A Notebook on Readers

In 1983 at Tougaloo College in Mississippi, literary scholar Jerry W. Ward, Jr. delivered an essay at advising that the field needed "a sociology of African-American literature to account for changes in mode of production (writing and publishing) and in reading patterns (why do Black readers read what they read when they read?)." The entries in this notebook represent my attempts to address and extend Ward's recommendation concerning the need to pay attention to readers.  

2018
• April 28: Dynamic black women speakers vs. flat sounding poets
• April 26: Understanding the favorite poets of black women students

2017
• July 16: Why collegiate black men value Adrian Matejka's Jack Johnson poems
• July 14: Why some collegiate black women might find contemporary black poetry boring
• June 20: The good news and the trouble with black poetry

2015
• October 18: Reading patterns, Digital Culture, and Ta-Nehisi Coates

2013
• December 30: 2013 poetry moment: Reading The Big Smoke with Collegiate Black Men
• August 26: From rap listeners to poetry readers
• August 19: Poetry and the gateway experience

• April 20: The value of "our" history for African American collegiate poetry readers 

• January 26: Ignoring black poetry and black readers

• January 19: The absence of some widely known poets on Twitter   

• January 17: African American poetry vs. short stories 

2012
• December 7: A Visual Notebook on Engagements with Poetry, Aug - Dec. 2012  
• November 25: Imagine a poetry campaign that took African American readers seriously
• November 21: A growing distance between poets and readers? 
• November 12: Talented student readers in African American poetry courses

• November 3: What scares black students in a black poetry course

• November 2: What scares white students in a black poetry course

• July 28: Toward a Sociology of African American Readers & Their Relationships to Poetry
• July 27: Why potential poetry readers need advocates 

Related:
Assorted Notebooks