Mavis Boatemaa Beckson

Personal Teaching Statement

As a Black woman born in Ghana, West Africa, and currently living in the U.S., I have had the privilege of being a student in two different cultural settings, and had the opportunity of knowing what it is like to learn from teachers who cultivate their classrooms to accommodate and appreciate the diversity their students bring to these spaces. I also know what it is like to not feel seen or heard. Based on these embodied experiences, I have grown to understand the importance of cultivating teaching pedagogies and learning practices that are grounded in equity and inclusivity. With a particular focus on African and minoritized communities and coalitional mediated activism, my work follows African feminist and cultural relationality with material things, especially how these material objects shape lives and agency in multicultural African spaces. My work makes space for Black African women’s cultural practices that shed light on communal resilience, uncommon rhetorical performances, and digital material contexts.

Publications

Peer Reviewed Journal Articles

Beckson, Boatemaa Mavis. “Transforming Feminist Narratives and Participation of African Marginalized Women Through Ceremonial Beads.” Peitho Journal, Volume 22, Issue 3, Spring 2020.

Book Reviews

Review of Black or Right: Anti/Racist Campus Rhetorics by Louis M. Maraj. Rhetoric Society Quarterly, Volume 52, Issue 2, May 2022.

Review of Black Perspectives in Writing Program Administration: From Margins to Center. Edited by Stacy Perryman-Clark and Collin Lamont Craig. College Composition and Communication, Volume 73, No.1, September 2021.

Review of Culturally Speaking: The Rhetoric of Voice and Identity in Mediated Culture by Edgar, Nell Amanda. Peitho Journal, Volume 23, Issue 1, Fall 2020.

In Progress

Beckson, Boatemaa Mavis. “On Being Black African Immigrant Teacher: Rethinking Representation at the Intersection of Language, Race, and Inclusivity in Higher Education.” To be published in The Black Caucus Project Collection. Edited by Richard Green and Jamal Cooks. NCTE PRESS. Tentative publication year, 2023.