October 21, 2021
Fall Faculty Feature: Maya Angela Smith
Maya Angela Smith is an associate professor of French and Italian studies as well as the Interim Chair of the African Studies Program, Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington.
In the summer of 2021, UW iSchool graduate students Dillon Baker and Taylor Healey Brooks partnered with UW Libraries Open Scholarship Commons, the Research Commons, and the Assessment and Planning department on their capstone project: Celebrating Black Faculty and Student Scholarship: A Framework for UW Libraries Programming and Outreach, generating new ideas for programming and outreach methods to support and celebrate Black scholarship and research at the University of Washington. This post is the first in a series of recurring features the Libraries plans to host. For this inaugural feature, we are excited to talk with Maya Angela Smith, Associate Professor of French as well as the Interim Chair for the African Studies Program, Jackson School of International Studies. Smith’s scholarship broadly focuses on the intersection of racial and linguistic identity formations among marginalized groups in the African diaspora, particularly in the postcolonial francophone world such as in her book Senegal Abroad. She received her PHD in Romance Languages and Linguistics from the University of California, Berkeley in 2013, and has been teaching at UW since then.
What are some short-term and long-term goals you hope to achieve through your research and teaching?
In general, I want to bring my expertise in language, race, and identity to a wider audience as well as engage with fields outside of my primary disciplines. In the short term, I am working on several public-facing projects that intersect with music studies. For instance, I am currently trying to publish an ethnographic memoir titled Reclaiming Venus, which chronicles the experience of Alvenia Bridges, a Black woman who made her mark behind-the-scenes in the white and male dominated music industry. As a companion piece, I have created an ArcGIS story map* walking tour to bring some of her stories and memorabilia alive.
I am also writing a book for Duke University Press’s Singles Series about the French-language song “Ne Me Quitte Pas.” In addition to analyzing Jacques Brel’s masterpiece, this book will focus on Nina Simone’s version to explore the racialized and gendered dimensions of her performance, the musical and textual modifications of the song itself, and the affective experience of both performer and audience. My long-term career goals are to continue expanding how I convey knowledge both intellectually and creatively such as through children’s book writing.
What is one “little known” fact or interesting aspect of your work that you think people may find surprising or unexpected?
Smith is currently working on Reclaiming Venus, a multimodal project that tells the extraordinary story of Alvenia Bridges (pictured here) through an ethnographic memoir and a story map walking tour.
I try really hard to make my work accessible to everyone by writing in a way that is inviting, legible and personal. I use my own experiences and those of others to delve into larger societal issues. I think this helps students and readers connect better to the material.
How does the UW Community support your work/research? What has been most helpful?
The UW Community has been supportive through funding opportunities, mentorship, and feedback. I have been fortunate to have been awarded various Simpson Center grants as well as funding through the Research Royalty Fund. Without their support, I would not have been able to complete some of my work since funding in the humanities is hard to come by. My colleagues across campus have also been great in reading drafts of fellowship applications, articles, book chapters, and everything in between.
How does the UW Library support your research? What experience have you had working with Libraries to advance your research/teaching?
UW Library has been instrumental in supporting my research and teaching. I keep Interlibrary loan on their toes. I feel like I have them finding articles all the time. I invite librarian Deb Raftus regularly to my courses to help students with their research projects. She also creates research guides for them and training modules I can embed in Canvas. Librarian Verletta Kern was one of my collaborators during my 2021 Digital Humanities Summer Fellowship when I worked on my ArcGIS story map walking tour. She helped me navigate all the digital tools and resources available to UW students and faculty. She also assigned graduate student Hayley Park to my project, who did an amazing job constructing the map tour. Meanwhile, librarian Maryam Fakouri answered my questions about copyright issues. All the librarians are very approachable and always helpful.
What advice would you give to new faculty coming to campus for the first time this fall?
Do not hesitate to reach out to the UW Libraries for whatever your research and teaching needs may be. I have grown as a scholar because of them, and they make my life so much easier.
In fall quarter, Smith is teaching French 448: Cultures of Franco-America, which highlights the linguistic and cultural diversity of Francophone groups within North America (e.g., American Indigenous populations, Creole and Cajun cultures in Louisiana, African Americans in Interwar Paris) as well as how these groups were racially and socially constructed in these various contexts. She is also teaching a graduate seminar on Qualitative Research Methods where students design and implement a small-scale qualitative study based on a particular cultural or social issue by collecting different forms of qualitative data (field notes, interviews, participant observation), performing data analysis, and learning how to code data.
Representation matters.
Students, faculty, staff and community members from diverse backgrounds thrive when we create and maintain inclusive research, learning and working environments. As part of our strategic commitments, UW Libraries seeks to elevate the voices of historically underrepresented communities at UW and in the Pacific Northwest by partnering to create, preserve and increase access to culturally-relevant information resources.
If you would like to submit/suggest ideas for a future spotlights highlighting the work of Black students and faculty, please contact uwlib-openscholarship@uw.edu or uwlib-comm@uw.edu.
Learn more about the ArcGIS platform available to all faculty, staff and students, and how UW Libraries can provide in-person help either through an appointment with the UW Libraries’ GIS staff or during the Suzzallo Library GIS Lab hours. Learn more.
