Wide Open Worlds
Asynchronous Session
Praising Oceania: Ecopoetics and Embodied Connections in Craig Santos Perez's "Praise Song for Oceania" View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Nancy Goldfarb
Craig Santos Perez’s "Praise Song for Oceania," written for World Oceans Day, is a powerful celebration of the ocean as a life-giving force that connects humanity to the earth and oceans in both ecological and embodied ways. I explore how Perez’s poem blends Indigenous Pacific Islander worldviews with environmental advocacy, emphasizing our deep physical, cultural, and spiritual ties to the ocean. Perez reminds us that the ocean is not just around us—it is within us. Our bodies carry saltwater in our blood and tears, and our hearts beat to the rhythm of the ocean’s waves. The poem also reflects on how life began in the ocean, making it the source of all existence. Through poetic techniques like repetition, metaphor, and invocation, Perez invites an embodied experience of the poem, asking us to feel the ocean not only as a distant entity but as an integral part of who we are. Using ecocritical and postcolonial frameworks, this session analyzes how "Praise Song for Oceania" situates the ocean as a sacred and interconnected force, central to identity, survival, and environmental advocacy. By evoking both emotional and physical connections to the sea, Perez’s work inspires a deeper commitment to marine preservation and climate action. This study will support educators, poets, and activists who seek to understand how art can bridge personal experience and global environmental issues, fostering a profound recognition of our shared origin and destiny with the ocean.
Transcontinental Transcendentalism: Shared Ideals from New England to Southern Texas View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Nathan Pastrano
Nineteenth-century transcendentalist philosophy emerged on the New England coast through discourse between popular theorists like Emerson, Fuller, and Thoreau. Thoreau particularly, who was adamantly against the funding of the Mexican American War, believed in taking time to reflect on one’s role as resistance to pernicious, societal expectations and norms, inherently contributing to a nuanced sense of American identity and individuality. Old Mexico (“Texas”), which became a new territory overnight operating under the United States, meant that Mexicans living in this territory had to suddenly choose between two different ways of life: one that meant holding true to Mexican culture and traditions, and one that meant abandoning these customs to become American which is transcendentalist in principle. Jovita González, a south Texas writer in the early 20th century, carefully conducted research of temporal literature, letters, and articles in response to the Mexican War of 1846. As a result, González produced manuscripts for a fictional novel – of which would remain unpublished for nearly 60 years – that hones on sentiments of a Mexican family who initially despises Americanism for its prideful infrastructure but inevitably succumbs to it for their own well- being. Caballero: A Historical Novel, published in 1996 by scholars, tells the story of Don Santiago who struggles to accept his family’s gradual assimilation into American culture. This on-going research explores communications between New England and “Old Mexico,” while concurrently examining Don Santiago’s right to selfhood as he sacrifices his familial relationships at the expense of retaining antiquated beliefs.
Monsters as Metaphors: Reclaiming Black Stereotypes Through the Monstrous View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Morayo Akingbelue
Black writers like Toni Morrison (2004), Omékongo Diblinga (2023), Patricia Hill Collins (1997) among others have used their works over time to address black stereotypes in American literature, where blackness is represented as lesser or the “other”. These stereotypes have informed the conception and perception of Black people both in literature and films. Black horror writers like Tiffany D. Jackson, and Jordan Peele on the other hand have used their works to demystify the conception and perception of Black monsters in American literature and film. My research examines how Tiffany D. Jackson's The Weight of Blood (2022) and Jordan Peele's Get Out (2017) strategically employ Black monsters in three ways: to function as metaphors of survival, to reclaim and subvert anti-black stereotypes, and to redefine black monsters as Avengers. I argue that Jackson and Peele strategically deploy monstrosity not as an inherent quality of blackness but as a response to racial violence and oppression. In doing so, I argue that Jackson and Peel reject literary and cultural tropes that have historically portrayed Black people as sources of terror and create their black characters as Avengers or (super)heroes who avenge against racist oppressive systems.
