Longing to be Langston

Abstract

This article is an autoethnodrama, which originally began as a workshop piece coming to fruition as an enacted staged reading at the University of Illinois during Fall 2011. As an ethnodrama, the article explores the author’s educational journey, pivoting around one of his fondest childhood memories reciting a Langston Hughes poem. Interwoven throughout the piece are other notable local, and global events, which occurred throughout the author’s life. Memories of reciting Langston Hughes, and his poem “Mother to Son” act as a fulcrum, moving the text from the “I” singular to the “I” universal/plural. Utilizing the methodology of autoethnodrama and other performative based methods—inclusive of but not limited to poetry, framing, and dialogue—the article reimagines and recovers the individuals’ relationship to him or herself, his or her community, and to the society at large. Through acknowledging and facing trauma, the article offers for both its author and the reader a chance for recovery through restoring healing and the wholeness of the individual, amending minority absences from educational practices, and envisioning a more just society.