Pedagogy of Empowerment: Approaches to Teaching Ta-Nehisi Coates and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Abstract

CLA JOURNAL 479 Pedagogy of Empowerment: Approaches to Teaching Ta-Nehisi Coates and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Na’Imah Ford Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Between the World and Me (2015) and Chimamanda Adichie’s Americanah (2013) are texts that complement each other nicely in the Introduction to Literature classroom. Recently, Coates received the coveted MacArthur grant after publishing his third book, Between the World and Me. He has been likened to James Baldwin in his ability to construct poignant, provocative, socially conscious, beautifully written prose that eloquently slices through the deluded rhetoric surrounding race, class, and gender in contemporary American life and culture. Similarly, 2008 MacArthur fellowship recipient Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s third novel Americanah (2013) is an insightful exploration of race, class, and gender within a transatlantic, African Diaspora context. I chose to use these authors in my Introduction to Literature course because Coates and Adichie can reach students through their usage of media platforms and shared cultural interests in ways that other authors within the academy simply cannot. Ta-Nehisi Coates is a comic book author and correspondent for The Atlantic magazine; additionally, he is fully immersed and vetted within the Hip-Hop community. Adichie, a novelist and activist, is ever-present on various social media platforms. With connections that range from Kendrick Lamar (hip-hop) to Beyoncé (R&B/Pop), these two writers affirm the premise of this collection of essays that investigates a movement from academic voices toward a more diverse faction to describe, define and articulate the concerns of black people throughout the African diaspora. Between the World and Me begs the question, “What is it like to live in a black body?” which rings eerily similar to questions James Baldwin, Richard Wright, and Ralph Ellison asked before him. Adichie’s work, on the other hand, asks students to contemplate blackness as it exists for other citizens of the African diaspora outside of the United States. Coupled, these writers explore what it is like to live in a black body, male and female, within a Diasporan context. Using these texts helps students examine how gender and race are connected within American society. Contrasting these two narratives was intentional. I wanted students to contemplate the intersections of race and gender coupled with how these two paradigms inform their own identity construction. Although many of them had trouble articulating their thoughts on these ideas through writing, they were transparent about how they felt, and they could articulate their viewpoints in meaningful discussions. 480 CLA JOURNAL Na’Imah Ford COURSE DYNAMICS The purpose of this article is to explore the successes, challenges, and points of revision for teaching these works. Most of my teaching responsibilities require me to teach freshman writing and Introduction to Literature (LIT 2110) courses for the English Department at Florida A&M University (FAMU). When I began teaching at the university, I was pleased with the level of freedom we had in choosing our own texts within the parameters of the goals and objectives outlined by the Department of English and the state of Florida. Because I did not get to teach many upper–level courses in my field, I decided to incorporate my research interests into the aforementioned classroom curriculum, and I have been very successful at using writers, text, and media from Postcolonial Studies to discuss traditional concepts. It is important to note here that I do not abandon other canonical works, but much of what the students read and study are from authors and artists who have a shared cultural experience. To produce pedagogy that empowers students is a lofty proclamation for any educator to profess. Nevertheless, it is one that I strive to create. Drawing from Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970), I try to create a classroom community where dialogue and the open exchange of ideas are commonplace. He affirms,“the banking approach to adult education, for example, will never propose to students that they critically consider reality” (74). Freire describes the “banking concept” in education as: an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor. Instead of communicating, the teacher issues communiques and makes deposits which the students patiently receive, memorize, and repeat...