“Without literature, I wouldn’t be able to articulate how many of their beliefs felt wrong to me. In teaching, I hope that my students are invited into that kind of questioning in relation to their own unique lives and experiences.”
Dr. Stefanie Dunning has been teaching courses within the Literature, Black World Studies, and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality programs of Miami University for 17 years. This semester, Dr. Dunning is teaching English 276: American Literature after 1900, and English/Black World Studies 338: African American Writing 1946–Present.
What are you currently working on?
“I’m writing a book called Black to Nature that examines nature in texts by mostly Black women. It’s a meditative contemplation of how nature works in those texts—asking what does it mean to be a Black woman in nature and how that fits into broader social structures.
I’m also teaching at Literary London this summer in a course called ‘Abolitionist London and the Slave Narrative.’ We will be thinking about how London publication houses printed slave narratives that would not be published in the United States, which turned the tide in the abolition movement. We will also consider the role that British-funded speaking tours across America and Europe had in the success of the Abolitionist movement.”
What drew you to your subject area?
“I like Black literature. There’s something about the way Black people operate artistically as a response to their world, oppression, and beauty that has consistently held my interest over the years. And I’m interested in witnessing people’s discover the importance of not perpetuating harmful narratives they may have grown up with. For example, I grew up in the South, my mother was very conservative, and my grandfather was a Preacher. Literature offered another perspective different from theirs. Without literature, I wouldn’t be able to articulate how many of their beliefs felt wrong to me. In teaching, I hope that my students are invited into that kind of questioning in relation to their own unique lives and experiences.”
Can you tell us a little about your pedagogical methods and how they’ve evolved over time?
“When I was younger, especially when I was in graduate school, I used to have a somewhat oppositional mindset in the classroom, as if it was my duty to awaken students from cultural and literary ignorance—it could be quite patronizing. Now I’m much more Zen about my teaching. I’ll put the ideas on the table, as honestly and frankly as I can, and let my students embrace those ideas, rebel against them, or simply not engage at all if that is where they are. Those who are ready to think differently, deeply, speculatively go for it and those who are not interested just don’t, and I’ve learned to accept a variety of different responses and outcomes. I’ve learned to open the space and let people decide how they operate in that space.”
If you could instill one concept in your students, what would it be?
“Lack of certitude. If I could just get people to question what they think they know about everything. This isn’t so much about questioning what you read (though that is essential practice too), but rather about asking yourself how do I know this thing I think I know, and how do I know this is actually true or useful?”
Can you tell us a little about your experience at Miami so far?
“Overall, it’s been pretty good! Everyone who teaches in the Literature Department really loves what they do. There are no reluctant academics here! Also, I really appreciate the diversity of the program; it’s not a program where anything you want to study is too far afield that it’s unteachable. And I think we have really great students here, which makes for lively classes. I’ve had some amazing, amazing, classes here.”
What’s your must-read book(s) recommendation?
I think everyone should read Ishmael by Daniel Quinn at some point because it makes the frame of civilization that is usually invisible visible. People should also read Against the Grain by James Scott. It’s a deep ecology of the state that talks about the rise of civilization and what compromises had to happen so civilization as we know it could exist, and predictably they involve all the various kinds of oppression many of us are fighting. These texts suggest that if you aren’t fighting civilization, then you aren’t really fighting oppression. Oh, and Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor. It’s a cool African, postcolonial Sci-Fi novel, though tragic in its realistic depiction of war and all forms of violence that are its consequence. But everyone should always read as much as they can!
Interviewed by: Jessi Wright