UA Hosts Black Scholar, Poet Dr. Mary Weems

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The University of Alabama’s department of communication studies, along with several other on-campus entities, will host events with independent scholar and activist Dr. Mary Weems as part of UA’s African-American Heritage Month programming.

Weems will hold a poetry reading and a one-woman performance piece titled “Black Notes,” taken from her new book, “Blackeyed: Monologues and Plays.” The poetry reading, which will also feature some student poets, will be at noon, Feb. 11, at Maxwell Hall.

“Black Notes” will be at 7 p.m. Feb. 12 in Gorgas Library, room 205.

“Dr. Weems offers a diverse experience and perspective, a diverse and creative method, and her work provides our students the opportunity to see what some of the research we do about culture and identity might look like beyond a research paper,” said Dr. Robin Boylorn, coordinator of the department of communication studies’ colloquium series. “She’s part of an overall diversity initiative the department has been involved in over the past several years.”

Boylorn said Weems’ performance piece will be interactive, and audience members will be invited to participate.

“It will be an intimate experience wherein attendees are pulled into various perspectives, moments, emotions elicited through the performance,” Boylorn said. “Dr. Weems is invested in eliciting empathy. I believe that is something that is experienced emotionally, viscerally and psychologically, and that is something students can expect from the show.”

Weems’ performance piece will cover such topics as race, gender, sexuality and romantic partner violence, among others.

Weems’ visit is co-sponsored by Creative Campus, the Women and Gender Resource Center, the department of gender and race studies, the English department and the College of Communication and Information Sciences.