Conference Papers and Presentations

REFEREED CONFERENCE PAPERS AND PRESENTATIONS

2013
“Soundin’ Canaan: Creative and Scholarly Approaches to African Canadian Literature.” Black Canadian Studies Association Conference, Brock University. St. Catharines, On. May 24-26^th.

“Repetition with Difference: Schizophono poetics in Wayde Compton’s Performance Bond.” University of Toronto, Dep’t of English. Toronto, On. May 9th – 10^th.

“‘[H]istory will enter here’: Jazz Historiography in Dionne Brand’s Ossuaries.” Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA). Tufts University, Boston, U.S.A. NeMLA 2013. March 21-24^th.

2012
“Listening on Lower Frequencies: Ellison, Coleman, Ra, and l’écouteur engage.” Accompanied by David Lee on bass. Guelph Jazz Festival Colloquium: Pedagogy & Praxis: Improvisation as Social Justice. Macdonald Stewart Art Centre. Guelph. September 5-7^th.

“Getting into the ‘Grooves of History’: Armstrong, Ellison, Coleman, and the ‘Authentic’ Jazz Listener.” Leeds International Jazz Education Conference 2012: Jazz Practice in the 21st Century. Leeds College of Music. Leeds, U.K. March 29-30^th.

2011
“Spatial Stories, Sampled Memories, and Intermedial Improvisations.” Co-presented with Nick Loess (videographer). Guelph Jazz Festival Colloquium. Conference (Sound Practices), University of Guelph. September 8^th.

“Poieîn: Forming, Performing and Sampling Pedagogies in the Classroom.” Transmissions 2011: The Politics and Poetics of Humanities Research Colloquium. University of Guelph, ON. March 17^th.

2010
“The Jazz Sample: Flow, Rupture, and Layering in Hip Hop.” Guelph Jazz Festival Colloquium. Conference (Improvising Bodies), University of Guelph. September 10^th.

“A Disruptive Poetics: Improvised Dissonance in Thelonious Monk and Wu-Tang Clan’s 36 Chambers.” Accompanied by Sean Fyfe on Piano. Sound Lines: Improvisation, Text and Media. Conference, University of British Columbia. June 25^th.

2009
“The Ecolinguistics of Space: Responding Aurally to the Oral West Coast.” Literatures of the West Coast. Conference, University of Victoria, British Columbia. October 8^th.

NON-REFEREED CONFERENCE PAPERS, PRESENTATIONS, SELECTED PERFORMANCE AND INTERVIEWS

2015
Performer. Preludes & Passages: English and Creative Writing at VIU. Arts & Humanities.

2014
“‘We Can Never Tell the Entire Story of Slavery’: M. NourbeSe Philip in Conversation with Paul Watkins about Zong!.” Toronto Review of Books. 

“‘Schizophonophilia’: an Audio-interplay between Wayde Compton and Paul Watkins.”

Live Radio Interview, “Scholarship on African Canadian History.” CFRU (93.3 fm). From the Second Story. March 10^th.

2013
Invited Speaker, “Book, Performance, and Theatre Reviews.” Presented with Ann Wilson and Stephen Henighan. English Department (SETS). Graduate Professionalization Seminar Series. Guelph, ON. Dec 5^th.

Reading/Performance. Participated in a book-length reading of Zong! with M. NourbeSe Philip and others. B current, Studio 251. Toronto, On. Nov. 29^th.

Selected performative readings (with music) from Michael Ondaatje’s The Collected Works of Billy the Kid. Participated in a public book-length reading of Billy the Kid. TransCanada Institute. Guelph, ON. Thursday, February 28^th.

2012
“The Critic as Poet & Citizen—or—The Poet as Citizen & Critic: Creative Life & Interdisciplinary Praxis.” Public Presentation. Guelph Public Library. ICASP Reading Group Speaker Series. Guelph, ON. November 25^th, 2012.

“Dedications.” Public DJ Performance. Silence concert series. Macdonald Stewart Art Centre. Guelph. Thursday, October 25^th.

“There is no such thing as music.” ICASP Tri-University Online Colloquium: Improvisation in the Universities. McGill University, University of Guelph, and University of British Columbia. In conversation with Fred Frith. Thursday, May 3^rd.

“‘Your bass sounds like a typewriter’: A Reading and Interview with George Elliott Clarke.” Co-interviewed with Katherine McLeod. Public Interview. TransCanada Institute. Guelph, ON. Friday, April 27^th.

“Writing is DJing/ DJing is Writing: A Multimedia Turntable Presentation.” Co-performed with Mark Katz (University of North Carolina), Mark Campbell, and Mark Onderwater. The 6th Annual Creative Music Festival and Colloquium, School of Fine Art and Music,University of Guelph, March 7^th.

2011
Speaker, Plenary, “WRITING JAZZ,” A discussion between Paul Watkins and Cecil Foster (Sociology and Anthropology, University of Guelph). Guelph Jazz Festival Colloquium. Conference (Sound Practices), University of Guelph. September 7^th.

“Within and Beyond: Performative and Improvised Pedagogies.” Contributions: Improvisation in Artistic and Pedagogical Practices. Colloquium. Guelph Public Downtown Library. Guelph, ON. April 15^th.

“Listening to a Listening: Performing the Disruptive Jazz Poetics of Dionne Brand’s Ossuaries.” Public Performance. Guelph Public Downtown Library. Guelph, ON. January 28^th.

2010
“A Polyphonic Branding.” Performative Reading. Avantgarden Poetry Series. The Ossington. Toronto, ON. November 15^th.

2009
“Red Skin, White Masks.” Canadian Literature Colloquium. University of British Columbia. December.