Imagining America, Author at Imagining America

Slide with a purple and pink background. The title says, "My Healing Playlist" in purple. There are two purple half-ovals. They each have four songs listed. On the left it has, "Grief"~William Grant Still, "One Nation Under a Groove"~Funkadelic, "Frequency"~Jhene Aiko, and "Acknowledgment"~John Coltrane. On the right it has, "Float"~Janelle Monae, "Journey in Satchidananda"~Alice Coltrane, "Total Praise"~Richard Smallwood, and "One Sunday in the South" from Montgomery Variations~Margaret Bonds.

April 10, 2026 | PAGE Blog Salon

Participatory Music, Sound Experiences, and Community Health

Ashley Martin-Casler. Though music is often a part of our daily lives, its potential as a vehicle for healing is less present as we go about our everyday routines. In our public consciousness, do we recognize music as a channel for emotional modulation, which can impact our sense of wellbeing?

On a blue paper looking background, a white box in the center has the text, "Reclaiming Community, Bodily, & Data Autonomy". Below in white handwriting it says, "By Leah M.F.". In the upper left corner a big paper cut-out says "VISIONS" in white text on a water blue background.

April 10, 2026 | PAGE Blog Salon

Imagining Data as an Extension of our Bodies

Leah Friedman. For the last decade, I have been working as a professional dance artist. I have danced and toured with several contemporary dance companies in Philadelphia, PA and Phoenix, AZ, have taught countless modern dance classes, facilitated movement improvisation sessions, and created my own digital and live dance performances.

Collage on the cover of a black composition notebook. It includes cut-outs of a hand drawn eye, flowers, a heart, a cloud, a lamp post, music notes, and an image of James Baldwin. It also has some text reading, "faith", "communal", and "P.O.P. (Present on Purpose)".

April 10, 2026 | PAGE Blog Salon

Read the Room: Go Tell the Community We Heal Together

Asia N. Ashley. In a moment when books are being legislated out of classrooms, and the stories that reflect our lives are being pulled from shelves, gathering around a text becomes an act of resistance and of care. Read the Room offers a space for people who crave connecting outside of high-social, work, or academic environments.

Photo of an old newspaper with the article title, "Have We a Dusky Peril | Hindu Hordes Invading the State". On the right side is a large question mark with a graphic of man with a head wrap, inside the question mark. Below the title are other drawings of men with head wraps.

April 10, 2026 | PAGE Blog Salon

Assembling Zines in the Fault Lines

Shromona Mandal. My dissertation research asks how Hindu Nationalism foments in the wealthy racially segregated suburbs and ethnoburbs of Metro Atlanta and my ethnographic method of “studying up” requires me to straddle the simultaneity of power and marginalization that my interlocutors navigate.

February 10, 2026 | Blog

MAGICAL QUESTIONS: RESPONSES FROM THE 2025 IA NATIONAL GATHERING, Part 2

Weaving together lessons from Toni Morrison’s Beloved and Sekou Sundiata’s The America Project, The IA Clearing was a special track at the 2025 IA National Gathering, activated through a series of spaces, activities, and listening resources. In this post, we invite you to listen to responses from participants and add your own.

February 3, 2026 | News & Press

2026 IA Regional Collaboratories: Call for Proposals

The 2026 invitation for IA Collaboratories welcomes proposals from IA member campuses to form communities around practices of imagination. This year we are prioritizing proposals from regional clusters of campuses and partners with an intentional effort to support and activate regional engagement in the IA network. Proposals are due March 13.

January 30, 2026 | IA StoryShare 2025

IA StoryShare, Episode 14: Chaz Barracks and Sylvia Gale

For this season of IA Storyshare, we brought together participants from the most recent 2025 IA National Gathering at Las Cruces, NM. In this second episode of the season, longtime collaborators Chaz Barracks and Sylvia Gale talk about black joy and play, creative administration, and surviving the academy.