海角论坛

January 30, 2014鈥擨n an era that has been called 鈥減ost-racial,鈥� Associate Professor is exploring how contemporary artists use history to create new 鈥渇ields of knowledge around race.鈥�

Colbert is the newest faculty member in the and the . A 2001 alumna of the 海角论坛, Colbert returned to Georgetown to join a growing performing arts department interested interdisciplinary study. 鈥淸The department] is open to different ways of thinking and moving across media,鈥� she said. Colbert鈥檚 courses and research span film, theater, and literature.

In one of her first main projects at the university, Colbert invited playwrights, actors, and scholars to a symposium, 鈥�.鈥� Through discussions and scenic readings, Colbert wanted to explore 鈥渨hat it means to be a contemporary black artist,鈥� she said. 鈥淩ace doesn鈥檛 seem to mean the same thing as it did in the middle of the 20th century,鈥� she continued. After Civil Rights Movement and the end of apartheid, changing notions of race affect how artists are tackling these subjects.

鈥淚 think [writers and playwrights] are grappling with how to make use of the past鈥攚hat histories do they find useful and which histories they think should be better left in the past and for what reasons,鈥� she explained.

Colbert uses the scene 鈥淕it on Board鈥� from George C. Wolfe鈥檚 The Colored Museum to illustrate the complexity of engaging with certain histories. 鈥淕it on Board鈥� features a stewardess directing the flight along the path of the Middle Passage. At the end of the scene, she tells passengers, 鈥淧lease check the overhead before exiting as any baggage you don鈥檛 claim, we trash.鈥�

鈥淭he rest of the play is thinking about 鈥榃hat is racial baggage? What does it mean to trash it?鈥欌�� Colbert explained. 鈥淲hy do we hold on to certain histories, and why would we want to discard other ones?鈥�

In two new publications, Colbert addresses how writers use the past in their works and the effects of choosing to write about certain histories. In Black Movements: Performance and Politics, she illustrates how 鈥渁rtists directly make linkages to the past to articulate certain modes of self-fashioning,鈥� she explained. Examining how artists use the past also shows how they are 鈥渋magining the possibility for artistic movements moving forward,鈥� she continued.

Colbert is also editing the forthcoming volume, Do You Want to Be Well?: Trauma, Healing, and Subjectivity, with co-editors , director of Georgetown鈥檚 African American Studies Program, and Aida Hussen, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The volume will examine one of the major questions for African American studies in the 21st century鈥斺�渉ow to negotiate what some artists have called the 鈥榓fterlife of slavery,鈥欌�� she explained.

鈥淲e鈥檙e specifically thinking about it from psychic perspectives鈥攖he psychic pulls that draw us to certain histories and repel us from certain histories,鈥� she continued. It is a complex issue, Colbert says, with many arguing for a need to remember slavery and others arguing for a need to let go of that past.

鈥淭here are all of these ways that living in the 21st century as a black person in the United States can mean multiple things,鈥� she explained. 鈥淎nd that the idea of [a] universal linkage to slavery covers over that specificity.鈥�

In the late 20th century, many black feminists highlighted the differences in class, gender, and nationality within the African American population. According to Colbert, these writers remind us that when artists choose to engage with certain histories there is always the issue that 鈥渆veryone鈥檚 histories aren鈥檛 the same.鈥�

These debates, Colbert notes, leave open the possibility for writers and playwrights to create new artistic movements and to remember the past in order to imagine the future. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the legacy that鈥檚 left for us in the late 20th century. So in the 21st century, it鈥檚 a matter of working through that and thinking through it.鈥�

Related Information

The symposium 鈥淧laying with the Past, (W)righting the Future鈥� is part of the , in conjunction with the department鈥檚 April production of Robert O鈥橦ara鈥檚 Insurrection: Holding History. The production is directed by guest artist and alumnus Isaiah Matthew Wooden (C鈥�04). Learn more about the department鈥檚 2013鈥�14 season.