{"id":128839,"date":"2023-06-07T00:02:51","date_gmt":"2023-06-07T04:02:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/?p=128839"},"modified":"2023-06-06T23:10:58","modified_gmt":"2023-06-07T03:10:58","slug":"ohio-state-university-names-anti-racist-dance-instructor-artist-laureate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/ohio-state-university-names-anti-racist-dance-instructor-artist-laureate\/","title":{"rendered":"Ohio State University names ‘anti-racist dance’ instructor ‘artist laureate’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ohio State appoints ‘nationally recognized culturally sustaining educator’ as new ‘artist laureate’<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

An \u201canti-racist dance\u201d instructor is set to start at The Ohio State University this upcoming semester as the school’s new “artist laureate.”<\/p>\n

The university named Nyama McCarthy-Brown its first \u201cartist laureate.” She is also an associate professor at the university and has taught there since 2018.<\/p>\n

She received awards for \u201cdeveloping anti-racist dance curricula\u201d and \u201cis a nationally recognized culturally sustaining educator,\u201d the university stated in a news release<\/a>. Professor McCarthy-Brown \u201cis also an active consultant and workshop facilitator for diversifying dance curricula for organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n

She \u201cwill create a traveling dance production inspired by her book, \u2018Skin Colored Pointes: Interviews of Women of Color in Ballet,\u2019\u201d the university stated. “The production, centered on themes of trailblazing, opportunity and allyship, will disrupt ideas of who gets to dance while inviting audiences to identify and demonstrate expressions of allyship and inclusion through words, movement or technology.\u201d<\/p>\n

The artist laureate declined to answer questions from The College Fix<\/em> about what her curriculum includes, how community dancing supports inclusivity and how she plans to be a voice for underrepresented communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe answers seem to be in the article written, I am unclear as to what additional information is needed,\u201d she said, in reference to a student newspaper article. She also said she was busy in New Orleans at a conference.<\/p>\n

McCarthy-Brown then followed up the next day on June 1 to ask The Fix<\/em> to correct a quote in The Lantern<\/em> story<\/a>. \u201cI would just say that the paragraph that starts with the quote, \u2018We research the lived experience as a people\u2026,\u2019 is confusing to me,\u201d the scholar wrote. \u201cPlease change to, \u2018I research the lived experience of people, to better understand humanity, and the human experience includes the body and how we use the body.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

MORE:<\/strong> University of Utah scrubs ‘anti-racist code of conduct’<\/a><\/p>\n

A former New York University professor and critic of wokeness said an \u201canti-racist dance curriculum\u201d wrongly implied that dance is racist.<\/p>\n

Professor Michael Rectenwald<\/a> told The Fix<\/em> in an email interview that the \u201cOhio State’s development of an \u2018anti-racist\u2019 dance curriculum suggests that dance has been \u2018racist\u2019 to begin with.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut this is belied by the fact that almost every genre of dance has featured major black choreographers, including Pearl Primus, Katherine Dunham, Alivin Ailey, Bill T. Jones, Bebe Miller, and others,\u201d Rectenwald said.<\/p>\n

Rectenwald told The Fix<\/em> \u201cthis \u2018anti-racist\u2019 curriculum is part of the anti-whiteness movement and simply another means by which all European influence is being gutted from the arts and humanities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis process has been underway for some time and will continue unabated, until \u2018whiteness\u2019 is utterly eradicated,\u201d he said. \u201cThe irony is that such staged performances as dance and theater derive from Western culture. Thus, \u2018anti-racist\u2019 dance and theater represents the epitome of \u2018cultural appropriation.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Ohio State is not the only university to create \u201canti-racist\u201d programs or positions. For example, the University of California developed an \u201canti-racist\u201d job performance review, as previously reported<\/a> by The Fix<\/em>. Tufts University also now offers a certificate in \u201canti-racist curatorial practices,\u201d as The Fix<\/em> previously reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

MORE:<\/strong> Famed Shakespeare’s Globe theatre hosts ‘Anti-Racist Shakespeare’<\/a><\/p>\n

IMAGES: Ohio State University; McFarland Books<\/p>\n

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