URCAD Selfie Contest Winner: Joshua Gray

Mon, 09 May 2022 12:30:16 -0400

URCAD participants got creative this year with their entries for the selfie contest, given that URCAD was online.... Meet Joshua Gray, winner of the URCAD Selfie Contest in the category: Best Selfie with Mentor(s)!

Exploring Stories of Political Activism and Ideological Perpetuation in Black Religious Institutions

Joshua Gray
Mentors: Ann Sofie Clemmensen, Dance; Liz Patton, Media and Communication Studies

The presence of political debate and activism at dining tables, conference rooms, and other traditionally apolitical spaces has burgeoned in recent history. The Black church has been one of these politically transformed spaces that have been impactful in promoting movements around political ideologies. The Black body is political, and so are all cultural and religious practices from that experience. This research uses ethnographic and choreographic practices to explore themes of embodied Blackness, relational power, and institutionally-bound socio-political obligations. This research considers the question: how do congregants within Black Religious Institutions identify with their role in the political landscape that has led to change in diplomacy, legislation, awareness and transparency, civic engagement, and rights expansion — even on a microscale. Through collecting and interpreting oral histories within Black Religious Institutions, these stories and interactions informed a new contemporary choreographic work and an inquiry into choreographic methodologies foregrounding Africanist movement expression and values.

This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Congratulations, Joshua!