|
Author Lucy Thelma
Osbourne explains, “Quilt
University is my metaphor for a learning environment where
people meet to validate themselves while establishing a
community in which they practice learning. I use the quilt
to chronicle my experience as a non-traditional African
American graduate student participating in an academic
learning environment.”
In Quilt University, her first book, Osbourne
describes and analyzes how "the dominant culture can keep
you on the outside by not accepting your base of knowledge."
She explains how she recognized and built upon her own base
of knowledge, the quilting culture in which she grew up and
which wraps around her throughout her life, in order to
succeed in academics. In this way, her work is in the
tradition of W.E.B. DuBois's "double consciousness" as
developed in The Souls of Black Folk.
Osbourne cautions, "If
individuals are to survive in the dominant culture and in
Academic University, they need to rely on their inner voices
and trust themselves and the universe as centers from which
to speak, identify, and validate self." She explains that
mentors with whom she could identify, whether met in daily
life or through the pages of books, proved essential in
developing that inner voice and identity.
She introduces us to her
mentors who include Alice Walker, Zora Neale Hurston, and
Harriet Powers, as well as the quilters she meets everywhere
she goes, and the scholars with whom she has worked and
learned at conferences and in classrooms along the way.
This book provides
inspiration as well as practical advice for parents,
teachers and administrators who want to help students learn
in K-12 and postsecondary education, as well as for students
who must take control of their own learning by recognizing
and building upon the value of their own experiences and the
knowledge they have inherited from family and community.
Whereas Osbourne talks
about her experiences as an African American woman, the
notion of transforming academic learning by building on
personal experience is equally relevant for any person,
regardless of age, ethnicity or gender. Quilt University
itself, as a book, is pieced together as one pieces together
any work of creative art.
Osbourne brings eight
decades of experience and deep reflection to bear on
persistent racism, the violence of exclusion, and the
ever-shifting rules in mainstream schooling that make
surviving and thriving in schools a continual challenge.
But she addresses these issues in a positive way that is a
joy to read by telling how she handled them and achieved the
ability to be fully human inside both “academic university”
and “quilt university.”
The book includes
beautiful plates of quilts made by the author’s mother,
which give powerful illustration of the difference in
worldview demonstrated in the “crazy quilt” and the
“patchwork quilt,” and also a profound sense of the
creativity involved in constructing individual
understanding.
The book is available on
Amazon as well as direct from the publisher, QU Press,
located in Toledo. Osbourne will be a featured author at
the Toledo-Lucas County Open Book event in May.
Osbourne will present an
illustrated talk and sign books on Monday, April 7, from
4:30-6:00, at the University of Toledo’s Rocket Hall, room
1551, on the corner of Dorr Street and Secor Avenue.
This event is cosponsored by the UT Department of
Educational Foundations and Leadership, UT Department of
Women’s and Gender Studies, and UT@TPS. Refreshments will
be served. Parking is free and the public is invited to
attend.
Osbourne will be the
featured author of the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library
Open Book Program on Tuesday, May 13 with the program
beginning at 6:30. The event will be at the Kent Branch
Library, on the corner of Collingwood and Central Avenues.
Refreshments will be served and Ms. Osbourne will sign
books.
For more information about
either event or to order your copy, contact QU Press at
QUpress@bex.net, 419-283-8288 |
