For many, studying religion at a public university may seem out of place. Studying historical cultures and ancient languages in order to learn more about your own culture? Even more so. But that’s exactly what the Jewish studies program at Arizona State University provides to students.

“Students who take courses in Jewish studies enhance their understanding of their own culture, whatever it may be,” said Hava Tirosh-Samuelson, director of the Jewish studies program and the Center for Jewish Studies at ASU. “The study of Jews and Judaism enhances tolerance, which is necessary for a thriving democracy.” Hal Danesh is one of many students in the Jewish Studies program in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, where faculty and students work together to promote diversity and lifelong learning. Download Full Image

In 1978, the certificate in Jewish studies was established in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences as one of the many programs offered at ASU that uses interdisciplinary scholarship to educate students in critical thinking and prepare them for a wide range of careers.

The program, which goes beyond a mere ethnic-studies framework, covers a wide array of perspectives about Jewish history, religion and culture that allow students of numerous upbringings and persuasions to explore the complexity of Jewish history and its relationships with surrounding religions and cultures.

“Students encounter an extremely rich and multifaceted culture,” said Francoise Mirguet, professor of Jewish studies in the School of International Letters and Cultures. “They encounter the opinions of very diverse thinkers — some who seek continuity with foundational texts; some who make radical innovations; and even some who question their own tradition.”

In 2009, a Bachelor of Arts degree in Jewish studies was established. Graduates go on to work in fields such as law, economics, education, medicine, politics and social work. For students looking to enter the Jewish community after graduation, the program helps them prepare for positions such as rabbis, cantors, teachers and community leaders.

Many students pair the Jewish studies degree with another major. One such is Hal Danesh, a sophomore majoring in history and Jewish studies, who found his niche in the program.  

“Halfway through the fall semester of my sophomore year, I discovered my passion for Jewish history,” Danesh said. “It is my goal to eventually become a professor to teach and do research in Jewish studies.”

In a program designed for a diverse spectrum of interests, courses are available and relevant to numerous aspects of life and are intended to instill curiosity and the desire to learn in its students.

Courses are taught by faculty from across ASU, including the School of International Letters and Cultures; the School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies; the Department of English; the School of Politics and Global Studies; the School of Social Transformation and the College of Integrative Sciences and Arts.

“The Jewish tradition is committed to lifelong learning,” Tirosh-Samuelson said. “It highlights the significance of reading and interpretation, and it trains a person to be intellectually inquisitive and committed to the acquisition of knowledge and wisdom.”

Danesh emphasizes the large amount of resources available to students, making the relatively small program a venue for endless learning and opportunity to connect with students and faculty on a more personal level.

“One of my favorite aspects about the program is that students get to know the faculty and learn from them outside of the classroom,” Danesh said. “Professors are eager to see their students succeed, and they’ve given me a lot of advice.”

The program strives to create a diverse and welcoming environment for students and faculty of all backgrounds, and Mirguet emphasizes that the Jewish Studies program is where everyone can learn to recognize the importance of appreciating the intricacies of all human cultures.

“In Jewish studies, students learn about human experience in all its subtlety,” Mirguet said. “Humanity lies at the intersection of trauma and survival, continuity and transformation, sense of self and openness to others.” 

These are a few of the questions she will focus on as she studies the collection, which contains all of the AAIA’s administrative records, meeting minutes and internal correspondence between staff members and their legal consultants. Recently, the papers of the late William Byler, who served as executive director of the AAIA from 1963 to 1981, were turned over to the Mudd collection, which further expands the resources Bates will have available in her pursuit.  

Working with some of the collection from afar through photocopy requests, Bates has already glimpsed some of the challenges the organization’s staff and legal partners faced.

“For example, the AIAA non-Indian lawyers, who were based in New York City and had worked primarily with tribes in the West, were well versed in federal Indian law but knew nothing about tribal politics in the South,” she said. “As they started to dip their toe in the Southeast region they were in a persistent state of discovery and learning from tribes they worked with, to better understand the nuances of the region’s politics, how each Southern state handled Indian affairs, and the unique characteristics of each community.”  

The intellectual adrenaline Bates finds in archival work is enormous. 

