Advancing Racial Equity Speakers Bureau ⋆ Leah Abuan Milne, PhD

I’m excited to serve on the speakers bureau as one of 15 people from across the state chosen by Indiana Humanities, our state humanities council. The 2023-2024 theme is Advancing Racial Equity.

I’ll be giving two major talks as part of the Speakers Bureau. One is entitled “Mirrors and Windows: Reading for & Beyond Empathy” and the other is “The Many Lives of Zora Neale Hurston.” The latter grew out of discussions and readings I did as part of my National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH) work, Hurston on the Horizon. You can find the descriptions of my two talks below:

Speakers Bureau talk: Mirrors and Windows: Reading for & Beyond Empathy Scholar Rudine Sims Bishop and author Grace Lin liken reading to mirrors and windows. Some books are mirrors, reflecting one’s identity. In the wake of recent race-based discussions in the US, many readers sought windows, books that offered insights into differing lives and experiences. This talk explores the connections between reading and empathy, and the benefits of reading outside our comfort zones. What are strategies for reading empathetically? On the other hand, what are the limits to this approach to empathy, especially when reading across differences of race, ability, or gender? Do certain narratives more readily foster compassion? Leah Milne (she/her) is the author of Novel Subjects: Authorship as Radical Self-Care in Multiethnic American Narratives, which won the 2021 Midwest Modern Language Association Book Award and examines multiculturalism and self-care in works by authors such as Carmen Maria Machado, Ruth Ozeki, Toni Morrison, and Louise Erdrich. As an Associate Professor of English at the University of Indianapolis, she teaches multicultural, postcolonial, and young adult literature. Her work has been published in journals and magazines such as The Journal of American Culture, African American Review. Newsweek, The Hill, and Ms. Magazine. You can find out more at LeahMilne. com.

Speakers Bureau talk: The Many Lives of Zora Neale Hurston One of the most renowned authors of American literature, Zora Neale Hurston is best known for her 1937 novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. But she was also a prominent anthropologist, researcher, and journalist who indelibly shaped the Harlem Renaissance and made lasting contributions to American history and folklore. In this talk, we will view Hurston’s journey through the lens of her novels, as well as her ethnographic work, her personal experiences, and her aspirations. We’ll conclude by returning to Hurston’s most famous novel, and the reasons why Their Eyes Were Watching God remains a classic. Leah Milne (she/her) is the author of Novel Subjects: Authorship as Radical Self-Care in Multiethnic American Narratives, which won the 2021 Midwest Modern Language Association Book Award and examines multiculturalism and self-care in works by authors such as Carmen Maria Machado, Ruth Ozeki, Toni Morrison, and Louise Erdrich. As an Associate Professor of English at the University of Indianapolis, she teaches multicultural, postcolonial, and young adult literature. Her work has been published in journals and magazines such as The Journal of American Culture, African American Review. Newsweek, The Hill, and Ms. Magazine. You can find out more at LeahMilne. com.

These and the descriptions of the other talks are available in the catalog linked here: https://indianahumanities.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Racial-Equity-Speakers-Bureau-V4.pdf

I’ll be giving multiple versions of these talks in 2024 across the state, some through the Speakers Bureau, and others in connection to Indiana Humanities’ One State / One Story program, whose book selections this year are Tiya Miles’ All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake and Ashley Bryan’s Freedom over Me. Ever since my work with the Op Ed Project, I’ve been thinking more about how to discuss complicated issues such as race and equity with the public. I’m looking forward to these public conversations about the humanities and literature.

As I told my institution recently, “The intercultural and interdisciplinary analyses that the humanities provide are needed now more than ever, especially when it comes to complicated, open-ended issues such as advancing equity. I’m honored to lead humanities-based discussions with the public on the important topics of racial equity, literature, and empathy. My talks are still being booked, but at this point, I know I’ll be hosted by at least eight different organizations across the state, which shows a clear need for us to continue having these vital conversations.”

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