Donna Mejia is a scholar-practitioner. Her evolution has enduringly centered our emerging global citizenship as we collectively and creatively deconstruct and heal persistent legacies of brutal colonialism and socio-economic hierarchies. Interests and Research Includes 1. Interdisciplinary efforts in complex problem-solving 2. Culturally robust studies in trauma-informed embodiment, interoception, and consciousness (somatic science + neurology + mindfulness) 3. Conflict-resolution efforts (verbal and non-verbal) informed by cultural theory, mindfulness, post-colonial study, social justice, critical race theory, abolitionist histories, and gender studies 4. Gender self-construction, presentation, coding, and non-verbal social signaling 5. Cultural systems and esoteric knowledge sustaining Peoples of the Global Majority 6. Manifestations of generational, regional, and cultural fusion the arts reflecting emerging concepts of global citizenship and polyculturalism—particularly the agency, legal parameters, and attending ethics of those transcultural experiments and actions in both digital and in-person arenas 7. Individual and collective survivorship of trauma and violence, focalized in collaborative work with human trafficking scholars She is the originator of Fumble Forward, a framework for encountering the unexpected, unknown and unfamiliar with increasing confidence and calm. Fumble forward has been an invited keynote for TEDxCU, government organizations, multinational corporations, non-governmental organizations, educational institutions, schools, has been cited by the Dalai Lama Fellows, and several publications.
keywords
Fumble Forward, Dance, yoga, MENAT, Brazil, the Caribbean, West Africa, North Africa, India, Hip Hop, trauma-informed somatics, Transnationalism, overlapping identities, multi-ethnicity, global citizenship, Digital Diasporas, collective cultural memory production, gender representation, social coding & signaling, ethics, cultural appropriation, gender, ethnomusicology, fusion, trauma-informed somatic programming, communication, Embodiment, Interoception, mindfulness, human trafficking scholars
ARSC 1520 - Health, Society, and Wellness in COVID-19 Times
Primary Instructor
-
Fall 2020 / Spring 2021
The novel coronavirus pandemic has disrupted nearly every aspect of society around the world. The pandemic has resulted in the infection of millions and death of hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. The economic, social, and mental health impacts of the pandemic are unprecedented and have laid bare and exacerbated long standing inequalities and disparities.' College students will benefit from an academic course that provides scientific, humanistic, and social scientific perspectives on disease and society broadly and the coronavirus crisis in particular. The course will offer students empirically proven strategies for maintaining wellness, which is especially important at a moment of pervasive uncertainty, heightened anxiety, and mental health vulnerability.
DNCE 1027 - Dance and Culture
Primary Instructor
-
Fall 2018 / Fall 2019 / Fall 2020
Explores how dance can reflect, disrupt, subvert, support, and reinforce cultural expectations, norms, and practices. Introduces diverse dance traditions and provides context for an interdisciplinary examination from sociology, anthropology, gender studies, history, post-colonial studies, and more provide a foundation to understand how cultural identities are negotiated and represented through movement. We refuse to separate: 1) mind and body; 2) dance and other disciplines; 3) us from one another.
DNCE 3041 - Dance and Dancing: More Dancing
Primary Instructor
-
Spring 2018 / Spring 2019 / Spring 2020 / Spring 2021
We will dance and dance some more. We will sweat, feel, connect, and think. In-depth, rigorous, current, and justice-oriented dance training occurs within a specific form. Technical skills are supported by context, histories, and potential futures of the form. We refuse to separate: 1) mind and body; 2) dance and other disciplines; 3) us from one another. May be repeated up to 15 credit hours. Same as DNCE 2021 and DNCE 4061 and DNCE 5001.
DNCE 4036 - Dance Teaching Practices: Inclusive Approaches to Instruction
Primary Instructor
-
Fall 2018 / Fall 2019 / Fall 2020
Examines legal, practical, pedagogical and philosophical issues in current dance education. Goals and content of professional and recreational dance training are considered and strategies for effective teaching practice are discussed. All genres of dance may be utilized depending on the specialities of participants.
DNCE 4939 - Dance & Community Practice
Primary Instructor
-
Spring 2018 / Spring 2019 / Spring 2020 / Summer 2022
Offers an opportunity to go do something real in the community with dance. This student driven internship is supported by faculty mentorship in collaboration with an established arts or teaching organization. We refuse to separate: 1) mind and body; 2) dance and other disciplines; 3) us from one another. May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours.
DNCE 5001 - Dance & Dancing: More Dancing
Primary Instructor
-
Spring 2019 / Spring 2020
We will dance and dance some more. We will sweat, feel, connect, and think. In-depth, rigorous, current, and justice-oriented dance training occurs within a specific form. Technical skills are supported by context, histories, and potential futures of the form. We refuse to separate: 1) mind and body; 2) dance and other disciplines; 3) us from one another. May be repeated up to 15 total credit hours. Same as DNCE 2021 and DNCE 3041 and DNCE 4061.
DNCE 5056 - Graduate Teaching Seminar
Primary Instructor
-
Spring 2019 / Spring 2021
Examines practical, pedagogical, philosophical, and legal issues in current dance education. The goals and content of professional and recreational dance training are considered and strategies for effective teaching practice are discussed. Provides practice in practical application of theoretical material. All genres of dance may be utilized.
DNCE 6047 - Dance Studies
Primary Instructor
-
Spring 2018
Studies current dance trends, mostly in the United States, with particular attention paid to dance's intersection with philosophy, theory, technology, politics, current events and the other arts.
DNCE 6969 - The Graduate Project
Primary Instructor
-
Fall 2019 / Spring 2020 / Fall 2020 / Spring 2021 / Fall 2021 / Spring 2022
Provides the opportunity for synthesizing the graduate experience through the execution of a project related to the student's major area of interest. Project must be approved by the graduate faculty advisor.
ETHN 2020 - Flourishing, Belonging, and Liberation
Primary Instructor
-
Spring 2026
This course explores perspectives from the humanities (Indigenous, African-American, and Buddhist) and the sciences about what it means to flourish: an existence filled with wellness, purpose, connection, and justice. Human flourishing is considered in relation to theories of social and spiritual liberation given global legacies of colonialism, such as structural inequity and racialization. Students will engage in experiential learning where their bodies, minds, and communities are engaged as somatic laboratories and fields of exploration. Same as LIBR 2020.
LIBR 2020 - Flourishing, Belonging, and Liberation
Primary Instructor
-
Spring 2026
This course explores perspectives from the humanities (Indigenous, African-American, and Buddhist) and the sciences about what it means to flourish: an existence filled with wellness, purpose, connection, and justice. Human flourishing is considered in relation to theories of social and spiritual liberation given global legacies of colonialism, such as structural inequity and racialization. Students will engage in experiential learning where their bodies, minds, and communities are engaged as somatic laboratories and fields of exploration. Same as ETHN 2020.
