Teachin' Books
A podcast all about the ways people teach, learn, and work with literature -- aaaand all sorts of other cultural bits and bobs, like video games, theatrical performances, Dungeons and Dragons, and more! Host Jessica McDonald talks about teachin' books in undergraduate classrooms, and she interviews folks to learn more about what cool work is happening in other other teaching and learning contexts.
Teachin' Books
1.13 Janelle Monáe's "Pynk" and Vivek Shraya's "Part-time Woman"
I've been really excited to share this episode with you: today, I talk about teachin' Janelle Monáe's song/music video "Pynk" in combination with Vivek Shraya's song/music video "Part-time Woman"! This is always a fun combo to teach.
In this episode: teaching students methods of reading the visual dimensions of texts (moving from identification to meaning to significance), facilitating discussions about the visual vocabularies of these music videos, and negotiating ideas of "womanhood" through the texts. Plus: you'll hear me say "pussy power" probably more times than I ever will again in a podcast episode -- what fun! (Thank you to Janelle Monáe's music video for making that achievement possible.)
- If you haven't already, watch Janelle Monáe's music video for "Pynk" and Vivek Shraya's music video for "Part-time Woman" before you check out the episode. Also check out the lyrics to "Pynk" and to "Part-time Woman."
- Check out more of Janelle Monáe's music and find out more about Vivek Shraya's books, music, films, visual art, and theatre work (!!) on her website.
- In the episode, I refer to Meg Matthias's essay on "Gender Definition and Expressions of Sexuality in Janelle Monáe's Pynk."
- See this screenshot from Shraya's video of the Sleepover Posture™ I was failing to describe in the episode.
- Check out Eekwol on Soundcloud, Facebook, and Apple Music. Watch her talk/performance as part of the Indigenous Storyteller-in-Residence program at the University of Saskatchewan.
- Read this news piece on the Indigenous Storyteller-in-Residence Program at the University of Saskatchewan.
The podcast music is by Dyalla Swain, whose work you can find here. The podcast graphics are by @muskrathands.
Email me at teachinbookspod@gmail.com or follow the podcast on Twitter and Instagram @TeachinBooksPod. I post extra content, like audiograms and behind-the-scenes stuff, on both accounts, more frequently on Insta, so follow me there for more teachin' books fun!
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**The transcript for this episode is available here.**
