Building on the goals of a traditional lens

    A traditional lens essay asks you to read a central or primary text through the lens of a theoretical work. The theoretical text (the lens) is meant to illuminate an aspect of the primary text and the primary text can reveal something about the consequences or significance of the theoretical text. In other words, a lens paper is meant to open up a dialogue between two sources so that both texts speak to each other and generate new meanings together. Building on the goals of a traditional lens essay, for this prompt I would like you to imagine that you have the opportunity to facilitate a conversation between hooks and one of the author(s) of a theoretical texts we have read over the past few weeks (Collins, Martinez, Hadix et.al) . The goals of the dialogue are to: Encourage a conversation in which hooks and either Collins/Martinez/Haddix et. al. explore the significance and consequences of their writing when thought of in relation to each other. For instance, if you choose to put hooks in conversation with Martinez, you might explore how Martinez’s theory of counterstory intersects with hooks’ memoir. Explore your own understanding of hooks’ work alongside one of the theoretical texts we read together. This is a chance for you to also ask questions and, in imagining a response, explore your own understanding of these texts. Structure: To structure the dialogue, you–the facilitator–should provide opening remarks that work as a framing device for the dialogue. In the opening, you can state your own interest in facilitating the dialogue–noting why you chose to put hooks in conversation with the other author– as well as introduce the authors. In the dialogue itself, you can play around with structure–perhaps you would like to pose one question to both authors to answer; or, you might have a more organic dialogue that emerges between yourself, hooks, and the other text such that everyone has a chance to ask each other questions. I’ll leave the structure up to you! A few more things: In your dialogue, I would like you to close-read and analyze at least two passages from hooks and two passages from the theoretical text of your choosing.