About
James Gerard Noel
James grew up in South-East London and now lives in Northern California. He earned his PhD from Goldsmith’s (University of London) and maintains a deep interest in trauma studies, cultural memory, and nineteenth-century literature, but his recent work focuses on classroom techniques and pedagogy. In a former life, James played professional basketball in Europe. Currently, when James is not the dean of English and equity pedagogy at Diablo Valley College, he enjoys spending time at Oakland Zoo with his one-and-a-half-year-old daughter.
New Book
FROM LEXINGTON BOOKS
Safe Space Rhetoric and Race in the Academy:
A Reckoning
CONTENTS
Preface Acknowledgments Content Warning Introduction: Looking for Haidt and Lukianoff Chapter One: American Values
Chapter Two: Trust Thy Neighbor
Chapter Three: On Employee Safety
Chapter Four: Difficult Lessons
Chapter Five: January 6 Chapter Six: Engerrrllland!
Chapter Seven: November in My Soul
Epilogue: For Lawrence and Damarie
Afterword References Index About the Author
ABOUT THE BOOK
On May 25, 2020, George Floyd was brutally killed at the hands of the police. Amplified by Donald Trump’s handling of the incident, Floyd’s death caused what some would term as a “racial reckoning”—a reckoning that pervaded different parts of American and even international life. As Floyd was killed during an arrest, the matter of public safety did not escape this reckoning, prompting some to call for the defunding of law enforcement and to question what is truly meant by safety in society. In Safe Space Rhetoric and Race in the Academy: A Reckoning, James Gerard Noel contends that national discussions about safety should not be excluded from conversations about safety in academia. Noel examines the presence of safe space rhetoric in academia and illustrates the ways that designating safe spaces can be a panacea for chronic institutional problems groups on campus may face. The book unflinchingly interrogates what it means to be safe in academia in the hope to find a starting place for radical possibility.
Special 30% Discount Offer! To get discount, use code LXFANDF30 when ordering. (This order form is not for Resellers or Institutional Bulk Orders)
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Hardback: ISBN 978-1-7936-5551-6 January 2023 Regular price: $95.00, £73.00
After discount: $66.50, £51.10
ebook: ISBN 978-1-7936-5552-3 January 2023 Regular price: $45.00, £35.00
After discount: $31.50, £24.50 *eBooks can only be ordered online.
Reviews
“Safe Space Rhetoric and Race in the Academy: A Reckoning brings new insights to safe space rhetoric and adds to existing scholarship. This book deserves to be read by student learners at secondary and tertiary levels providing provocative explorations of physical and intellectual safety.”— Marl’ene Edwin, Goldsmiths, University of London
“Dr. Noel weaves a piercing personal account of racism against a backdrop of the murder of George Floyd and the pandemic, the U.S. and the UK, and sports and education. This book illuminates the complexities of the current racial discourse in the United States from a unique vantage point that is his alone and inspires a call to action for us all. A privilege to read.”— Jade K. Agua, USC Race and Equity Center
“James has managed to strike a wonderful balance between sharing his personal story and examining race from a more formal, academic viewpoint. Anyone who wants to better understand how racial dynamics play out for those who work to support our students would be well-served by reading this book.”— Eugene Whitlock, College and University Professional Association–Human Resources
PUBLICATIONS
BOOK PROJECTS
Safe Space Rhetoric and Race in the Academy: A Reckoning
Floating Stages: Racial Performance in Herman Melville’s 1850s Texts
This Side of Safety
Five Minutes from Coloma
PUBLICATIONS (SELECTED)
“ Diversity, Reading Publics, and the Community College,” A New Companion to Herman Melville. Ed. Wyn Kelley and Christopher Ohge. Wiley-Blackwell, 2022.
“On Mandela and Safe Space,” Nelson Mandela and His Legacy: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, ed. Thula Simpson and Elizabeth Williams, Manchester UP (solicited)
“Between the Whaler and Me,” Leviathan, A Journal of Melville Studies, ed. Samuel Otter.
“Far from Home,” Open My Eyes Open My Soul, ed. Yolanda King and Elodia Tate. NY: McGraw-Hill, (2004): 66-68.
CONFERENCE PAPERS AND PRESENTATIONS (SELECTED)
“Hill and Gully Rider: Race and Extemporaneous Composition in John Huston’s Moby-Dick (1956)” International Melville Conference, NYU, New York, June 2019.
“Melville and Existentialism” Diverse Lineages of Existentialism II, Washington D.C., June 2019.
“Making Melville Legible: A Symposium Celebrating Completion of the Northwestern-Newberry Edition” Newberry Library, Chicago, April 2019.
“Before Pulling the Trigger: A Workshop on Trigger Warnings and Trauma-Informed Pedagogy” Los Medanos College: Equity Series, Pittsburg, December 2018.
“Douglass Now: A Bicentennial Workshop Celebrating Frederick Douglass” Los Medanos College: Equity Series, Pittsburg, December 2018.
“Children’s Bodies, Adult Unease: Douglass, Melville, and Early Trauma,” “Frederick Douglass across and against Times, Places, and Disciplines” Conference, Paris, October 2018.
“There’s No Place Like Home: Moby-Dick and Childhood Trauma,” Maritime Research Center Lecture Series, August 2018.
“The Muse of Kanye’s Story,” Caribbean and Diasporic Dialogues Conference Series, London, June 2018.
“Lesson In/Security: Redefining Security for African-Caribbean Students in UK Universities,” Caribbean and Diasporic Dialogues Conference Series, London, June 2017.
“Racial Spectacles,” International Melville Conference, London, June 2017
“We Don’t Need No Stinking Badges!: Interrogating “Safe Space” Rhetoric in Academia,” MELUS Conference, Boston, April 2017.