Note from the Editor

Abstract

CLA JOURNAL 1 Note from the Editor March 2020 will be remembered for many reasons, but what will surely set it apart in the history books was the gradual realization during the final weeks of a relatively mild winter that America--indeed the world--was witnessing in slow motion the fast-moving onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Throughout March 2020 and the months that followed, we sheltered in place, venturing out in masks, gloves, or sometimes improvised gear to gather essentials only. During these stressful months--and even earlier, we were soon to learn--infections from this virus led to a staggering worldwide loss of life as the relentless, equal-opportunity killer took down seniors and children alike. Within a matter of days, collateral damage from the virus upended carefully laid plans for conferences, graduations, vacations, weddings, concerts, and sporting events. The80thAnnualConventionof theCollegeLanguageAssociation(Afrofuturism: Diasporic Visions) was not spared from the succession of postponed or cancelled events. Decision-makers moved reluctantly but quickly to devise contingency plans. In an historic announcement to the CLA membership, then-President Donna Akiba Sullivan Harper wrote, “Your CLA Executive Committee has decided to take the extraordinary action of postponing our April 2020 convention–-a decision that CLA fortunately has not had to make since WWII, when three national meetings were cancelled. Following quickly on the heels of Dr. Harper’s announcement was welcomed news that the April 2020 CLA Convention had been rescheduled for March 3-6, 2021 at its original Memphis, TN location. Although birthed amid the onset of an historic upheaval, CLAJ 63.1 does not take up the subject. Instead, the six essays that appear here had their origins during earlier, virus-free moments. Topics range from films by Abdul Ben-Abdallah and Haile Gerima to the science fiction of Ray Bradbury and Derrick Bell. Agnieszka Tuszynska’s essay,“Raceless No More: In Search of Race in Willard Motley’s Papers,” offers a reevaluation of Willard Motley’s engagement with the subject of antiblack racism with the hope of a subsequent reassessment of his place in the canon of African American literature. The author argues that the reason for the lack of critical attention to Motley’s work lies in his status as an African American author who became defined early on as a “raceless” writer and challenges calls for scrutiny of his papers--a scrutiny grounded in what he calls archival intimacy. Such archival intimacy requires a holistic study of a broad range of the author’s personal and literary pursuits, leading to a deeply contextual reading of any works produced by the author. Trent Masiki’s essay,“Any place is better than here”: Afro-Zionism in the Science Fiction of Ray Bradbury and Derrick Bell,” examines how U.S. writers use African 2 CLA JOURNAL Note from the Editor American music in speculative emigration narratives that contextualize and critique the state of U.S. race relations. It explores the relationship between Afro-Zionism, contributionism and messianism in the short stories “Way in the Middle of the Air” (1950) by Ray Bradbury and the “The Space Traders” (1991) by Derrick A. Bell, one of the founders of critical race theory. Using cultural poetics and close textual analysis, I examine how the writers of these short stories use Negro spirituals, the blues, and hip hop to express their ambivalence, if not pessimism, about emigration as a solution to the permanence of racial discrimination and terror in the U.S. William Cunningham’s essay, “Quiet Places in Jesmyn Ward and Natasha Trethewey” builds upon Kevin Quashie’s description and analysis of the inner landscape of black expression in The Sovereignty of Quiet. The essay argues for a spatial analog of quiet as revealed in the works of Natasha Trethewey and Jesmyn Ward. It asserts further that Trethewey’s use of telescoping imagery on a still photo demonstrates an intentional and intersectional discourse of quiet that shapes individual identity while also being contained within the landscape. Connecting TretheweyandWardthroughtheiruseof undergroundspaces,theessaydemonstrates how characters in Salvage the Bones access quiet spaces in order to better understand their environment, articulate their own desires, and survive natural and social forces bent on their destruction. Kwangsoon Kim...