The nation’s first-ever Youth Poet Laureate, Amanda Gorman, spoke at the recent Inauguration and addressed the nation through her reading of “The Hill We Climb.” Her work exemplifies the necessity of poetry and prose to continue progress in areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion. The title of her poem attests to the need for progress as a global community, highlighting both transformation and collective involvement.  

In this panel, we invite papers that explore the ways in which poetry and prose can be used as pedagogical tools for change in the areas of inclusion, diversity and equity.  Potential topics might include: primary sources; cultural texts; historical writings; recent technologies; global approaches.  These examples of poetry and prose can help to ground student’s awareness and involvement in areas of cultural and identity studies.  Poetry and prose not only reflect emotion and imagination but also are evocative of the ways in which social groups interact, particularly through social networks.  Through such networks, individuals reduce “social distancing” in support of a DIE-integrated future.  With this knowledge, a community of students may break from inherited concepts while at the same time promoting collective social changes.  Please send abstracts of 250 words to Dr. Petra M. Schweitzer (pschweit@su.edu) and Dr. Casey R. Eriksen (cre4hf@virginia.edu) by June 15, 2021.