Welcome All to Humanities 101

This week is another take over class by the incredible Writing Revolution In Place Collective (WRIP). WRIP is a “community based research collective that uses poetic and creative research strategies to study topics that shape our different lives in the city. Each WRIP term takes up a different topic, they have studied: treaty 6, gentrification, the TRC, and they are currently studying how gender intersects with other structures of power to shape our most intimate and institutional encounters”. WRIP is run out of the Learning Centre Literacy Association. We also have a long conversation with Christine Stewart, an instructor from the UofA, about poetics and the importance of thinking about how language works to shape and make sense of our everyday world. Words have the power to uplift and oppress, this is important for us to think about, it means that we can reshape our world and the worlds of others through language. Check out the resource page from this week, on hum101onair.ca, for more reading and thinking about this.

This week on Hum we focus on life writing -- we talk autobiography with Dr. Julie Rak, speak to local playwrite, composer, and drag queen Darrin Hagen about documenting queer Edmonton history, and hear from Poet Laurate Nisha Patel about the importance of self-care when sharing your story.

A few weeks ago we met up with Chubby Cree, a women-led Indigenous drum group, at the Starlite room. We were able to record 5 songs and an amazing interview with Carol, Robyn, and Noah of Chubby Cree! And by we, I mean Jason Borys (of Ag47) with help from Kris Harper (from Ag47 and nêhiywak, see week 7 for an interview with Kris). We also catch up with Jason Borys who has been a tremendous help with all things sound these past months, thank you Jason! Needless to say, it's a great class, enjoy!

This week's class is introduced by a UofA instructor, Brian Fauteux, who teaches classes in popular music. He shares a bit of the long and complex history of American recorded popular music. We also catch up and learn from some more local musicians. This week they are both from the hip community - DJ CreeAsian and MC Tzadeka.

This week is the first of a two part class on storytelling and music. We will hear from Kris Harper, from nêhiyawak and Ag47, who shares with us a bit of his journey as a storyteller. We also meet a local luthier, Leila Sidi of TunaTone Instruments, who centres her practice around accessibility and possibility.

This week we meet Zane Hamm, Mpoe Mogale, and Morẹ́nikẹ́ Ọláòṣebìkan. Zane is an instructor from the UofA that spends a lot of time thinking about how images can be used as a way to share and explore people’s past, present, and future. Mpoe is a trained dancer and movement based artist who share with us how they use their body to challenge us through art. Morẹ́nikẹ́ is the founder of Ribbon Rouge Foundation. Ribbon Rouge Foundation uses art as a tool of positive social change for African, Caribbean, and Black individuals and communities impacted by HIV. Morẹ́nikẹ́ speaks to us not just about the power of story, but the also the power of listening.

Take a trip across the ocean with us this week as we learn about the traditions, practice, and role of storytelling in East Africa. Not only is this week’s class full of interesting ideas, learning, and people doing cool things, but there are also a couple of amazing stories from internationally celebrated storytellers Chunga Otiende (founder of Story Makers Society in Kenya) and Tololwa Mollel! If you are curious about the practice of storytelling, our guests this week have some great ideas of how to sharpen your telling practices to entertain and educate your audiences. As you will hear, storytelling plays a very important role in East Africa, and across Africa as a whole. Africa is a VERY large continent, and in case you need a geography refresher, here is a map to explore while listening to tonights class.

This week we will be meeting Kyla Pascal, Juanita Gnanapragasm, Mishma Mukith, and Alexis Hillyard as we discuss how food tells a story, and how food creates space and comfort for storytelling. Each of our guests shares how food is a place where they have discovered new stories and how food can be used to create opportunities for voices we don’t often hear to share their stories. Eating is a matter of survival, and many of our guests will argue that so are stories. So why not combine the two, and have some fun eating and swapping stories!

In our second class on Indigenous storytelling, Josh Languedoc tells us about his play Rocko and Nakota, Elder Bonny Spencer shares a story about star blankets and poet, writer and educator Naomi McIlwraith speaks to us about the importance of language in story.

In part 1 of a 2 part class on Indigenous Storytelling, we talk to Elder Bonny Spencer about storytelling as medicine and ceremony, Josh Languedoc about theatre and the importance of positionality in storytelling, Tanya Ball about Michif Trickster stories and introduce our first class activity. To access class activities and additional resources, please visit our website: https://hum101onair.wordpress.com/