Current Issue: Reconciliation
2010-2011
A Conversation with Sean Hill
Ashley David
Sean Hill’s first book Blood Ties & Brown Liquor was published by The University of Georgia Press in 2008. He was the Editor-in-Chief of Mandala Journal from 1998-2000, and he spoke with current Editor-in-Chief, Ashley David, via email in early 2011.
Ashley David: Mandala Journal is thrilled that you're joining the conversation this issue. Perhaps I should say rejoining it. You were the editor-in-chief for Mandala Journal in its early days as a print journal (Vol. 2, 1998-1999 and Vol. 3, 1999-2000). Vol. 3, a black and white perfect bound volume, is chock full of work exclusively by students of African descent at UGA. It's a current staff favorite. We love the physical object for its design and heft, and we love that life at UGA ten years ago included such strong African American voices. Tell us about the early days...your vision, the students, the work...
Sean Hill: To get ready for this conversation, I went down into the basement to look for my old copies of the first three issues of Mandala. I could find only the two I worked on, volumes 2 and 3. I think the first Mandala was produced a couple of years or so before those, and then the journal went in to hiatus. I’m glad to hear volume 3 is a favorite of the current staff. At the time it felt pretty ambitious with its range of voices and concerns and inclusion of visual art. It’s my favorite, too. David Taylor’s vision guided the process of revamping the design from the saddle-stitched newsletter format of the first two. Our stated mission was to be a medium for creative expression by students of African descent at the University of Georgia. The graduate and undergraduate student staff that came together for that purpose were mostly from the English, Journalism, and Comparative Literature departments, but I think we had folks from all over campus. And we came to the task of publishing a literary magazine from a variety of backgrounds. We were simply a group of students who saw a need and with the guidance of people like Seretha Williams, Dr. Barbara McCaskill, and Dr. Ron Baxter Miller and the generous financial support of the Office of Minority Services and Programs and the Institute for African American Studies we brought Mandala back. We felt empowered by the opportunity to publish and support a range of creative work produced by Black students. That was our vision—to showcase and encourage the variety of voices among the Black students, and we were excited to publish in volume 3 not only poetry but also visual art by artists like Jerushia Graham, as well as nonfiction pieces like “What’s in a Name” by Brian Williams and Akinloye Ojo’s “Why Are You Not ‘talking black’: I Ain’t Black Enough Fo You?” As Marvin Gladney, the assistant editor of volume two, wrote in his prefatory statement, “Mandala is an attempt at encouraging the development of our creative selves.” As a staff, that was what we believed our hard work would do for the Black students on that campus.
AD: Wow. It sounds like you had a wonderful groundswell of support and enthusiasm in, and for, the black community on campus when you were here in the late 1990s. The scene at UGA has shifted some since then, and the journal has gone through several changes in vision, scope, and format. Today, we’re publishing an online journal that is international and that defines multicultural in broad terms. In addition, the UGA student voices represented in the journal are primarily editorial rather than contributor voices. [See the About Us section of the site and the Editor’s Welcome to the Cosmopolitanism issue for more details.] What do you make of all these changes and do you think they reflect larger trends in thinking about concepts like race, identity, multicultural, and Africana Studies?
SH: I think you all have taken Mandala in a wonderful direction. The writers and artists you’re exposing the editorial staff to and putting them in contact with are fantastic. And your inclusion of works from the elementary school students in the Cosmopolitanism issue is a terrific way to engage the Athens community. I think the inclusiveness of your range and your international scope will serve the students who work on the journal and the rest of those on campus in a different way than Mandala did in the early days, but this way is just as important. Exposure to great creative work can be just as important as having one’s own creative work showcased. And moving to an online format you have a chance to reach a larger audience. It also seems to me that these moves do reflect the trend of inclusiveness and a broadening of definitions of race, identity, multicultural. Inclusiveness and challenging and broadening definitions were part of our mission; we set out to “publish work that rethinks, interrogates, and celebrates unity and diversity of the Diaspora and the voices within it.”
Please click "Next" to see Part 2 of the Conversation with Sean Hill.