Episode 39: Derik Smith

Hello and welcome to the Baha’i Blogcast with me your host, Rainn Wilson. In this series of podcasts I interview members of the Baha’i Faith and friends from all over the world about their hearts, and minds, and souls, their spiritual journeys, what they’re interested in, and what makes them tick. In this episode, I'm at my home in LA with Derik Smith, a professor in the Department of Literature at Claremont McKenna College in California, and his work focuses on African American literary culture, with a particular interest in poetry. We talk about African American poet and Baha'i, Robert Hayden, plus we look at the concept of black people being likened to the "pupil of the eye" in the Baha'i Writings. We also discuss racism, the prison system, constructive resilience, and the role each one of us can play in ensuring individual and social transformation and justice. I hope you enjoy the conversation! Dr. Smith also teaches and writes about representations of blackness in American film and musical culture. His 2018 monograph, 'Robert Hayden In Verse: New Histories of African American Poetry and the Black Arts Era', recently won the College Language Association's annual book award. His current scholarship focuses on the poetics of rap, and the rise of the genre during the final decades of the twentieth century, as well as the connection between critical race studies and the Baha’i Faith. Smith regularly teaches courses in American prisons and nurtures activist interests in prison studies and pedagogy. He and his family live in Southern California, USA. To find out more about Derik Smith and some of the things we covered in this episode, check out the following links: * Read Derek's essay 'Centering the “Pupil of the Eye”: Blackness, Modernity, and the Revelation of Baha’u’llah' (https://bit.ly/35aHafr) found in The Journal of Baha'i Studies (https://bit.ly/35cS1pe), Volume 29, Number 1 Spring-Summer 2019. * We discuss the following quote: "Thou art like unto the pupil of the eye which is dark in color, yet it is the fount of light and the revealer of the contingent world". –Abdu’l-Baha * We mention the following books: i. 'Robert Hayden in Verse: New Histories of African American Poetry and the Black Arts Era' by Derik Smith: https://amzn.to/378YZxt ii. 'The Book of Certitude (Kitab-i-Iqan)' by Baha'u'llah: https://bit.ly/2XpuDT1 iii. 'The Dawn-Breakers' by Nabil-i-Azam: https://bit.ly/2pqWB40 (Baha'i Blog article: https://bit.ly/33UM1S0) iv. 'God Passes By' by Shoghi Effendi: https://bit.ly/37eIqAf v. 'The Most Holy Book (Kitab-i-Aqdas)' by Baha'u'llah: https://bit.ly/33XC5Hk vi. 'The Advent of Divine Justice' by Shoghi Effendi: https://bit.ly/340xgwM vii. 'Tablets of Baha'u'llah' by Baha'u'llah: https://bit.ly/37pdsFI viii. 'The Writings and Talks of Abdu'l-Baha' by Abdu'l-Baha: https://bit.ly/2r0LAHe * Learn more about Robert Hayden here on Wikipedia: https://bit.ly/2psQ8FT * A collection of poems by Robert Hayden here on Amazon.com: https://amzn.to/37i0uJy * Rainn mentions the writer Anand Giridharadas, author of 'Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World': https://amzn.to/2CM6JHF * Derek talks about volunteering at the Baha'i World Centre: http://www.bwc.org/ and from this Baha'i Blog article: https://bit.ly/2NYILPT * We discuss "Constructive Resilience", an example of which you can read about from this article by Michael Karlberg: https://bit.ly/37hs1eo * Listen to Michael Karlberg here on the Baha'i Blogcast with Rainn Wilson: https://bit.ly/2KxZXcK Be sure to subscribe to the Baha’i Blogcast for more episodes on: * YouTube: bit.ly/2JTNmBO * iTunes: apple.co/2leHPHL * Soundcloud: @bahaiblogcast * Spotify: spoti.fi/2IXRAnb If you would like to find out more about the Baha'i Faith visit BAHAI.ORG, and for more great Baha'i-inspired content check out BAHAIBLOG.NET: bahaiblog.net/ Thanks for listening! -Rainn Wilson