The YAWP: Villanova's Graduate English Program Blog

On February 21st, VU English Professor Kimberly Takahata moderated a discussion on approaches to including and teaching Lenape materials in the classroom, featuring Adam DePaul, the Chief of Education and tribal storykeeper of the Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania. This discussion followed a panel on the impact of Land Acknowledgements at academic institutions and why they are merely a starting point to supporting indigenous communities. The panelists included Adam DePaul, Chief of Education and Tribal Storykeeper; Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania; as well as Modonna Kongal, Meg Martin, and Autumn Coard from N.I.S.A, the Native Indigenous Students Association. Elisha Chi, a white settler descendant of the Iñupiat of the Bering Straits region, moderated the panel.  Kimberly Takahata and Adam DePaul

BIPOC Writing Hangouts are Back!   The monthly BIPOC writing hangouts are for Villanova community members—students, staff, faculty, and alumni—who identify as people of color. You do not need to have any creative writing experience! Pizza, prompts, and company will be provided at our hangouts hosted by BIPOC faculty in the English Department. This semester, we will meet on February 21, March 20, and April 17. Come join us! If you would like more information, you can email Kimberly Takahata at   kimberly.takahata@villanova.edu . The first meeting of the semester will take place on Wednesday, February 21 from 6:00-7:30 p.m. in SAC 402, the English department conference room.

 By Matt Villanueva, MA '24 Over winter break, I had the privilege to attend the 139 th annual MLA conference in downtown Philadelphia. Throughout the four-day conference I was able to attend many panels and special sessions on various topics and presented on a special session “Recentering Black Women Intellectuals: A Philadelphia School District Collaboration” to discuss our research project with other scholars and educators and to debut the Taught by Literature website (taughtbyliterature.org). The conference days were, admittedly, tiring and overwhelming at times. Every block time had multiple sessions that I wished to attend and for three days, I bopped around the center city Marriot and Loews hotel conference rooms to hear fellow grad students adjacent to established scholars share their work. The two days I attended a myriad of sessions for the whole day ranging from topics of representation in digital humanities, the storytelling power of music, postcolonialism, and Fil...