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AROUND THE QUADS5 Minutes with ... Farah Griffin
Professor of English and Comparative Literature and African-American Studies Farah Griffin is director of the Institute for Research in African-American Studies. She earned her A.B. in American history and literature at Harvard and Ph.D. in American studies at Yale and joined Columbia’s faculty in 2001. CCT caught up with her as the spring semester ended. Q: Where are you from? A: I grew up in Philly. Q: What did you want to be when you were a child? A: I always wanted to be a writer, from the day I knew what a pencil was. Q: Tell us about the books you are working on. A: Hopefully this summer I’ll finish the book that I’m co-writing with a musician friend, concentrating on the time (mid-’50s through 1961) when Miles Davis and John Coltrane played together and the way something extraordinary results when two people are briefly in the same space. The book I’ll work on in the fall is a cultural history of 1940s New York, told through the experience of women artists. Q: What are you reading? A: A book by historian Michael Gomez, Reversing Sail: A History of the African Diaspora, a really clear overview that starts in Biblical times. Q: What made you decide to pursue African-American studies? A: I had parallel educations. In my formal education, I didn’t get exposed to African-American studies. But my parents were very involved in my extra-classroom studies, and I got it from them. In college, I took two courses and fell in love with the field. Q: Why did you decide to come to Columbia? A: I’d had a relationship with Columbia already because I was part of Bob O’Meally’s jazz group. There wasn’t a Center for Jazz Studies yet, but the group met to discuss interdisciplinary studies in jazz. Q: Was it an adjustment to come to Columbia and NYC after working at Penn? A: They are similar, elite Ivy League schools, but so much about being at Columbia is also about being in New York, facilitating things in the city. Q: What do you like most about New York? A: Just walking down the street. Today I was in Chinatown, then took the 6 train to Spanish Harlem. It’s energizing to walk down the street and hear all the different languages. Q: What do you like least? A: The very thing I love about the city can be very emotionally and physically exhausting. Sometimes it’s so frantic that it’s hard to hear yourself think. Q: What’s new at the Institute for Research in African-American Studies? A: The most exciting thing is the number of new students coming through. We’ve always been transnational in scope, and we’re shifting focus and taking it seriously. We started a visiting artists/scholar program in 2004–05. Having those people teaching a course and giving a reading or lecture has really energized the place. Q: Are you teaching this summer? A: I’m not teaching, but I plan to take an intensive language course, either continuing Spanish or trying French. Q: What is your favorite class to teach? A: The lecture“African-American Literature II, From 1940.” So many books take place in New York, it really enriches the class at Columbia. I also have a new course I want to develop about theorizing the African Diaspora. Q: Where do you live? A: Morningside Drive, which I love. My living room overlooks the sunrise at Morningside Park. Q: What is your favorite food? A: Two favorites: Japanese and Mediterranean (Greek and Turkish). Q: Coffee or tea? A: Coffee in the morning, tea in the afternoon. Q: What is your favorite vacation spot? A: I like to be near the water. I spent my 20s in Europe and my 30s in Africa, so I’ll probably spend my 40s in Latin America. Q: If you were not teaching, what would you be doing? A: Probably trying to write full-time. In a fantasy world, if I had talent, I’d be singing. Interview and photo by Laura Butchy ’04 Arts
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