Go backstage at one of his concerts and there’s a good chance you’ll find Assistant Professor of English G’Ra Asim grading a stack of student papers before he takes the stage. As a writer, Asim is known for illuminating aspects of the Black experience that elude the mainstream, work that’s probed our cultural fascination with awkwardness. While on the road with his New York City-based punk band Baby Got Back Talk, he sat down with the Ampersand to discuss writing, performing, teaching — and why he’s not afraid to make things uncomfortable.
How does your career as a punk artist intersect with your writing?
Energy, irreverence, and imagination are the cornerstones of my practice as a musician and my work as a writer. I’m a restlessly creative person and often exploring an idea in one context opens up dimensions I’ll explore in another sphere. My experience as a performing songwriter is something I frequently draw on as a teacher in the classroom.
Your writing explores America’s preoccupation with awkwardness. Why does this interest you?
Awkwardness had a pop culture moment in the last decade — everything from the MTV show “Awkward” to Issa Rae’s web series “The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl.” It seemed like there was this stylization of awkwardness as something goofy or charming. But, anecdotally, I noticed people seemed really concerned about doing something awkward. I began thinking about the similarities between awkwardness and what Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard said about anxiety being the “dizziness of freedom.” It’s an awareness that you are ultimately the author of your own destiny. While that might be exciting, it’s also terrifying. Fear of awkwardness functions as a kind of rumble strip: If you step off the paved road and fully embrace your freedom, it’s going to be dangerous and scary.
Are there any upsides to awkwardness?
People tend to experience visceral discomfort when they are in an unfamiliar environment. This could include contact with people of a different class, race, or gender identity. That feeling of unease sometimes guides the choices people make about who they associate with and where they go.
The argument I make in my writing is that we can be a more loving civilization — both in terms of giving and receiving compassion — if we are willing to incrementally expose ourselves to awkwardness. My hunch is that, to create a better world, we have to move through awkwardness and endure the dizziness of our own freedom. Awkwardness can show us where there are gaps or opportunities to move towards that better world.
Do you also do this in your music? Punk is not known for its universally appealing sound.
Baby Got Back Talk is more of a punk band in attitude and philosophy than in a particular sound. The sensibility of our music is about participating in the tradition of punk music, drawing on a collective resolve within our audience to shake things up.
Do you encourage the pursuit of awkwardness with your writing students?
Often, a student will tell me they want to write an essay about a specific topic but, when I read what they wrote, it’s actually about something else. When I give them that feedback, it can be uncomfortable for them. What we often end up figuring out is that the subject they anticipated writing about and the thing they actually wrote about are connected on a subconscious level and that they had to discover that through the writing process. Instead of viewing it as a misstep, I encourage them to anticipate these moments of discomfort.
What we are working towards in an essay is the de-bureaucratization of the mind. Artists must discover how thoughts, feelings, memories, and dreams percolate in different parts of the brain. Through writing and revising, we discover relationships between these elements and present them in a reader-friendly fashion. To do that, you must have patience, persistence, and stamina for awkwardness.
