2022 Imagining Community Symposium

Shaping a More Equitable Dayton

Keynote: "Chicago Footwork: A Lesson on Language and Reclaiming Black Humanity," ShaDawn Battle

This was the symposium's keynote address. In Ernest Gaines's A Lesson Before Dying, he seems to suggest that Black male humanity could not be denied based on their mastery of standard American English and logocentric notions of literacy. Gaines locates the humanity of his death row protagonist, who is likened to a "hog" in the literal broken lines of his unintelligible journal reflections, among other attributes. Likewise, if Black youth in Chicago also exist in a state of "imminent death" and are also considered to be disposable, subhuman menaces to society, ShaDawn Battle reclaims their humanity in non-logocentric terms. Through the urban art form Chicago Footwork, which she argues is an embodied vernacular dance of Black liberation, Battle joins the chorus of post-humanist and disability scholars who challenge the argument that verbal language and conventional notions of literacy are preeminent markers of what it means to be human. She incorporates a short Footwork performance and interviews from her docuseries on Chicago Footwork to illuminate Footwork as a language of the body in everyday communicative exchanges.

Plenary Session: "Removal and Redlining: Resisting Erasure in Indigenous Ohio," Tereza M. Szeghi, Carolina Castoreno, Guy W. Jones, and John N. Low

Carolina Castoreno (Apache), Guy Jones (Standing Rock Sioux), and John Low (Potawatomi) offered perspectives on the history of the removal of Indigenous peoples from Ohio and the surrounding area, along with ongoing Indigenous activism to advance sovereignty and land claims.

Plenary Session: "Shaping a More Equitable Dayton: Perspectives from Daytonian Scholar Activists," Daria Y. Graham, Amaha Sellassie, Faheem Curtis-Khidr, and Furaha Henry-Jones

In this interactive plenary session, three prominent Dayton scholar-activists discussed the history, legacy, and impact of Dayton's racial segregation with an eye toward how to move forward collectively. The session explores opportunities for change and growth in our Dayton neighborhoods.

Panels & Presentations

Aging While Black: Realities, Myths, and Opportunities for Community Planning, Antonia Dosik, Donna Kastner, Leigh Sempeles, and Mary E. Tyler

Challenged to Move: Using Humility as Inspiration for Change, Tazeen Ahmed, Amy Hamilton, and Richard Hairston

Community Development via Religious Location: Dayton’s African American Religious Community, Marlese Durr and Geoffrey Owens

Crafting Music Community in The Funk City, Mike Bankhead, Paige Beller, Kevin Carter, Amber Hargett, Brian Johnson, David Payne, Don Thrasher, and Arthur J. Jipson

Envisioning Community Through Artistic Responses, R. Darden Bradshaw

Equity Starts with Literacy, Debra Brathwaite and Joni Watson

Factors Impacting Equitable Park Infrastructure in Dayton, Mackenzie Martin, Grace Oldfield, Andrew Weis, Laura Wilker, and Juliana Vollmer

Finding Peace through Literature: Discussing Complex Topics in Small Communities, Drew Wichterman, Aimee Noel, and Brenda Mahaney

Health Equity Lens: Understanding Dayton and Montgomery County, Tazeen Ahmed, Fabrice Juin, Shannon Nicks, Jessica Saunders, Tiffany Terry, and Nancy McHugh

Home Ownership and the American Dream, Michael Carter, Chad Sloss, and Will Smith

How Community Finds Us: Reframing How We Think about Our Communities, Eric Charlton

How Unearthing Historic Injustices Can Transform Mindsets and Power Change, Nina Carter, Maya Dorsey, and Dakota Pawlicki

IACT in the Community: Human-Centered Design of Enabling Technology for Social Impact in Dayton, Kevin Hallinan, Eric Janz, Brendan Ochs, Ryan Johnston, Patrick Boudinot, and Trent Brown

Latinx Communities as Invisible in Race, Neomi DeAnda, Sam Ortiz, and Ernesto Rosen Velasquez

Montgomery County Equity Leadership Institute, Corinne Brion and Shannon Cox

More than a House: Eviction Rights and Dayton, Kristina Coen, Randy Smith, Addison Caruso, Taylor Burns, Aaron Primm, Shenise Turner-Sloss, and Kass Greenberg

Moving from Environmental Justice to Environmental Equity in the Dayton region, SeMia Bray, Margaret E. Maloney, Brian Martin, Courtney Rutledge, Tom Tappel, Jacie Womack, Leslie King, and Kelly Bohrer

Picturing Community: An Artist Talk and Workshop with Photographer Shon Curtis, Shon Curtis

Redlining: Barriers and Boundaries, Trish Burke-Williams, Dair Arrnold, Carol Bonner, Myla Cardona-Jones, and Jacqueline Housel

Redlining Communities from the Academy: Eliminating Discriminatory Community Engagement Practices, Sierra Leone and Castel Sweet

Redlining to Resettlement: Students Navigate Partnership and Convening Conversations around Housing in Dayton, Rachel Carr, Sarah Behnke, Riley Cronin, Patrick Hoody, Elizabeth Kolb, Sophia Locker, Anna Luepke, Claire Pawlecki, Naomi Pearson, Simone Schuller, Sydney Sparks, and Ellie Worpenberg

Social Inequity and Voting, Christine Corba, Dianne Herman, Jacqueline Housel, Jeremy Lisco, and Lucy Anne McKosky

The Intolerable Cruelty of Midwestern Nice, Jason Harrison

The Role of the Faith Community in Identifying, Challenging, and Changing Racism, Rockney Carter, Samuel N. Dorf, Sheherazadh Ishaq, Satish Joseph, Brian Q. Newcomb, Darshan Sehbi, Simran Sehbi, and Crystal Walker

The Sister Neighborhood Project: Finding Equity and Other Unexpected Outcomes of Improbably Pairings, Peter Benkendorf, Henrietta Thompson, and Cynthia Gehrie

Using Human Rights to Pursue Racial Justice in Dayton, Erica Fields, Sabrina Jordan, Mary E. Tyler, Donald Wiggins, and Joel Pruce

West Dayton Park and Green Space Ecosystem: An Examination of Places, People, and Power, Karlos Marshall and Moses Mbeseha

What’s Stopping Us? How to Leverage Dayton’s Entrepreneurial Resources for Sustainability, Whitney Barklay, Keanna Daniels, Elizabeth Grubb, and Belinda Matthews Stenson

Art & Design Exhibitions