Week Two at Avery

Aaisha here from Charleston! Week two was great too. I was busy with completing the finding aid for the Lecque family papers and helping to organize the Daughters of the Dust conference/symposium that was held last Friday and Saturday. We had a great turnout (when the pictures becoming available, I will share).  The papers that were read analyzed the film from various perspectives including, but not limited to the impact of identity, the use of religion and spirituality in the film, mother and daughter relationships, the importance of home, the importance of remembering who you are, the impact the film had on people’s lives, intersectionality, the use of cooking and food in the film, sexuality, gender norms, etc.  Julie Dash (the director) was here as well as some of the cast and crew members to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of the film.

Before the conference I had heard of the film and that it was important in terms of exploring the life of Black women in the Gullah culture, but it was not until this past weekend that I fully understood the layers of complexity within the film and the impact it had on people.  Due to feeling under the weather I was not able to attend the outdoor viewing of the film, but it is showing this weekend, so hopefully I will be able to make it and actually see the film that people talked about last weekend. 

The conference also renewed my interest in foreign film and informed me of some African American male and female filmmakers that I did not know previously. One of the interesting people that I met there was Nicole Shivers, who is the education specialist at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art. She and other staff members did a week-long program at the museum for middle and high school students to introduce them to both African and African American and non-African and African American films so that they can analyze them and develop visual literacy.