WFP Series Vol. 7: Study Abroad with LLP

Students enrolled in Writing for Publication (Fall 2018) wrote and submitted blog stories related to the department. The fruits of those efforts will be published on our department blog every day during finals week.  The following stories were written by Kayla Tennille McCrary. 

Why LLP is for Me:  I believe LLP will play a role in my academic career because it will essentially give me the skills I need to be successful for post undergrad. I plan to go to law school, and that takes a lot of skill and experience in writing Academic papers as well as doing extensive and intensive research. Because I plan to be an author, being in this department helps teaches my how to be a diverse writer and how to be a creative and informative writer too. The skills I am gaining at Tennessee State University, I know will make me to be the best person for the job almost always, and that is a main reason why I chose this department.

Kayla Tennille McCrary

African American Literature Abroad

Dr. Jenifer Hayes in France

     LLP understands that studying abroad can be an amazing experience for students of African American Literature.  Drs. Rebecca Dixon and Jenifer Hayes are spearheading study abroad opportunities that help TSU students better appreciate the global impact of diasporic writers and texts. A couple of summers ago, they took students to Paris, France.  And, next Spring, they will take TSU students to Copenhagen, Denmark to study Nella Larson.
     Kierra Ewah, 21, travelled with Dixon and Hayes' class to Paris, and said the experience was revealing and educational.  She says she understand how travel enhanced the works of writers like Richard Wright, W.E.B. Dubois, and James Baldwin.She said that blacks went to Paris to feel connected to something and to essentially escape.

   

Dr. Rebecca Dixon in France

 Ewah was excited to mention that she saw another side of Paris that the world never sees. In traveling to a place called Barbes Street, she found thousands and thousands of Africans. She was both ecstatic and shocked to find out that her Nigerian father was actually raised in this place in Paris. She noted this experience as her most memorable one.

     Ewah is a senior and Mass Communication major with a minor in philosophy.  She hopes to travel abroad soon, and this time she aspires to go to Africa. She hopes that she has inspired other TSU students to get exposure and want to study abroad no matter what the major..

Where Literature meets Africa?

     Studying abroad can be an incredible experience. Not only are you able to see a new part of the world, but you’re able to study in a wonderful environment. I have had the privilege of experiencing studying overseas. Last summer, I was able to study World Literature in Cape Town, South Africa. 

     In addition to sight-seeing and volunteering, I was able to get a very intimate academic experience. In a class with about six students, we were able to engage in constructive conversation and share our experience in Africa through a different lens. The literature we studied dealt with apartheid, racism, and different forms of oppression, and we compared it to our lives in America. 

     We read two novels: The Born Frees by Kimberly Burge and A Thousand Splendid Sons by Khaled Husseini. The first novel told the stories of young girls living in Gugulethu, a small city in Cape Town, South Africa. These remarkable girls were a part of a creative writing group and we were able to read about their personal journeys. They struggled with things such as aids, poverty, relationships, and community responsibilities. 

     I even learned a valuable lesson there in which I got it tattooed while in Africa. The word is Ubuntu. Ubuntu means a person is a person through other persons. My humanity is tied up in yours, as yours is in mine. 

     While in South Africa we were able to witness racism and prejudices first hand. Majority of Cape Town’s population is full of European immigrants, and it was evident when we walked in certain places that our presence was not wanted. Apartheid in South Africa ended in 1994, so the idea and presence of this disgusting system is still evident. 

     Socially, you can see the barriers. 

     When you walked into a restaurant or hotel, the workers were always black, and the supervisors were almost always of European descent. This tied in with our literature because we read short stories that showed the systems of social class in their text. 

     Being that I am a LLP major, this experience was paramount to my English education as well as my outlook on studying abroad with TSU. Nonetheless, the experience taught me about myself as a person, a scholar, and a writer. I encourage students to not only see the world, but to experience it with optimism and gratitude. 

Kayla Tennille McCrary is a native of Atlanta, Ga and is currently a senior English major with a minor in political science at Tennessee State University. She serves as the 78thPresident of the Student Government Association. She also is the Vice President of the Alpha Psi Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. She is a member of Sigma Tau Delta, English Honor Society, the National Society of Leadership and Success, the Pre-alumni Council, AIPAC, and serves as a member of TSU’s Women’s Center advisory board. She aspires to be an entrepreneur and essentially become a self-made millionaire.