With Whitney Houston passing away recently, I realized I am still mourning Michael Jackson’s death. He will forever be a legendary performer, and I will forever be busting out Thriller moves on Halloween. One of my favorites is “Man in the Mirror”, where MJ challenges his listeners to self-reflect in order to create change in the world. MJ knew he could use his music to influence the world; use his art for social change. That is what Dr. Joni (Omi) Jones does every day. Through her performing work, teaching in the College of Liberal Arts Department of African and African Diaspora Studies as an associate professor, and founding the The Austin Project, a “collaborative venture amongst those who identify as women of color and our allies who are artists, activists and scholars that use art for social change,” she challenges, engages, and motivates her fellow artists, scholars, and students. What she’s started here at UT truly does change the world.
HCTX: What called you to your work?
I believe performance has the capacity to change everything. It can help those who are performing understand themselves and their relationships with other people in the world. It can also provide those who serve as performance witnesses with possibilities for their own lives; to really push them to feel and know things in ways that are healthy and generous and joyful! I also agree with Bell Hooks [feminist author and activist] that “the classroom is one of the greatest sites for social change.” I like that I can stand up in front of a class and help the students understand how the world works or give them ways of imagining themselves that they haven’t considered before. That’s a lot power, but it’s also a lot of responsibility.
HCTX: What are your current projects other than teaching? How are they relevant?
My research involves identifying elements of the theatrical jazz aesthetic. I’ve also been imagining The Austin Project in different locations and formats, and possibly taking it international. The Austin Project was founded in 2002, but it remains relevant 10 years later because patriarchy is alive and well. It can take a long time for women to understand what gets in the way of us being strong, vibrant and powerful, and if we can examine what is going on in our lives, we can use art as the tool to chip away at the impediments.
HCTX: What are the challenges of your current work? Excitements?
The subject matter I teach is centered around race, so my class may be the first encounter many white students have with those ideas, and I have to manage any resistance that may occur. I’m continually trying to make race visible: to articulate and help students understand the idea of race as it shifts in order to suit the needs of the larger society. But it’s thrilling when I see students make leaps; when I see the ideas coming together. I have this real belief that if you bring different people together–different classes, races, majors, years in school–something new can happen! You get everyone’s individual history, ideas, and energies coming together. There is something very stimulating and human about the work of making things with other people, scholarly or artistic. It requires deep listening on my part and pushes me to be clear about my political, spiritual, and artistic desires.
HCTX: Morgan Freeman has expressed negative feelings concerning Black History Month because he feels like black history should be celebrated every month, and not restricted to just one. Since your work revolves around addressing racial issues, how do you feel about Black History Month?
Carter G. Woodson established Negro History Week in 1926, and it’s exciting to continue this tradition. I’m glad that we have Black History Month, but I don’t set aside any specific event or ritual to acknowledge it because black history is the way I live every day. I think it’s important to have Black History Month if there is still racism and any question about blacks’ contribution to the development of this country. We aren’t at the point Freeman is talking about; the status quo and forces of hegemony would serve to subsume blackness rather than honor it. Without things like this month, I think there is the danger that black events can be folded into the larger society and lose its identity to critique the society and its specificity.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Texas chapter.