This month, we shine a spotlight on Dr. Constance Bailey, a dynamic and multi-talented scholar whose work bridges folklore, African American literature, and WGSS. In this engaging interview, Dr. Bailey shares her journey to becoming an affiliate faculty member in WGSS—one that involves a bit of chance, a lot of passion, and even a stint as a blackjack dealer. She discusses her innovative course on Black Feminist Folklore, her dedication to mentoring students into scholarly conversations, and her exciting research on Black women’s expressive cultures, humor, and ghostlore. From co-editing multiple forthcoming collections to dreaming up a course on Black kink, Dr. Bailey’s work exemplifies the interdisciplinarity and intellectual rigor of WGSS. Read the full interview to learn more about her contributions, her unexpected joys within the department (including a Beyoncé-fueled road trip), and her advice for faculty considering WGSS affiliation.
Can you tell us a little about yourself and how you became an affiliate faculty member in WGSS?
Most info about me can be found on my website: constancebailey.com. (Yes, that was absolutely a shameless self plug). Things you might not learn from the website. I'm a mother of three, I'm originally from Natchez, MS. I worked as a blackjack dealer while finishing my master’s degree. I hold group fitness certifications in numerous formats including Les Mills’ Body Pump, Zumba, AMPD Kettlebell, Powerflow, and most recently kickboxing (this is not all of them). I've had both hips replaced due to degenerative osteoarthritis, and I need a knee replacement due to the same condition. I am currently on about 100 committees (this is only slightly hyperbolic) so I clearly have difficulty saying no. I've been a member of my sorority for 25 years. I'm on the local planning committee of the American Folklore Society which meets in Atlanta in October. That’s actually been a pretty interesting experience. I'm also the Digital Media Review Editor for the Journal of American Folklore even though I have no clue what that means. I also have no clue how I became affiliated with WGSS. Probably my good friend Dr. Scerbo said you should come hang with the cool kids, so I did. I’d also met Dr. Burnett at a welcome event for the college of Arts and Sciences. They both seemed cool and reasonably sane, so I figured why not. Also, I'm generally concerned about the rights of the LBGTQIA+ community, so it seemed like a natural fit.
What WGSS-related courses have you taught, and how do they fit into the program’s goals?
I'm currently teaching Black Feminist Folklore which is a WGSS grad topics course. It fits within the program’s goals because the interdisciplinary construction of the course is designed to get students to think about Black women’s subcultures and expressive culture as an expression of their intersecting identities.
How do you weave WGSS themes into your teaching, even in courses outside the program?
I'm always asking students to either consider the role of gender and sexuality or to apply a feminist/womanist lens to things they are interrogating. For example, in my American literature course, even though the theme is food, class, and culture, I ask student to consider how certain spaces and activities are gendered (e.g. kitchen, baking) or to ask how would a feminist reading of a story or text differ from a Marxist critique, an Afropessimist critique, etc.
What are your main research interests, and how do they connect to WGSS?
My research usually falls into one of two broad categories: folklore or contemporary African American literature. Most, if not all, of my research interest center on Black women, and I'm interested in Black women’s expressive cultures. Black women’s comedy and humor especially. I also research and write about foodways, Southern literature, and the educational rites of passage of Black college students.
Are you working on any research projects right now that you’re really excited about?
The thing that I'm most excited about is my first manuscript-The Black Folktastic: Black Speculation and the Sankofa Aesthetic. It expands my dissertation, which was on Black women’s speculative fiction. Although they are edited projects moreso than research, I'm excited about several collections. Joanay Tann, a grad student in WGSS, assisted with Conversations With Kiese Laymon, which will be released in September. I'm a contributing co-editor of Get It While It’s Hot: Gas Station and Convenience Food in the U.S. South, which will be released next spring. I wrote an essay called “A Taste of Nostalgia: The Ubiquitous Candy Lady in Black Communities” for that collection. I'm also co-editing The No Limit Reader: Music, Place, and Space in the Gulf South, and one of the WGSS graduate students submitted an essay for it so that’s exciting. I'm supposed to be working on an essay called "Spectral Queerness and Ancestral Hauntings: A Comparative Analysis of Queer Ghostlore in Randall Kenan's 'Let the Dead Bury Their Dead' and Tananarive Due's 'Ghost Summer’ " for a collection on Ghostlore that a friend is editing, but I've gotten swamped here lately. I’ll finish it after third year review!
How do you see your research contributing to WGSS conversations or influencing your students?
I usually require my students to submit conference abstracts or submit essays to journals so I am quite literally asking them join a conversation or shape the conversation of other scholars.
What’s it been like collaborating with the WGSS department?
It’s been great! I have the opportunity to mentor others and be mentored. What’s not to love?
Have there been any department events or projects you’ve especially enjoyed being part of?
I loved supporting the cohort of WGSS students at WGS South last year. That was a good time. I also enjoyed the retreat. Sharing ideas and learning from my colleagues is always time well spent.
What do you enjoy most about working with WGSS students and faculty?
Maybe the collegiality, but it’s hard to say because there are a ton of things.
Has anything about being part of WGSS surprised you or brought unexpected joys?
Cowboy Carter dropped on my birthday last year and Dr. Scerbo and Dr. Coleman brought me gifts and indulged me while I listened to the album on repeat while headed back from WGS South. I think we also had a rooftop dance party with some other WGS colleagues from different institutions. It was an amazing time!
What would you say to other faculty who are thinking about affiliating with WGSS?
They should absolutely do it, and they’re probably engaging with more WGSS content than they think!
What’s on your teaching or research wishlist for the next few years?
My passion project is a book on the Black college student, but I'm equally excited about an edited collection on Black Feminist Folklore, and probably a monograph on Black women’s proverbs or humor.
Teaching wise, I’d love to develop a course called Black kink. I think the BDSM community is a fascinating subculture that is worth exploring in greater depth.
Are there any upcoming WGSS-related projects or ideas you’re excited to dive into?
I've submitted an NEH Collaborative Research Grant with a colleague in the music department and another at the University of Louisiana. The project is titled “Your Blues Ain’t Like Mine: Black Women in Roots, Blues, & Country Music.” If there’s still an NEH and IF the project is funded, I’d love to have a WGSS grad student come on board as the project assistant. I’d also love to teach a course connected to this topic-something like Blues Women in the Popular Imagination that would look at Shug Avery, Ursa Corregidora from Gayl Jones’ novel Corregidora, Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, etc. Angela Davis’s Blues Legacies and Black Feminism would be an important foundational text for the course.