Abstract
This analysis focuses on the use of slam poetry as a mechanism to inspire activism by specifically analyzing poems that pertain to three different political areas: identity politics, intersectional feminism, and mental health. For each category, I analyze a set of poems to uncover the poet’s implications by assessing both the lyrics and the poet’s performance aspects. For identity politics, I consider four poems, two pertaining to individual experience based on race and cultural identity and two speaking to LGBTQ+ experience. In the intersectional politics section, I focus on violence against women and use two poems that express different perspectives on the issue. For mental health, I analyze a poem that spotlights the experience of living with OCD and another that illuminates gaps in knowledge about depression. Ultimately, I find that these poems are used to educate the audience about social issues and injustices by emotionally impacting the viewers. These poems serve as catalysts for members of the community to get involved and spread awareness for causes through the method of storytelling.
Semester/Year of Award
Spring 2020
Mentor
Erik Liddell
Mentor Department Affiliation
Language and Cultural Studies, Anthropology, and Sociology
Access Options
Restricted Access Thesis
Document Type
Bachelor Thesis
Degree Name
Honors Scholars
Degree Level
Bachelor's
Department
English
Department Name when Degree Awarded
English and Theatre
Recommended Citation
Tiller, Kyndall, "Poetry as Activism: The Political Implications of Performance Poetry" (2020). Honors Theses. 748.
https://encompass.eku.edu/honors_theses/748