“There’s nothing like having access to archival documents, like meeting transcripts, that provide a largely unfiltered narrative,” she said, “letting the words bring out the story, finding where the voices are, witnessing an unfolding of people’s assumptions, perceptions and revelations and understanding what shaped them.” 

Building collaborations, launch-points for public history

An advocate and practitioner of community-based history, Bates has focused her scholarship on opening up greater conversation and understanding of the complex history of Native communities in the U.S. South by bringing Native voices, experiences and influences to the forefront.

Interested in a career in history since she was a child, Bates earned a master’s degree in American Indian studies and a doctorate in history at the University of Arizona before joining ASU’s faculty of Leadership and Interdisciplinary Studies in 2007, first as a lecturer and, since 2015, as the College of Integrative Sciences and Arts’ first tenure-track professor of leadership and interdisciplinary studies.

She is part of a small but growing community of scholars focused on the Native U.S. South, and looks forward to seeing the sub-field grow even more at professional academic conferences in the coming years.

“In the 20th century, leaders of Native communities of the South were forced to navigate political and social barriers constructed primarily along lines of race and class — all while confronting inconsistent and politicized federal Indian policies and practices,” Bates said.

“With nearly 100 tribal communities located in the region — 10 federally recognized, 45 state recognized, and dozens of others with no formal political status — there is a rich array of organizational structures and leadership approaches that warrant exploration for insights into scholarly and applied arenas,” she said.

In doing extensive archival and oral history work over more than a decade, she has built a network of collaborators among tribal communities across the South, and each project has led organically into the next.

It’s an adult world, and kids are just living in it.

But this weekend, on the Paul V. Galvin stage at Arizona State University, six short stories will explore just how young people can and do claim their own space — both physical and emotional.   Download Full Image

The School of Film, Dance and Theatre in ASU’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts presents these stories through theater, movement, hip-hop culture and music in its production of “Six Stories Tall.”

“It’s six vignettes about Latino and Latina youth,” said Chris Weise, one of the co-creative directors. “It’s all about them claiming space, finding strength, learning lessons.”

In the show, the audience sees through the eyes of these young characters, who often use fantasy and fairy tales — from mermaids and monsters to Batman and a world painted purple — to cope with tough, adult circumstances and find confidence.

“They carve out their own spot and it’s theirs, not the adults’,” Weise said, “and that’s super, super important.”

‘Something totally fresh’

“Six Stories Tall” is one of the first productions from the School of Film, Dance and Theatre that fully integrates both dance and theater.

“Interdisciplinarity is one of the several areas where ASU is leading,” said Lance Gharavi, artistic director of theatre in the school. “We’re a school of film, dance and theater, so of course we look for ways to fuse our creative energies, our histories, cultures and methods. ‘Six Stories Tall’ seemed a perfect place for theater and dance to meet and play together. Boundaries are made to be crossed. And exciting new things can result. I think we’re going to create something totally fresh here.” 

Weise, a graduate student in ASU’s theatre for youth program, and Melissa Britt, a dance professor in the school, are co-creative directors for the work.

“We share the directing responsibilities in everything,” Weise said. “She doesn’t just handle the dance aspects and I don’t just handle the theater aspects — we handle all of it equally as a unit.”

He said it was also important to make sure they were using movement as a narrative form. Learning to incorporate dance and movement into his work was something Angel Lopez, who studies theatre at ASU, found challenging and rewarding.  

“This is the first show where I play a character who doesn’t speak at all and it’s purely movement,” Lopez said. “My challenge now is taking all the things that I know from acting, all of the impulses that I would normally put into the language of the piece, and now putting it into my body.”

Hey Mr. DJ

Music also plays a large role in this production.

Nathaniel Hawkins, or DJ Panic, will provide the soundtrack.

“Panic and I have worked together for many years, since Urban Sol 2012 actually,” said Britt, who brought Hawkins on board. “Beyond being one of my favorite people to work with, Panic brings a steadiness, positive outlook and open mind to all that he does. I knew he would be the glue to all the moving parts that a production like this requires.”

Hawkins said a DJ within a production like “Six Stories Tall’ gives the show legs. “It’s not just a normal play,” he said. “I don’t want to use the word spectacle — it’s a collection of really dope things on their own coming together to make one big dope thing.”

