In today’s episode, we sit down with Dr. Marilyn Sanders Mobley, a distinguished scholar, author, and academic leader. As founder of the African American Studies program at George Mason University and former Vice President for Inclusion, Diversity, and Equal Opportunity at Case Western Reserve University, Mobley has spent decades shaping conversations on race, gender, and social justice — now serving as a diversity consultant.

Mobley shares her journey as a literary scholar and how she helped establish the Toni Morrison Society, dedicated to preserving Morrison’s legacy. Her conversation with Diverse host Ralph Newell dives deep into Morrison’s impact on literature and culture, exploring her masterful use of language, space, and identity.

Mobley also discusses her book Toni Morrison and the Geo-Poetics of Place, Race, and Belonging, examining how Morrison’s work navigates identity, history, and the power of storytelling.

Explore the transformative power of language and the necessity of creating spaces for belonging and justice in this inspiring conversation. Tune in.

KEY POINTS:

- Mobley's academic journey as a professor of English and African American Studies

- Founding of the Toni Morrison Society in 1993, with 26 professors recognizing Morrison's literary significance before her Nobel Prize

- Morrison's unique approach to writing, focusing on imagination, joy, and resilience beyond oppression

- The Geo-poetics concept: how writers use space and language to create meaning

- Insights from Morrison's Nobel Lecture, its power of language in connection or division

- Strategies for social justice (inspired by Civil Rights Movement tactics): finding spaces to strategize, building new coalitions

- Challenges of current DEI work and the importance of imagination in responding to systemic oppression

- Final thought: Who would play Mobley in a movie?

QUOTES:

“The only grace you have is the grace you can imagine.” – Dr. Marilyn Sanders Mobley

“Language is all we have, and the misuse of language will continue to shape our lives.” – Dr. Marilyn Sanders Mobley

“People can use language to assault one another [or] to undermine one another. And when you have a genuine encounter, let your biases drop away, and listen to the other—you can engage in an actual dialogue.” – Dr. Marilyn Sanders Mobley

RESOURCES:

The Toni Morrison Society

Toni Morrison and the Geopoetics of Place, Race, and Be/longing

Diverse Top Women Honoree, 2013

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Closed captioning and live show transcription are available in the video for this episode.

In The Margins is produced by Diverse: Issues In Higher Education and edited by EPYC Media Network (visit at https://www.epyc.co/).