Dr. Harriett Jernigan – Gender, Spoken Word, and the German Public Sphere
Saturday, March 26, 2023

In 1980s Berlin, the spoken-word genre began to enjoy great popularity among intersectional performers. However, in a sudden twist of fate, spoken word quickly lost traction to poetry slams, which reflected new ex-pat, post-Wende, and migrant audiences craving an egalitarian form of expression. Even now, ‘Slam’ is seen as a democratic public arena that speaks truth to power. But is this the case?

Dr. Harriett Jernigan is a lecturer in the Program in Writing and Rhetoric at Stanford University. She specializes in writing across the disciplines, cultural rhetoric, and inclusive pedagogy. Harriett has collaborated with multiple universities in Germany on projects in inclusive pedagogy and  has published articles on democratizing grammar and writing instruction in foreign languages, fostering learner autonomy through project-based instruction, and social geography. She is engaged in a number of storytelling projects in the Bay Area.

Harriett takes you on a journey that begins with a random request and ends with an inconvenient truth. Her presentation will be in English.

If you would like to view our archive video of the presentation, contact Dr. Marion Gerlind for access.

The Gerlind Institute for Cultural Studies would like to thank the Excelsior German Center, in Oakland, for it’s financial support for this event.