Poet, playwright & spoken word artist MOTION joins the Faculty of the Culture and Expression Program at York University and launches her debut course. GRIOTS TO EMCEES: Culture, Performance and Spoken Word, explores the form, function and content of Spoken Word, in terms of language, rhythm, historical developments, social- political contexts, as well as key artists of poetry, rap, dub, slam, lyricism and spoken word as live and direct purveyors of culture. Students examine performance as text and artist/creator narratives, commentaries and cultural discourse, and survey the continuum through African storytelling traditions to contemporary global evolutions of lyricism and spoken word. Students will explore the various modes of aural dissemination – the stage, the page, audio recording, theatre, film and digital media – and analyze orality and voice as tools of cultural affirmation and resistance. The course includes a writing/performance intensive component.
