Embodiment, Autoethnography, Performance Poetry: Living with Severe Traumatic Brain Injury

This presentation offers neurodivergence embodied, autoethnography, and performance poetry. The confluence of acquiring severe traumatic brain injury combined with exposure to concepts and paradigms while pursuing a graduate degree in Disability Studies, catalyzed emergence and triggered development of my disabled identity. The brain damage acquired causes issues of decoding/deciphering/processing, which in turn triggers and/or produces episodes of temporal dissonance. When these shifts in timing occur, they have tremendous impact on rational thought processes and emotional stability. The salient aspects of my new life – emotional sensitivity and volatility – may on the surface seem detrimental and undesirable; however, I celebrate these qualities as they greatly enhance my identification with and empathy for others, which in turn drive my artistic, social, cultural, political expression, quest for community and belonging. While temporal dissonance is unlikely to occur during this planned short presentation, I will relate and provide the audience with windows on largely hidden and little understood forms of impairment. Note: To hear recitation of some of these poems, check out fellow VIBE presenter Cheryl Green’s podcast: http://whoamitostopit.com/pigeonhole-podcast-17-autoethnographic-poetry/ The original presentation at VIBE was accompanied by music from Miles Davis and Marcus Miller’s 1987 album Music from Siesta. Readers are encouraged to listen to this album via their music platform of choice while reading the following poetry. Youtube link to the album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuvtNL_jyeQ

Code switching in contemporary isiZulu performance poetry

Recent developments in isiZulu poetry have been marked by an emergence of performance poets whose poems have gained popularity with younger audiences. A constant feature in contemporary isiZulu poetry is a conscious deviation from adherence to rigid structural and formal linguistic requirements. Contemporary isiZulu poetry is also characterised by a shift from textual to performance-specific conventions that cater for radio, theatre, social-media platforms and so forth, and is more accommodative of linguistic dynamics that shape the current generation of artists and audiences. While contemporary isiZulu performance is a rather more recent innovation, it still owes its roots to oral poetry traditions and has evolved from literary art forms that were committed to memory and performed during family gatherings and communal events. This article explores code switching in contemporary isiZulu performance poetry and argues for appreciation of this phenomenon for its aesthetic appeal rather than as infringement on long-held attitudes about purity of artistic linguistic expressions. Hyme’s Ethno-poetic Theory will inform analysis of selected poems in this article. Ethno-poetic Theory focuses, amongst others, on how a performance displays literary qualities.

Literature and Art Therapy, as an Applied Model Used by Restorative Justice - Case Study: Minors at Kavaja Minors Institution in Albania

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the restoration process of juveniles who are serving their sentences at Kavaja Minors Institution, through the therapy of literature and art. In order to understand the process, it is essential to answer the following questions: does art therapy have a transformative effect on the psychology of adolescents who have problems with the law? If so, how and to what extent does it affect and by what means do we measure the result? Methods that were used in order to process the data were the empirical, analytical, comparative and descriptive ones. The data were registered before and after sixteen therapeutic sessions that were essentially related to reading literature and dealing with other arts. If art therapy is utilized through a structured program to ensure informal education (ie, discovering oneself and others by creating and practicing process), it may help to improve adolescents' behaviors. Juveniles that are in re-education institutions may even ameliorate their psychological conditions if they are engaged to literature and art therapy. Art in itself deals with the personal dimension and consequently the interpersonal one, giving minors the opportunity to self-heal and later to self-regulate. The findings of this case study justify the importance of art therapeutic sessions in transforming and improving behaviors, learning and commitment to the creative process. This therapy was difficult to implement during the closure of institutions due to COVID-19. As a result, some of the therapeutic sessions were performed virtually and indirectly. Literature and art therapy improves young people emotionally, mentally and promotes their artistic skills. Their creativity and artistic performance (poetry, essays, debate, drama, role-play, dance and singing) remain an important proof of this restoration process. Received: 8 January 2021 / Accepted: 22 February 2021 / Published: 5 March 2021

Beat Performance Poetry

The essay investigates the influence of Beat performance poetry on the contemporary slam poetry movement, which includes many participants who openly acknowledge Beat antecedents for the social justice content of their poetry. The essay focuses on the Beat performance poetry of Allen Ginsberg, Bob Kaufman, and Anne Waldman, and discusses at length the ways in which the author teaches Beat literature as well as performance poetry.