Hawkins won’t just be playing music in the background. In some parts of the show, he actually gets to communicate with the characters through the music.

The audience can expect a range of songs from Hawkins.

“I’d like to think that my perceptive crates are deep enough that I will play something you’ve never heard of,” he said, but there will also be music the audience will recognize and find nostalgic.

In addition to getting help from Hawkins, a staple in the local hip-hop community, Weise also wanted to make sure the play reflected the Phoenix area. The playwright, Marco Ramirez, set the stories in Chicago. Weise actually contacted Ramirez to get permission to make a few adjustments. For instance, in the story “Lupe and the Red Line Monster,” a young girl uses her mad video game skills to face off against a monster in Chicago’s subway. In ASU’s production, Weise switches it up, creating a Light Rail Monster.

‘I hope they take away smiles’

Weise said young people are “the champions of the piece,” but this play is for everyone.

“It reminds you that there’s magic in the world,” Lopez said.

Hawkins hopes people feel that magic.

“First and foremost, I hope they take away smiles,” he said. “Anything and everything that I personally dive into, the end goal is almost always to invoke smiles, in one way or another.”

Hawkins also said the play has potential to break down walls between children and adults. “It has imagery and dialogue that will be hilarious to a child and an adult,” he said. “It will bring about conversation.”

Conversation is exactly what Weise wants. He said when he came to ASU, he wanted to create a piece that was all about getting adults and young people to have conversations. 

“I want people to take away just how powerful young people are and how much their ideas matter and how I truly believe that the more we listen to them, the better off our society and our world will be.”  

'Six Stories Tall' 

When: 7:30 p.m. Feb. 9­–10, 15–17; 2 p.m. Feb. 11, 18

Where: Paul V. Galvin Playhouse, ASU's Tempe campus

Admission: $16 for general admission; $12 for ASU faculty, staff and alumni; $12 for seniors; $8 for students. Purchase tickets online or call the Herberger Institute Box Office at 480-965-6447.

Jason Thompson, assistant professor in the School of Music, has been selected to speak at TEDxASU: Boundless in March.

Thompson, who leads the ASU Gospel Choir in the School of Music, part of the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, will explore gospel music in his talk. Jason Thompson, photo by Tim Trumble Download Full Image

“The theme of this year’s TEDxASU event is ‘boundless,’ and I’m of the belief that you can’t fully understand what boundless means without first thinking about its associated boundaries,” Thompson said. “My work in the resurgence of the ASU Gospel Choir is an excellent example of the relationship between being bound and being boundless. To that end, my TEDx talk will focus on boundaries, particularly the cultural boundaries … that are common in the gospel music community and evident through racial identification, religious affiliation and musical distinction."

Thompson said reflecting on boundaries shaped his view on how a gospel choir operating in a university setting may expand traditional notions of race, religion and music.

His reimagined view of gospel choir participation at the university level reframed selectiveness into opportunities for all voices, he said. His talk, which is titled, “The Gospel of Musical Inclusion,” will explore “dialogues about the effects that race and racial perception may have on cultural legitimacy in gospel music, notions of community beyond a particular religious doctrine, and the idea of gospel music moving from the margins to be fully acknowledged as music worth educative pursuit.”

TEDxASU: Boundless will be held March 31 at the Tempe Center for the Arts. Organizers say the event will be attended by more than 600 people, ranging from political leaders and ASU faculty to members of the greater ASU and Phoenix communities.

For more information visit tedxasu.com.

Krista Ratcliffe’s first semester at Arizona State University began in a cloud of dust.

The new chair of one of the largest English departments in the U.S. arrived on the Arizona State University campus in Tempe in late summer 2017. She took the helm just as renovations were being finalized on ASU English’s new administrative home, Ross-Blakley Hall. Formerly ASU’s law library, the building required a creative transformation from a book storage facility to a suitable people-centered one. ASU Department of English chair Krista Ratcliffe. Download Full Image

One of Ratcliffe’s early tasks was to tour the in-progress space, so she set off across campus in the heat to don the requisite construction vest and hard hat.

