland for “The Amen Corner” (below), James Baldwin’s play that examines the role of the church in the African-American family.

art director Jeanette J. Nelson cover photo Christopher Anderson Image courtesy of Bryan Carter, developer of Virtual Harlem.

Harlem Renaissance Revisited

ZITA NUNES

What might Langston Hughes, the poet and playwright at the heart of the Harlem Renaissance, say about the election of Barack Obama? Or how would Zora Neale Hurston or W.E.B. DuBois—also major players in the flowering of black artists and intellectuals in 1920s Harlem—respond to today’s hip-hop culture? Students are addressing these questions and more by communicating through Second Life in an online world called Virtual Harlem, a vibrant place where the Cotton Club is in full swing and thoughtful discussions on race, music and poetry abound.

Zita Nunes, associate professor of comparative literature, leads a class of Maryland undergraduates

who communicate online with peers in France and at Central Missouri State University, where the project originated. All are required to thoroughly research the historical figures they represent online, getting to know the person’s work and how he or she might have dealt with social or aesthetic issues. “We wanted to develop new ways to make this material relevant, and were pleasantly surprised to see students quoting extensively from an author’s work in many of their online conversations,” Nunes says.

For more information on innovative education, research and scholarship in the arts and humanities at the University of Maryland, visit www.arhu.umd.edu. m

The African-American experience is a topic of thoughtful,

earnest exploration in the College of Arts and Humanities, whether on the page, on the stage or in the digital world.

To learn how, look inside …

| Spring 2009