Hanif Abdurraqib (Photo by Maddie McGarvey)
Highlighting the importance of Black performance in American culture
by Emily Ambery. For New Pittsburgh Courier
Hanif Abdurraqib, an author, poet and cultural critic, warned his audience at the Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland that he has a labyrinthian conversational nature.
And he delivered on Monday night, April 17, as he spoke for 90 minutes about everything from his poem inspired by R&B group TLC’s “No Scrubs” to country music icon Johnny Cash, religion, his experiences in jail and playing basketball—to name a few.
Abdurraqib, 39, who spoke at the event sponsored by the Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures series, focuses his writings on the role of Black performance in American culture, and throughout the evening shared poems and excerpts from his books, including the forthcoming, “There’s Always This Year.”
He said the newest collection of essays uses the metaphor of basketball to address mortality.
“It’s almost certainly not about basketball,” Abdurraqib said. “It’s most easily defined as a book about basketball, but here’s the thing: I am about the same age as Lebron James, we both grew up in Ohio, both playing basketball, with varying degrees of success.”
He continued to contemplate his aging as parallel to James and how that served as an inspiration and a framework for his not-yet-released book.
“To see him in a form where aging is tactile, thinking that, ‘he’s getting older’ and I remember thinking: ‘well, wait a minute, he’s getting older!’” he said.
Abdurraqib is a Columbus, Ohio, native. Speaking in Pittsburgh, he kept his audience enraptured, which responded with punctures of laughter and applause.
The lecture began with Abdurraqib reading from one of his favorite poets, Yona Harvey, a University of Pittsburgh professor, and her poem, “Q.”
He then recalled his visit to Woodland Hills High School earlier in the day and some of the questions students asked, before contemplating the concepts of obsession and making a home for oneself in a single place.
“Staying in a place, making a home for yourself in one place and not trying to fight your way out of it, that too, is a type of obsession,” Abdurraqib said. “Delving so deeply into curiosity and understanding that the more depth you gain, the more potential for exits you find even if you don’t take them.”
Hailing from the East Side of Columbus, Abdurraqib shared his love for his home and how that affection ties into the framework of basketball in his upcoming book.
“I really wanted to fight against this idea of the Black person wants to exit the place that has loved them,” he said. “Part of ‘There’s Always This Year’ is a reconsideration of what it means to stay, not even in defiance of anything, just staying because you love a place.”
Abdurraqib’s words seemed to resonate with the audience.
“I love to read, and I love that we get exposed to authors who are changing the world, and that the authors are always involved in a school event whenever they come,” said Christine Crow, who was in the audience. “The lecture series brings diverse and important work to the Pittsburgh community.”
At the conclusion of his talk, Abdurraqib sat down with Tahirah Walker, a Point Park University professor and author of a literature blog called, “Black Book Lady.”
Walker asked about Abdurraqib’s most recently published book, “A Little Devil in America: Notes and Praise of Black Performance.”
Then, following in his earlier warning of labyrinthian tendencies, they discussed Pittsburgh Jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal, who died on April 16 at age 92; Black women artists in ‘A Little Devil in America’; the Louisiana State University hoops player Angel Reese; sneakers; Meredith Hunter, an 18-year-old man killed in 1969 while attending the Altamont Speedway Free Festival; and Soul Train.
“I’ve always seen Black performance everywhere,” Abdurraqib said. “I like, additionally, the nuances of performing in smaller movements, the way eye contact can have a sentence within it or the way a nod can signal an entire entry point to a conversation; these interactions and affections, among Black people specifically, can be unspoken.”
Lisa Schroeder, president and CEO of The Pittsburgh Foundation, introduced Abdurraqib and emphasized the foundation’s commitment to diversity in arts, noting that earlier this year the foundation committed to a new, $50 million, five-year plan that focuses on diversity and social justice.
“We believe in the transformational power of art and in the talent and strength of the artists based here in our community,” Schroeder said.
About Post Author
