To conclude last semester’s critical race feminism class, taught by Ashley Burge, assistant professor of English, students collaborated to create podcast episodes covering content that they had discussed in class. A five episode series, “What’s Brewing in Black Feminism” served as the class’s final project. These episodes offer discussions on the struggles that exist in society for Black women.
Although the podcast originally started off as just a class assignment, Burge ended up publishing the episodes on public platforms. These podcasts can be accessed through the Augustana website.
While this podcast may be the first from Burge’s class to be published online, podcasts are written into the curriculum of all of Burge’s classes. She specifically chose this series to publish as a way to inform more Augustana students after teaching the first critical race feminism class offered on campus.
“I wanted a project that was almost like a public service announcement for the first class of critical race feminism in Augustana,” Burge said. “I just wanted this project to be something to commemorate that.”
The podcast’s five issues each cover a different topic surrounding discussion in Black feminism. These topics were all selected by Burge and assigned to groups of students in the class.
“These are topics that connect to the vulnerabilities of Black women and women of color in America,” Burge said. “They distinguish the issues surrounding Black feminism, which are distinct from traditional feminist issues.”
Sophomore Phoebe Fuller was assigned domestic violence as the topic for her podcast episode. She said she didn’t want to solely focus on domestic violence statistics.
“We wanted to bring to light that Black women are specifically targeted because of their race and gender,” Fuller said.
Sophomore Kylee Devore said her assigned topic of motherhood helped her gain more insight on issues that are not commonly spoken about. Devore said she learned a lot about how to use her voice, despite her age.
“The fact that three Black girls got together and made a podcast, whether it was an assignment or not, felt like a very big and important way to get our voices out regardless of people thinking that the issues are not important or not serious because it doesn’t affect the majority,” Devore said.
Sophomore Jamiah Riley, who was also assigned the topic of motherhood, said that they were trying to put in perspective how Black motherhood is a very heavy topic to discuss.
In Riley’s research, Black motherhood isn’t a topic that many people will openly talk about. She said the types of roles a family holds might look different than what we traditionally expect.
“If you don’t really have children, you might have to take care of your cousins or any little siblings that you might have,” Riley said.
She said Black motherhood can weigh on a person’s mind and affect mental health. Sometimes, young women might be initially expected to take care of the family.
“You might have a difficult time processing your own emotions because you’re not really focusing on yourself,” Riley said. “You’re always trying to be ‘the mother’ and never focusing on your own feelings from childhood.”
Fuller, Devore and Riley all said they’d be interested in making new episodes. They would like to continue speaking out to spread awareness to the students surrounding them.
“It was only for a class, but if they want to do that then I’ll be more than down to,” Riley said.
These podcasts are something that give Burge’s students a voice to speak out about certain topics, but it’s up to the audience to listen.
“I think we would be interested in speaking on these issues more,” Devore said. “It’s just a matter of if it’s making a difference.”
“What’s Brewing in Black Feminism” became more than just a project that the students involved were graded on. It became an outlet for them to learn more about different topics and engage in conversations with classmates.
“The podcast was a very good and fun way to get that information, share that information,” Fuller said. “And I think that once again, props to Dr. Burge, because it really did motivate us to learn.”
Although Burge created the assignment and brainstormed the topic ideas, she said it was the students who worked hard to execute the final product that we hear today.
“I created the course, I acted as a guide for these new concepts, but the students took these ideas and created great projects for the podcast,” Burge said. “I think this is a testament to their devotion towards social justice in illuminating voices that are silenced.”