Fulbright Scholar: Chantal James

While many graduating seniors were contemplating their next steps, Chantal James, C'2007, knew exactly where she was headed. Thanks to the Fulbright Foundation, the Spelman philosophy major with minors in French and creative writing, will spend the 2007-2008 academic year in Morocco working on her novel, tentatively titled "Writing the Body's Motion in Morocco. " The book will explore mass movements of transmigration into and out of Morocco.

"I am excited and daunted by the opportunity to write a novel in Morocco with the Fulbright grant," says James.

James has been interested in writing since she was a young child. "As long as I can remember, I've been reading everything I can get my hands on. I beleive that writers of poetry and fiction play a fundamental role in shaping culture and in telling truth. I also believe that art frees the artist and frees the world." she says.

The recipient of the 2006 Prize for Fiction at the Hollins University literary festival, James' poem, "The Christ-bearer," will appear in the 2007 edition of "Kakalak," an anthology of the best poetry written by North and South Carolina poets.

James served as the editor of "Focus," Spelman's print literary journal, and
editor-at-large for "Static Diary," a communal memoir and vehicle of freedom for boundary-breaking art and words. Because writing is in her blood, James also worked as a copy editor for "Afrolution" Magazine, founded by fellow Spelman alumna Barbara Furlow, C' 2007. She and Brittny Ray, C'2007, a Fulbright Scholar who will travel to Thailand for her studies, are also currently casting roles for a play they co-wrote.

"I believe that writing is a path to wisdom; every older writer I know is wise, and sitting at the feet of older writers has been one of my greatest and most humbling honors. Spelman has afforded me the opportunity to meet some of my heroes, in this way," James reflects.

Last summer, James interned at "Glamour Magazine" in New York, and Scholastic Inc, the children's publisher, the previous summer. She moderated SisterFire, the AUC's only women-only open mic, which she calls, "a safe and healing space for women."

James, one of the organizers of the September 20 protest against Sexual Violence in the AUC, says she is fighter for personal liberation. "I believe in freedom with a sacredness. I believe in our ultimate obligation to free ourselves, and I believe that personal liberation radiates outward because as Toni Cade Bambara said, "Revolution begins with the self."

Chantal was a member of the Toni Cade Bambara Scholar Activist Collective, and has presented at the Women's Resource and Resource Center's Toni Cade Annual Conference. "The warmth and power of the Women's Center here at Spelman has been really formative for me."