Jessica Covil-Manset

At the heart of my research and professional life is a commitment to equitable social praxis, and to developing an understanding of the ways in which poetry (and language more generally) can be taken up to imagine and advocate for a more just society. I am highly invested in fostering skills with which we as people can critically engage our environments and create a world where we all can thrive, with a special attention to gender, race, and class.

Research lens

An attention to the language and form of poetry, and to the humanities more broadly, can greatly increase our understanding of history and our investment in current events. In particular, I am interested in the role of feminist, anti-racist, and anti-classist work within the U.S., and the ways in which the language and form of poetry have served these liberatory movements. I approach this subject with the awareness that many people might have misgivings about what poetry is and what it can/cannot do. I argue that poetry does not belong exclusively to elites; it belongs to the public, and at its best it expresses the desires and preoccupations of the people. Moreover, poetry is not solely to appease or comfort; it is strongly tied to the development of U.S. feminism, offering a unique form of address that the poets I engage describe as an “opening.”

Pedagogy

Before I decided not to pursue an academic job, much of my graduate work was tailored towards preparing myself for a lifelong career in higher education. This experience continues to influence my attitude towards education broadly speaking, as something that takes place outside of the classroom as well. I took a course called Teaching Race, Teaching Gender so that I could learn more about pedagogy, especially as it applies to these two subjects. My research interests include Black feminism, so a rigorous engagement with both race and gender (as well as other markers like class, sexual orientation, ability, etc.) is paramount not only to analyzing my selected course materials, but to fostering a classroom environment that is open, engaged, and respectful around these issues.

At Duke, I served as: a Teaching Apprentice for two English seminars, Intro to the Writing of Poetry and Zora Neale Hurston: Race, Gender, Region, Diaspora; an Instructor of Record for a Writing 101 seminar that I designed, entitled Writing Black Feminism: #BlackGirlMagic in Popular Culture; a Teaching Assistant for two English “Special Topic” seminars, William Carlos Williams and Self-Help Narratives; and a Teaching Fellow for the International Comparative Studies Honors Thesis Seminar. My Writing 101 class and the ICS Honors Thesis Seminar carried the most responsibility; I created course material, graded assignments, facilitated weekly or biweekly class discussion, and read and responded to online forum posts.

In the classroom, I thought a lot about my role as an instructor (especially as a white instructor) and the level of authority that normally attaches to that position; I made conscious efforts to work against this authoritative position and to let students direct much of the conversation and practice using their own voice and forming their own ideas. That is, I made an active attempt to not control the narrative. Even so, I was constantly aware that classroom dynamics are inevitably influenced by what we bring with us from outside of the classroom—and this includes our identities and social positions, with their varying (and not always static) levels of power and privilege. But I make a conscientious effort to approach all things—whether it be academic research, political activism, or what have you—with a spirit of humility, and with a posture of listening more than speaking.

Interdisciplinarity/Collaboration

In addition to my PhD in English, I received graduate certificates in: African & African American Studies; Gender, Sexuality, & Feminist Studies; and College Teaching. This echoes my commitment to more nuanced understandings around issues such as gender, race, and class.

I have participated in multiple humanities labs that utilize a mixture of critical approaches and/or disciplines. These include the Representing Migration Humanities Lab, where you can find my work under “Poetry Readings,” and the PhD Lab in Digital Knowledge, in which I workshopped a website I created to highlight political poetry by black women in the Garvey Movement. This digital site demonstrates my interest in making scholarship more readily accessible to both academic and non-academic publics. Finally, I was a Graduate Fellow with the Kenan Institute of Ethics. There, I investigated the ethical implications of my research and that of my peers, taking part in biweekly conversations that sometimes included special guests.

Marketing Experience

Marketing, especially as it intersects with social justice, offers a unique opportunity to make knowledge publicly accessible and applicable to the world in which we live. That’s one of the reasons why I am currently pursuing a career in Marketing & Communications. For the past two years, I have gained invaluable experience in marketing and communications through my work at Duke University Press, a not-for-profit academic publishing house driven by research on race, gender, and class. I am excited to see what comes next, and where I might best apply my skills in research, writing, diversity and inclusion, and collaboration.