Rahiel Tesfamariam on Public Intellectualism
Public Intellectualism: The Art of Leadership, Getting Published, and Public Speaking
A Workshop Series with Hip-Hop Author/Activist Bakari Kitwana
Mondays at 6:00 - 7:30pm (Central time) from Sept. 16 to Oct. 28
Throughout this 7-week workshop series on Zoom, we will meditate on your pathway to getting published and a public intellectual life. We will consider various representations of public intellectuals who have either gone from the academy to public life or simply emerged within the public square as thought leaders in specific areas. We will consider questions such as:
- What does thought leadership look like?
- What is the difference between a social media influencer and a thought leader?
- How does communicating messages via opinion-editorials and articles and books help you solidify your public presence?
- How do you get over the jitters of public speaking?
- What are keys steps to your first published book?
- What does preparedness for public interviews on radio, podcasting, and tv look like?
About the Host
Bakari Kitwana
Bakari Kitwana is an internationally known cultural critic, journalist, activist, and thought leader in the areas of hip-hop and Black youth political engagement. The Executive Director of Rap Sessions: Community Dialogues on Hip-Hop, which for the last seventeen years has conducted over 150 town hall meetings around the nation on difficult dialogues facing the millennial generation, Kitwana has been the Editor-in-Chief of The Source magazine, the Editorial Director of Third World Press, and co-founder of the 2004 National Hip-Hop Political Convention. In 2020, during the height of Covid-19 Pandemic, he cofounder of the Hip-Hop Political Education Summit, which convened two major virtual gatherings.
The author of the groundbreaking books The Hip-Hop Generation (2002) and Why White Kids Love Hip-Hop (2005), Kitwana is co-editor of Democracy Unchained: How to Rebuild Government For the People (The New Press, 2020) and the collaborating writer for pioneering hip-hop artist Rakim’s memoir Sweat The Technique: Revelations on Creativity From The Lyrical Genius (Amistad/HarperCollins, 2019).
Currently a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the University of Buffalo, Bakari has been the 2019-2020 Nasir Jones HipHop Fellow at Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University, Artist-in-Residence at the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture at the University of Chicago, and a visiting scholar at both Kent State University. A former Columnist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Kitwana has contributed writing to numerous publications and anthologies, including the 2021 New York Times best-selling anthology 400 Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019 (Edited by Ibram Kendi and Keisha Blain, One World/Random House, 2021).
About the Guest Speaker
Rahiel Tesfamariam
Rahiel Tesfamariam is an activist, public theologian, writer and speaker. She is founder of Urban Cusp and a former Washington Post columnist. Rahiel is a graduate of Stanford and Yale Divinity School where she was the inaugural William Sloane Coffin, Jr. Scholar for Peace and Justice. Prior to attending Yale, she served as the youngest editor in the history of The Washington Informer newspaper, at age 23, and as a community organizer.
Rahiel has traveled the world on various delegations and humanitarian projects, including to Darfur and occupied Palestine. She has spoken at universities and churches throughout the globe. Responding to the 2014 Ferguson non-indictment decision, Rahiel led #NotOneDime, a national Black Friday economic boycott.
As a leading generational voice, Rahiel has appeared in countless media outlets, including The New York Times, Forbes, MSNBC, and BET. Rahiel has been ranked on The Root 100, featured in Ebony and Revolt TV amongst “Leaders of the New School” and was one of six women Essence named “The New Civil Rights Leaders.” She is a recipient of countless national fellowships and awards for her social justice and media work, including National Action Network’s “Who Got Next” Award, the National Newspaper Publishers Association National Leadership Award, and the Freedom Flame Award on the 51st anniversary of the Selma Bridge Crossing. Most recently, Rahiel resided in southern Africa for three years supporting Pan-African movements.
The world-renowned nonprofit Black Girls Rock, Inc. featured Rahiel on their annual awards show on BET, saluting “her tireless dedication to global issues, community activism and youth advocacy.” Black Girls Rock recognized Rahiel because she “leads with her faith, inspiring awareness and inciting change around the world.”
Co-Sponsors
The Givens Foundation for African American Literature
University of Minnesota partners:
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Academic Advising Program
College of Liberal Arts Office of Undergraduate Education
Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communications
Urban Research and Outreach Engagement Center
President's Emerging Scholars
Multicultural Student Engagement
Contact
For questions about this series, email Chong Vang at cavang@umn.edu.