Research and Methodology: Inscription as Liberating Practice

During this lecture Dr. Williams explained to us the components of Research and Methodology. She stated that the components of research are statement of the problem or challenge, current state of research, methodology, framework, development of the thesis, and conclusion. Dr. Williams also encouraged all students to “pursue a lifetime of independent discovery”. Dr. Williams also discussed the goals of freshman seminar. This lecture will truly help me throughout the rest of my years at this university. I know I will encounter many more research projects and may even do research over the summer and now I better understand the different components of research.

"Omoluabi:" Self Actualization and Communal Responsibility

During this lecture, Dr. Gbadegesin introduced us to the talking drum. This is an instrument that is used to communicate across the land. It has different tones which can be used to determine different things. Nobody really knows what the talking drum is saying except the person who is playing it. Then he told us the story Iwa. It was about a man named Orunmila (God of Wisdom) who was married to Iwa (who stood for existence/character) and he treated her wrong so she left him. Then Orunmila traveled with the talking drum looking for Iwa, whom he found and they got back together. The moral of the story was to respect women and to not take anything for granted. Then Dr. Gbadegesin told us about the Principles of Ma’at and the Instructions of Ptahhotep, which he said helped to lay the basis of the Ten Commandments. This was yet another lecture which showed me how Africans set up the basis for a modern day concept. This lecture also taught me a lot about character, I especially drew a lot from the store.

Practice of Freedom and Justice: Representative Thinkers

In this lecture, Dr. Pollard spoke a lot about religion and he began to put a lot of things into perspective for me. He described religion as a phenomenon of humans with the sacred or divine. He took the idea of religion back to when the Africans first arrived on the North American continent. The Africans entered the new world with their own culture, which helped developed the African American belief system. The modern African American belief system is based on equality and freedom. Then Dr. Pollard said that the definition of freedom has changed throughout the years based on the place where society is at the time. Modern thoughts about freedom consist of social, political, and economical justice. Then he went into description about African Americans who were pioneers. People like Howard Thurman, Jerena Lee, and Sojourner Truth. This lecture made me think about exactly how ideas of freedom have changed throughout the years. I thought about how back in the 60’s freedom was more about equal rights for all races and how now freedom is more about people being able to live the way they want without having to fear prosecution.