“I was amazed by the cool architectural style,” she said. “I was equally amazed that the university had invested the financial and physical resources in the humanities and in the Department of English more specifically. I took that as a sign that ASU is interested in promoting the work of our Writing Programs, especially their role in the retention of first-year students, and also in promoting ASU as a leading place for discussing the importance of humanities and their interdisciplinary intersections in the twenty-first century. The latter is visibly represented by the Institute for Humanities Research’s being in the same building.”

With all these thoughts swirling, Ratcliffe tried to imagine the place as anything other than covered in drywall dust. She tried to imagine the different ways it would serve her colleagues and students — most of whom she had yet to meet. She tried to imagine herself in this space.

English's new space in Ross-Blakley Hall features soaring ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows, and ample doses of color. Chair Krista Ratcliffe calls it "a lovely rendition of mid-century architectural style." Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU Now

Then she stepped out into that sweltering July heat and got to work. 

Ear to the ground

The Department of English completed its move into Ross-Blakley Hall last September. Since her trial-by-construction, Ratcliffe has settled into a routine in the Department of English, handling issues large and small with a dose of Midwestern practicality.

Ratcliffe was previously head of the Department of English at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, and before that, chair of the English department at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In her administrative jobs as well as in her scholarship, Ratcliffe continues to demonstrate a commitment to hearing others’ viewpoints. Ratcliffe cultivates what she calls “rhetorical listening” in order to move ideas forward most harmoniously.

“Rhetorical listening,” she explained, “is choosing to put your ideas alongside someone else's ideas in order to see where they may lead.”

“I'm basically a collaborative person,” Ratcliffe said. “I have a lot of faith in other people's intelligence and insights; consequently, I believe the best ideas and the best outcomes are generated collectively.”

Ratcliffe has authored two books on the concept: “Rhetorical Listening: Identification, Gender, Whiteness” (2006) and “Silence and Listening as Rhetorical Arts” (2011).

“My scholarly focus is on how this process may foster cross-cultural conversations in the public sphere,” she said, “in rhetoric and composition scholarship, and in the classroom, particularly in terms of race and gender and their intersections.”

Krista Ratcliffe (left) and Patrick Kenney greet guests at the open house celebration for Ross-Blakley Hall on Oct. 31, 2017. Photo by Bruce Matsunaga

The dust clears

For her extensive rhetorical expertise, Ratcliffe is frequently engaged as a consultant. This past October, she traveled to Sweden, where a new national curriculum requires that rhetoric be taught in all secondary schools for the purpose of encouraging democratic deliberation. Ratcliffe was one of four experts in the field from the U.S. who convened at Örebro University with Swedish rhetoric scholars and secondary teachers as well as with other European scholars to discuss just what a “rhetorical education” might look like.

And of course, there are awards. This January, the National Council of Teachers of English announced the prestigious 2018 CCCC Outstanding Book Award in the edited collection category for “Rhetorics of Whiteness: Postracial Hauntings in Popular Culture, Social Media, and Education” co-edited by Ratcliffe with Tammie Kennedy (University of Nebraska) and Joyce Middleton (East Carolina University). Essays in the book explore — and argue against — the notion that America has moved beyond issues of race in its political and social discourses.

This is Ratcliffe’s second time winning a CCCC Outstanding Book Award, the first for “Rhetorical Listening.”

In typical fashion, Ratcliffe was gracious in receiving congratulations for the honor but pointed out that several ASU scholars’ articles were also represented in her laudatory volume, including those by English faculty Lee Bebout, Ersula Ore and Keith Miller who co-authored with doctoral student Casie Moreland. Retired faculty member Sharon Crowley provided a provocative epigram.

Amidst her packed schedule, Ratcliffe answered a few questions about her award-winning book, her journey to ASU, and her goals for the ASU Department of English.

Krista Ratcliffe talks with other ASU faculty and staff members at the Ross-Blakley Hall open house celebration on Oct. 31, 2017. Photo by Bruce Matsunaga

Question: Your “Rhetorics of Whiteness” book, published in 2016, is certainly timely in its discussion of American race relations. What led you to that project? Did events over the past year make it seem somewhat prescient, and if possible, even more relevant?

