The Department of African American and African Studies faculty wish to motivate and inspire others by sharing what inspires them in their work and personal life through personally created Sonic Introductions.

The introductions consist of audio clips from interviews combined with music and ambient sounds, all selected to showcase what is important and influential to each faculty member and their scholarship. The concept was first introduced last year and taken up again this year on a voluntary basis in AAAS.

“Music helps us all to survive, thrive, inspire, move, remember and feel. Sound and feeling music can be great sources of knowledge, motivators for study and energies for living,” said Ruth Nicole Brown, inaugural chairperson of the AAAS Department. “The problem is schooling often drains us of our spirit and creative energy by promoting a life of the mind detached from the heart and all that our hands can make. In AAAS, we are scholars, artists, activists and cultural workers who appreciate a good sound.”

To learn more about what inspires the AAAS faculty, press play on any of the Sonic Introductions and enjoy the music and sounds that reflect a love of self, community and AAAS.

This article was first featured on the College of Arts and Letters website.