Anjuliet G. Woodruffe, doctoral candidate and graduate teaching assistant in the Department of Communication at the University of South Florida, recently received the 2021 Donald P. Cushman Memorial Award from the National Communication Association (NCA).
Given annually, the Cushman Award recognizes excellence in honoring the top-ranked student-authored paper from any unit that competitively ranks papers for programming at the NCA Annual Convention. Anjuliet G. Woodruffe received the award for the essay, “Conversations with My Son: A Poetic Autoethnography of Black Mothering Experiences.” In the essay, Woodruffe extends the work of Black feminist scholars and poets Audre Lorde, Patricia Hill Collins, and Patricia Williams by examining the ways in which Black mothers use anger to make sense of their lives amidst the continuous law enforcement sanctioned killing of Black men by white police. Through poetry, Woodruffe’s voice is intertwined with those of Black feminist voices of the past and present to reconstruct a narrative about Black mothering and Black boyhood amidst the spirit murders in communities of color in the United States.
“NCA’s annual awards honor Communication scholars’ teaching, scholarship, and service,” NCA Interim Executive Director Linda Taliaferro, CAE, said. “NCA is proud to recognize Anjuliet G. Woodruffe’s significant contributions to the Communication discipline with this award.”
Anjuliet G. Woodruffe’s award was presented on November 20 at the NCA 107th Annual Convention in Seattle, WA. For more information about NCA’s awards program, visit their website.