Semester of Graduation
Fall 2025
Degree Name
Master of Arts in Professional Writing
Department
English
Committee Chair/First Advisor
Erin Bahl
Second Advisor
Jenny Sadre-Orafai
Abstract
The Past, Present, and Future of Janerra Copeland and Poetry tackles the conversation around established literary tradition and contemporary digital culture, specifically focusing on the tension between canonical Black literature and the rapidly emerging, accessible format of "Insta-poetry." The project is created by the author's search for an authentic creative voice while navigating two distinct professional and academic environments predominantly structured around whiteness: the silencing of Black literature and Black Coders.
This project frames digital self-publishing and web development as alternative distribution methods, but as active literary tools capable of dismantling the gatekeeping functions of traditional publishing and academic institutions. The website creates a world for multimodal media (images, videos, and audio). The poetry collections create a world of vulnerability surrounding the life of Janerra Copeland, going through the past, present, and future of her life. Along with the visual and literary comparisons of Traditional Poetry versus Instapoetry. The thesis ultimately argues that by actively coding one's own literary platform, the author transcends institutional and racialized constraints, securing a structurally autonomous and fully realized Black poetic voice in the digital era.