The Department of English faculty is awaiting a major change after an overwhelming majority voted to have the name of the department formally changed to the “Department of Literature and Writing.” This idea was proposed and put into action by a committee of faculty members within the department.
The committee was formed by Dr. Carole Boyce-Davies, chair of the English department and professor of African diaspora literatures. She formed this committee with a focus on the question of whether the name “Department of English” adequately reflects the range of language explored in literary studies at Howard.
“When I was hired at Howard, one of the mandates I had from the university was to update and innovate the department and bring it more forward into the contemporary. So, one of the ways that I proposed as my vision to do that was to advance the renaming process,” she said.
Susanna Sacks, English department assistant professor and name change committee member, agreed with Boyce-Davies’ decision and found the term “English” not truly reflective of the department.
“This is a department that has trained the top scholars and the most innovative thinkers in the discipline and all over the world. ‘English’ as a name doesn’t convey that to the world. It doesn’t let people know who we really are,” Sacks said.
The committee also debated about associations of the word “English” with colonial dominance and its limitations in describing the range of culture, language and literature explored in the English department, before coming to their decision.
Jennifer Williams, English department associate professor and committee member, said, “We’re trying to diverge from the colonial legacy that is attached to English departments. We teach literature that is written in and translated to the English language, but we don’t want to privilege the colonialist legacy of English.”
Corey Lamont, English department master instructor and fellow committee member, further emphasized this point.
“We’ve always been a department that centered African diaspora knowledge systems and cultures and so forth, and this is what we want to continue doing,” he said.
The committee also wanted to consider students’ opinions about the potential change, so they submitted surveys to English majors. According to Boyce-Davies, approximately 90% voted in favor of the name change.
Alyssa Carter, a sophomore English major from Los Angeles, emphasized how she feels as though “Writing and Literature” is a better name because it better captures what she studies within the department. She is also in agreement with the idea of breaking away from colonial ties.
Students have also expressed expectations for the department beyond the name. Stacy Uzowuru, a sophomore English major from Houston, hopes for more opportunities for English students to partake in the change.
“I feel like there’s a lot of different things that we could improve on in the English department that could be geared towards just improving the experience for students,” she said.
Boyce-Davies said there is much more in store for the department. Her initial concern was that options were limited for English majors. Now, she is working towards implementing a set of six new specializations – ranging from Caribbean literature, African literature, African American literature and more.
“What we’re planning to do, along with the name change, is to offer students some new specializations, and with this we plan to give students a more modern, innovative and contemporary way of understanding how you study literature,” she said.
Boyce-Davies has high hopes for the standard the department will set.
“We will be the first HBCU to make that kind of move if we do it. And Howard is already number one, so we want to really go forward and claim that space. And once we do, many others will follow,” she said.
The committee members highly anticipate that changes will be good for the department and that the name change will better convey the range of concepts they teach.
“Literature and writing is about connecting us to a much broader set of interests in the verbal and language arts that go beyond just English. With the name change, we hope to make that visible to the broader community both at Howard and in the world,” Sacks said.
The committee is still awaiting approval for this change and keeping their hopes high.
Copy edited by Jalyn Lovelady
