Javon Johnson has been at home on stage since he was a young boy reciting speeches in church. He discovered poetry in high school, and as a first-generation college student, he was an All-American national speech and debate champion. By the time he began grad school at California State University, Los Angeles, he had achieved popular success as a poet and spoken word/slam artist with appearances on HBO鈥檚 Def Poetry Jam and a growing fan base.
Johnson鈥檚 lab of sorts 鈥 Da Poetry Lounge in L.A. 鈥 ignited his passion for research on the emerging creative community there. After completing a Ph.D. in performance studies at Northwestern University, the artist became an academic. Today he is an assistant professor and director of African American and African Diaspora Studies at 51吃瓜网万能科大, where he helps students understand blackness in social, cultural, literary, and historical contexts.
Why 51吃瓜网万能科大?
I arrived here after having spent four years at San Francisco State University in the communication studies department. I had a desire to work at a research institution because I鈥檓 a researcher who writes. There鈥檚 opportunity for growth here in a number of places that I was attracted to.
You grew up in L.A. What was life like there?
It was 1980s South Central 鈥 crack infested, high gang culture. I鈥檓 aware of all the issues, but I believe there are structural impediments that don鈥檛 allow people to live their fullest and freest lives, and it creates a space that almost demands a certain kind of hostility. With that being said, I didn鈥檛 know it was terribly bad. I experienced bad moments鈥ut I didn鈥檛 know I was poor until much later in life. I experienced things that we as children probably shouldn鈥檛 have to experience. Community played a major role in coming together and taking care of its children. I had a good childhood.
How did growing up there inform the work you do?
I don鈥檛 know that I ever set out to be a professor in the first place. It never crossed my mind as a desire. Certainly I understand intimately what it means to be in a lower-class population. I know that from such an intimate space that the textbooks named what I already knew to be true in my bones. The way in which we discuss poverty鈥.racism鈥.structural sexism and all these other problematic 鈥渋sms鈥 in academic texts 鈥 these are things that I experienced. There鈥檚 a way that folks from 鈥渢he 鈥榟ood鈥 know how to speak that isn鈥檛 always seen as acceptable by the dominant culture, as a way to name their truths. I didn鈥檛 have a way to name them that would be considered acceptable by dominant culture until I learned to speak in ways that I do now. It does influence how I think and move in the world as an academic and an artist.
As a poet and spoken word artist, what motivated you to pursue a career as an academic?
I鈥檓 not an academic who鈥檚 interested in art; I鈥檓 an artist who鈥檚 interested in academia. That trajectory is the best way to name how I came here. Now I鈥檓 here, and they pay me to teach and research about a number of things. I鈥檓 still a creative person at heart 鈥 sometimes more than the academy would like or would make space for. They kind of coincided 鈥 the poetry thing was more intentional; the academic thing was more free-flowing. My attitude was 'let's see where it goes,' and it worked itself out.
Name a time when you鈥檝e been daring.
Maybe the daring thing is that I just go with how life takes me. I鈥檝e come to believe that life is a process that we鈥檙e just trying to figure out and none of us knows. I鈥檓 able to give in to that idea 鈥 the idea that there is no real security in life. I鈥檓 OK with that.
Being a director as an assistant professor 鈥 that鈥檚 been daring. These are normally roles people take on as associate (professors) because that rank allows you to advocate from a much safer space. The other thing is that associates have been here and have a certain institutional knowledge that would allow their advocating to be more impactful. It鈥檚 been incredibly challenging. What offsets that is I鈥檝e been supported by some senior faculty, and the dean鈥檚 office seems to be very supportive of all that we want to make the program to be.
Advice for success?
Work at understanding how structures work against you. Working hard works if you have opportunities. Structural impediments mean that some may not have opportunities. Whatever success I have being booked as a poet or a speaker, it鈥檚 not overnight. It鈥檚 been a mountain of work that鈥檚 culminated into this moment and more work that will culminate into other moments. It may look like overnight because you may not have known me yesterday, but it is work. Every day I write something. Every day I read something.
If I couldn鈥檛 work in my current field, I would like to鈥
Well I鈥檓 doing it. I would just go to creative writing and performing full time. I always told myself I might go back to school one day and get a law degree. I鈥檓 not finished living and learning. As long as I鈥檓 alive, I鈥檓 going to keep doing. Who knows? I get a discount here for tuition.
Pastimes, hobbies?
I play basketball a lot, flag football, I box; I try to stay active. I watch an incredible amount of terrible TV. I hang out with friends and brunch a lot. I get home to see my nieces and nephews. That鈥檚 probably what brings me the most joy right now. I also have a French bulldog who is stubborn and lovable.
Is there an object in your office that has particular significance?
A framed photo collage. That鈥檚 my mom who is wearing my Ph.D. cap the day I graduated. She鈥檚 鈥淒r. Mom,鈥 according to her. Below there is my hand shaking my grandfather鈥檚 hand who never so much as graduated from elementary (school). My mother graduated from high school. She jumped him by two degrees, and I jumped her by another three. I flew him out (for the graduation) because I wanted him to be there. His grandson graduated from a university that never would鈥檝e allowed him to set foot on campus. Below that are four black folks. We all graduated together from various departments. We really held each other down. We are all still friends and had a makeshift cohort that supported each other both in the academy and outside. That series of pictures is incredibly important to me.