When Barack Obama was re-elected president in 2012, we became fascinated by two paradoxes: (1) as whiteness studies was waning a bit in the academy, "white" was becoming an operative term in daily journalism, particularly in terms of reporting voter demographics and (2) while President Obama’s elections were being used to define the 21st century as “post-racial,” white was becoming a visible term in daily journalism, in movie titles ("Dear White People"), in award show speeches, etc. So we decided to put out a call for an edited collection about how whiteness haunts our lives in the 21st century and see what emerged. From our contributors we learned that whiteness haunts novels, films, TV shows with closed-captioning, TV shows starring black women, online dating sites, Facebook, state laws, textbooks, national testing, Rolling Stone covers, the Oval Office, and philosophy.  

As for the events of the last year, yes, they have generated an interest in the book. For the past three years, I have been invited to universities to talk about cultural logics of race in the U.S. (e.g., white supremacy, colorblindness, separatism, multiculturalism, critical race studies). People want to learn concepts and tactics for talking about race.

Q: Moving locally now, what was it about ASU and the job that drew you?

A: I love the beauty of Arizona, particularly the desert landscape. For several years I have visited friends here at Thanksgiving and during spring break. But what drew me to accept the job at ASU was the mission and the people. As for mission, I respect the dual focus on access and excellence ... and love the fact that these two goals are imagined at ASU as reciprocal, not opposing. I also like the innovative spirit at ASU — that is, that people are willing to try new things and that failure is imagined as simply a step toward success. As for people, I was impressed when I visited with how nice, smart, and energetic the people were in both the English department and in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Q: What has been your biggest challenge so far at ASU? Biggest surprise?

A: The biggest challenge was (and still is) learning all the people, policies, and procedures at ASU, while trying to maintain a research agenda that includes travel (I spoke in Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Sweden last semester). But I must say that I've had wonderful support in the English department and in Liberal Arts and Sciences. I couldn't have asked for more supportive coworkers.

My biggest surprise was when I was called out of a visiting scholar’s talk thinking I had an urgent problem to solve and discovered the staff simply wanted to sing "Happy Birthday" to me.

Q: What are your short- and long-term goals for the ASU Department of English?

A: My first goal was to meet people in the department and find out what was important to them, which is no small task given the size of the English department. My first charges from our college were to review our online programs, to update our governance documents, to get a handle on our budget, and to move the department into a new building, Ross-Blakley Hall. (Because the planning for our new building had been in place for more than a year and was being run by a very efficient team of departmental members — thank you, Doris Warriner, Kristen LaRue, Kristin Rondeau-Guardiola, Bruce Matsunaga, and Sarah Saucedo — all I had to do was pack and follow their directions!). Those four items took up a large part of the fall semester, along with all the other regular chair duties such as promotion and tenure, hiring, etc.

As for long-term goals, I plan to survey the English faculty and staff this spring to determine their priorities. Some items to discuss might include considering curriculum design at the undergraduate and graduate levels, negotiating partnerships across units, and reviewing our promotion guidelines. I look forward to reading the feedback from this survey and then developing a three- or four-year plan, although as fast as things move at ASU we'll have to make sure the plan is flexible.

Q: How do you see English’s recent move to Ross-Blakley Hall impacting its mission and goals?

A: The building is beautiful, a lovely rendition of mid-century architectural style. Ross-Blakley's location across from the College of Liberal Arts and Science's new building, Armstrong Hall, with its new Future Center for students, will help create a hub for students who need to see teachers, advisers, and career specialists in a one-stop venue. Ross-Blakley Hall’s open concept is conducive to conversations among faculty, staff and students because we run into one another much more than we did in the Language and Literature Building. As such, the hope is that Ross-Blakley Hall will foster collaborative work and will help build community among these groups. But as with all moves, there are adjustments that we are all making to the new space, and it is important that going forward we attend to the adjustment issues that arise.

Q: Anything else you’d like to add?

A: I am VERY grateful for all the support I've received, especially from the English department but also from the college; every new chair should be so fortunate as to have a dean like Elizabeth Langland, interim dean of humanities in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. And a side benefit of living in Arizona is: I now have a lot of friends who want to come visit me!