Florida State University’s Department of English and the Civil Rights Institute co-hosted Fred Moten, Ph.D., on October 10, the first major event of the “Going to Mars” series.
Dr. Moten delivered the lecture, “a forward thrust of blackness”, to a standing room audience at the Augusta Conradi Studio Theatre.
Dr. Moten’s lecture echoed a phrase uttered by Nikki Giovanni in an interview featured in the documentary Going to Mars, which is meant to induce and enact meditation on black poetry as the infinite rehearsal of an infinite conversation, an improvisational movement that Professor Giovanni’s work exemplifies. In an attempt to point us to the future, Dr. Moten attempted to see and hear how we can taste and feel as we come and go how black poetry-verse or prose, jazz or drill, quilt or callaloo-recursively advances.
“Dr. Fred Moten’s lecture not only asked the right questions but positioned black poetry at the center of our solar system” said Grace Demetropoulos, a graduate student in the Department of English. “Reflective, reflexive, and thoughtful.”
Andrew Epstein, Ph.D., the Department of English’s chair, opened the lecture with brief remarks and introduced Fred Moten. Event organizers Lamar Wilson, Ph.D., and Alison Sperling, Ph.D., are both assistant professors in the Department of English and gave individual remarks about the inception of the event and gave thanks to the programming’s co-sponsors and collaborators across FSU, including Florida State University’s Civil Rights Institute and Department of English with additional support from the Challenger Learning Center of Tallahassee, FSU’s African American Studies Program, and the Frances Cushing Ervin Chair in American Literature.
Before his lecture, Dr. Moten started with a minor introduction and showcased a video of Nikki Giovanni reading her famous poem “Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea (We’re Going to Mars),” which serves as the foundation and inspiration of this month’s programming. Afterward, Timothy Gannon Associate Professor of English Alisha Gaines, Ph.D., delivered remarks about the concepts introduced by Dr. Moten and moderated a short Q&A session with the audience.
“In our work within the Civil Rights Institute and Nikki Giovanni’s involvement, this theme of ‘Going to Mars’ deeply resonated by blending the literal idea of exploration with cultural, artistic, and historical reflections on race, struggle, and hope for the future,” said Ted Ellis, director of FSU’s Civil Rights Institute.
“a forward thrust of blackness” was the first event in the Going to Mars with Nikki Giovanni and Fred Moten programming. Nikki Giovanni and Fred Moten in Conversation, originally scheduled for October 11, will now occur on October 24, with location and time to come.
For the full Going to Mars schedule, visit cosspp.fsu.edu/cri/going-to-mars. To learn more about the Department of English, visit english.fsu.edu. To learn more about FSU’s Civil Rights Institute, visit cosspp.fsu.edu/cri.
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