Year: 2017

​Edwidge Danticat at Indian River State College (#IRSC)

Dr. Celucien Joseph Uncategorized

​Edwidge Danticat at Indian River State College (#IRSC)

If you live in the Treasure Coast area and its surrounding, Indian River State College (Fort Pierce, Florida) is hosting a number of events–10 in total– on the brilliant memoir, “Brother, I’m Dying” by the prominent Haitian-born novelist Edwidge Danticat.  These series of events, based on the highlighted text, will take place throughout this academic Spring semester, 2017. 

For example, consider attending one of the informative and thrilling events:

January 31st at 12:30 pm at the Pavilion on Main Campus (the Gazebo area in front of the Library)

NEA Big Read & Just Read, Florida! 

Danticat Block Party

Join IRSC Libraries, CCG, and other Indian River State College departments for an introduction to IRSC’s NEA Big Read title Brother, I’m Dying, and the Just Read! Florida Initiative’s Krik? Krak! Learn more about Haiti with cultural performances, food, and activities, and learn about all the different ways you can join in the NEA Big Read events throughout the months of February and March.  

The first 50 attendees will also receive a free copy of Brother, I’m Dying. 

February 1st at 2:30 pm in N135 on Main Campus

What’s Your Story? An Introduction to the IRSC NEA Big Read

Main Campus

Indian River State College kicks off the NEA Big Read grant period with a faculty-driven panel that will provide an introduction to Brother, I’m Dying by Edwidge Danticat and a lively discussion on the importance of telling your own stories through creative means and empathizing with the stories of others. Student and community panelists will also sit on the panel and provide the opportunity for further discussion.

Monday, March 27

V110, 1 p.m.

Create Dangerously: An Afternoon with Edwidge Danticat

Join award winning author Edwidge Danticat for a lecture on Brother, I’m Dying and the creative process during the closing event of the IRSC’s NEA Big Read program! Danticat’s numerous awards include a 1999 American Book Award, a 2011 Langston Hughes Medal, and a 2009 MacArthur Genius Grant. 

For more information, click on the link below to view the calendar of events relating to “Brother, I’m Dying”

 http://irsc.libguides.com/neabigread/events

Should you have any questions about this program, do not hesitate to contact Dr. Celucien L. Joseph (“Doctor Lou”) @ cjoseph@irsc.edu
Sincerely,

Celucien L. Joseph, PhD

Professor of English 

Department of English/Modern Languages/Communication 

Indian River State 

Fort Pierce, Florida

cjoseph@irsc.edu

Income Inequality/Wealth (Mis-)Distribution is a Moral Sin!

Dr. Celucien Joseph American Dream, Uncategorized , , ,
Income Inequality/ Wealth (Mis-) Distribution is a Moral Sin!
In the English Composition class I teach every semester, my students usually write an essay on the idea of the “American Dream.” I try to help my students to think critically about the relationship between the craft and art of “writing well and effectively” and the “reality of life.”
This semester, I’m going to show this documentary below produced by ABC News about income inequality in the United States and the life of this particular firefighter in Pennsylvania who works three jobs to support his family.
The featured firefighter in the video is a hard-working professional who works two full time jobs and a part time job to provide for his family.
No, the poor are not lazy!
No, the working class Americans are certainly not lazy.
Wealth (mis-) distribution or income inequality in this country is a moral sin, a profound crisis. There’s a deep ethical problem between the rich and the rest of us.
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/video/man-travels-hours-work-day-part-44772395
or
http://abcnews.go.com/video/embed?id=44772395
ABC Breaking News | Latest News Videos

Haitian Poetry Reading: Oswald Durand

Dr. Celucien Joseph Uncategorized

Poetry reading inside my home library:

In this brief conversation, I share about my future book project, which I tentatively entitle ” God in Haitian Literary Imagination.” I also read two poems (“La Mort de Nos Cocotiers,” and “Les Fils du Noir”) written by the renowned Haitian poet, Oswald Durand (September 17, 1840-April 23, 1906); arguably, Durand was Haiti’s most important poet in the nineteenth century.

Bonne écoute!

Approaches to Teaching the Work of Edwidge Danticat: Extended Deadline: Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Dr. Celucien Joseph Uncategorized , , , , ,

Approaches to Teaching the Work of Edwidge Danticat

Suchismita Banerjee, Marvin E. Hobson, Danny Hoey, and Celucien L. Joseph (editors)

 Extended Deadline: Tuesday, January 31, 2017

The goal of this book is to provide a pedagogical approach to teach Edwidge Danticat’s collection of works. The project has a twofold objective. First, it will explore diasporic categories and postcolonial themes such as gender constructs, cultural nationalism, cultural and communal identity, problems of location and (dis) location, religious otherness, and the interplay between history and memory. Secondly, the book will investigate Danticat’s human rights activism, the immigrant experience, the relationship between the particular and the universal, and the violence of hegemony and imperialism in relationship with society, family, and community. We envision this book to be interdisciplinary and used in undergraduate and graduate courses. We are particularly interested in the teaching of her major works including but not limited to the following:

  • Krik? Krak!
  • Breath, Eyes, Memory
  • The Farming of Bones
  • The Dew Breaker
  • Claire of the Sea Light
  • Brother, I’m Dying
  • Create Dangerously: The Immigrant Artist at Work

If you would like to contribute a book chapter to this important project, along with a brief bio, please submit a 300 word abstract by Tuesday, January 31, 2017, to Celucien Joseph @ celucienjoseph@gmail.com, Suchismita Banerjee @ banerjeesuchi@gmail.com, and Danny Hoey @ dannyhoeyauthor@gmail.com

Contributors will be notified of acceptance on Monday, February 13, 2017. We are looking for original and unpublished essays for this book.

*We have extended the deadline in anticipation that we will receive potential abstracts that will address the second objective of the book. However, we will still accept  abstracts that deal with the first objective of the project.

About the Editors

Suchismita Banerjee is a Professor of English at Indian River State College. Her teaching and research interests include Postcolonial literature and film, Third World Feminism, British Literature, and South Asian Diaspora.

Marvin E. Hobson is a Professor of English at Indian River State College. His teaching and research interests include British Literature, Modernism, and African American Literature.

Celucien L. Joseph is a Professor of English at Indian River State College. His teaching and research interests include African American Literature, Caribbean Culture and Literature (Francophone and Anglophone), African American Intellectual History, Comparative Black Literature and Culture, African Literature (Francophone and Anglophone), Postcolonial Literature, Critical Theory, Religion.

Danny M. Hoey., Jr., is an Associate Professor of English at Indian Rive State College. He is a fiction writer and his teaching and research focuses on African American Literature and Law and Literature.

 

 

“What are They Saying about Vodou?” My Lecture on Christianity and Vodou in Haiti at the University of Florida (November, 2015)

Dr. Celucien Joseph Uncategorized , ,

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Thanks to my dear friend Dr. Benjamin Hebblewaite for filming an dposting on youtube my lecture on Vodou and Christianity, which I delivered at the University of Florida (November, 2015):”What are They Saying about Vodou: Christian-Vodouist Tradition or Dialogue”

The entire lecture is divided in four segments. Enjoy!

 “What are They Saying about Vodou?” (Part 1)

“What are They Saying about Vodou?” (Part 2)

“What are They Saying about Vodou?” (Part 3)

“What are They Saying about Vodou?” (Part 4)

*