Love and War: Troubadour Songs as Propaganda, Protest, and Politics in the Albigensian Crusade

From the eleventh through the thirteenth century, the troubadours flourished in the Occitan courts of southern France. As the artistic and political voices of their culture, these men and women were educated, creative, and well-placed to envoice the cultural and political events of their time. In 1208, Pope Innocent III launched the Albigensian Crusade against the pervasive Cathar sect, which had attracted followers from every stratum of Occitan society, including believers from the most important ruling families. For twenty years, the crusade decimated the region and destroyed the socio-political apparatus which had long supported, and been given voice by, the troubadours and trobairises. By the end of the war in 1229, the Occitan nobility were largely disinherited and disempowered, unable to support the kind of courtly estates to which they had been accustomed and in which the art de trobar had flourished. Many troubadours were involved both politically and militarily in the crusade and their lyric reactions include astute political commentaries, vigorous calls-to-arms, invectives against the corruption of the Catholic clergy and the French invaders, and laments for the loss of both individuals and institutions. Their works constitute an important historical narrative and the artistic expression of a culture in crisis. The troubadour songs of this period preserve the final voices of a culture straining against its own destruction, using the standard tropes, artistic conventions, and familiar genres to document the greatest crisis of their time

PAALF People\u27s Plan: East Portland Pilot

Recognizing the traumatic experience of being forced to move and losing community, this plan reflects the hopes of community members who seek to rebuild their lives in a new place. The East Portland Pilot Plan applies the urban planning practice of placemaking as a transformative intervention for addressing challenges and stabilizing the Black community in East Portland. This plan also emerges at a critical time, as existing city plans for East Portland indicate significant future public investment and development. This plan has been written with a wide audience in mind. The material is relevant to homeowners, community activists, urban planners, nonprofit advocates and policymakers among others. The East Portland Pilot Plan is on the one hand a portrait of the Black community in East Portland; a portrait that has been narrated largely by the people themselves, and recorded in this document. On the other hand, the EPPP is a guide to action, a toolkit to address some of the most persistent issues facing Africans and African Americans and a roadmap to a thriving and vibrant Black community in East Portland. This project was conducted under the supervision of Sy Adler, Susan Hartnett and Marisa Zapata

About Tat Life: Creating Humanizing and Meaningful Relationships in the Classroom

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Towards a Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy: Learning from Black Teachers in Rural South Georgia

This is an exploration of what I have learned from veteran Black teachers in rural South Georgia regarding classroom practices on teaching Black students. Through the framework of Critical Race Theory (Bell, 1992; Delgado, 2017; Dixson & Rousseau, 2006; Ladson-Billings, 2003; Ladson-Billings & Tate, 2006; Solórzano & Yosso, 2002), I focus on systemic racism against historically obstructed African American children from reaching their full potential. Methodologically, I utilize critical race counterstory (Bell, 1992; Bamberg & Andrews, 2004; Baszile, 2014; Delgado, 1989/2000; He & Ross, 2012; Solórzano & Yosso, 2002; Ladson-Billings, 1998) in order to challenge the dominant metanarrative. My study analyzes the counter stories of veteran Black teachers, who have had extensive classroom experiences in rural South Georgia as well as having had the lived experiences of being students in the public-school systems of rural South Georgia themselves. The counterstories that I have collected, comes from veteran Black teachers that I have had the pleasure of working with for many years. I portray their experiences and incorporate fiction along with other forms of data that I have collected. Using fiction as counterstories allows me not only to depict their stories but also to highlight injustices in the world during the timeframe of their experiences. Grounded in research text from the perception of the researcher and participants, I compose their stories in a meaningful way while touching on various educational, political, and social moments in history. The following themes have been identified from my inquiry: (1) Black students are often in a classroom environment where they do not fully trust their teachers and feel disrespected for who they are as individuals. (2) If we listen to the counternarratives of our Black teachers, we will gain a deeper understanding of the injustices occurring in our Black student population. As teachers of Black students, we must act upon these counterstories to provide positive classroom experiences for our students. (3) Biases and racism towards Black students perpetuate injustices in our schools, which lead to them not receiving an equal education to their white counterparts, and it is up to us to act upon what we learn from these counterstories to even the playing field for our students.(4) Culturally responsive teaching has been proven effective for the success of Black students. Utilizing a culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP) shows students that you value and respect them, the communities that they come from and are willing to assist in maintaining who they are. I convey these stories to dispel the myths and biases about teaching Black students in rural South Georgia and allow for noteworthy advice on how to appropriately educate these students utilizing their assets, preserving their culture, and heightening the teachers as well as the student’s critical consciousness. By presenting a fresh perspective on classroom practices, I hope that the dominant culture can not only acknowledge but also validate Black teachers and the expertise that they hold regarding teaching Black students in our society

Part I & 2: Diving into Life and Writing into Contradictions​

In this dissertation works-in-progress session, a group of researchers present their dissertation studies on a wide array of topics such as Black children’s experience of racialized mainstream schooling in the US South; how Black high school males’ experience of the mainstream curriculum informs our ways of developing a culturally sustaining pedagogy; developing culturally sustaining pedagogy for African American students in rural Georgia; and oral histories of Black students and their descendants in the Willow Hill School in rural Georgia. These researchers explore creative ways to push methodological boundaries, perform dissertation writing, and liberate academic writing by diving into life and writing into contradiction in schools, families, and communities in the U. S. South. Through visual, graphic, multimedia, and performative presentations, the presenters will illustrate diverse forms of dissertation research and representations such as counternarratives, digital ethnography, critical race narrative inquiry, critical geography/critical dis/ability studies, critical portraiture, memoir, oral history, painting, dance, fiction, poetry, spoken word, and play. Theoretical traditions, forms of inquiry, and modes of expression are particularly explored. Innovative writings engendered from the inquiries are demonstrated. Potentials, challenges, and future directions of these inquiries and representations are also discussed

Diving into Life nd Writing into Contradictions

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