2008-09 EVENTS & CONFERENCES

MAY

5/18
Africana Studies Concentrators Graduate Reception
4:30-6:30 p.m.
Class of 1958 Lounge, 222 Paresky

On Monday, May 18, 2009, graduating Africana Studies concentrators were honored at a reception in the Class of 1958 Lounge, Paresky. Congratulations to the Class of 2009: Joshua Adeyemi, Rashid A. Duroseau, David L. Edwards, Emily B. Fowler-Cornfeld, Kaveh Liam Ilyich Landsverk, Bryant J. Lewis, Naya-Joi Martin, Darran Moore, Stella Nkemdelim Onochie, Annette N. K. Quarcoopome, Morgan Anne Simpson, Anisha Nakisha Warner, and Shayla S. Williams.

APRIL

4/28
Lecture by Lani Guinier
"Lift Every Voice"
7:00 p.m.
Brooks-Rogers Recital Hall

Lani Guinier, a Harvard Law School professor since 1998 and the author of Lift Every Voice: Turning a Civil Rights Setback into a New Vision of Social Justice, was nominated by President Bill Clinton in 1993 to head the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. She will discuss President Clinton's subsequent withdrawal of her nomination for Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, the subsequent debate, and how she was able to renew her confidence in a social justice agenda. Free and open to the public. Sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Strategic Planning and Institutional Diversity.

4/28
International Studies Colloquium: "Is Foreign Aid Harmful to Africa?"
2:45–3:45 p.m.
Weston Room 10

Panel discussion about Dambiso Moyo’s book Dead Aid, which has generated a great deal of buzz in part because the author is speaking as an African and in part because her message that foreign aid is harmful for development because it empowers unaccountable governments serves a variety of political interests. Panelists: Kenda Mutongi, History and Africana Studies; Kisamba Mugerwa, International Studies; Jennifer Jones, International Environmental Studies; Nicholas Wilson and Michael Samson, Economics.

4/21
Africana Studies Open House & Pizza Party
Hungry? Curious? Come see what we’re about!
5:00–7:00 p.m.
North Academic Building Room 040 (lower level)

Just in time for pre-registration for next fall! All are warmly invited to an Africana Studies Open House & Pizza Party hosted by the Africana Studies Program--not just for concentrators and potential concentrators but also for anyone interested in learning more about Africana Studies at Williams. For more information: x2242.

FEBRUARY

2/18
Lecture by Michael Hanchard on Black Political Thought
"Ragtime: Kohlhaas, Coalhouse, and the State of Exception"
4:00 p.m.
Griffin Hall Room 7

Dr. Michael Hanchard, presidential professor in the Political Science Department at Johns Hopkins University and director of Johns Hopkins’s Comparative Racial Politics Program, will be speaking on black political phenomena in relation to power, identity, and political mobilization. His latest book is Party/Politics: Horizons in Black Political Thought (2006, Oxford University Press). This event is free and open to the public.

Prior to joining the faculty of Johns Hopkins in 2006, Hanchard was full professor of political science and director of the Institute for Diaspora Studies at Northwestern University, where he also chaired the Department of Africana Studies. He is a comparativist who has done field work in Brazil, Britain, Cuba, Colombia, Ghana, Italy, and Jamaica, and he has held grants from Ford, MacArthur, NEH, and Mellon. His books include Orpheus and Power: Afro-Brazilian Social Movements in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, the first study of black social movements in contemporary Brazil in any language, and recently listed in Brazil as one of the top ten books by foreign researchers on Brazil; Racial Politics in Contemporary Brazil (editor and contributor), a volume devoted to racism, inequality, black social movements and democracy in Brazil; and Party/Politics: Horizons in Black Political Thought (2006, Oxford University Press), devoted to understanding black political phenomena in relation to recent literatures and debates in political science and several other disciplines about power, identity, and political mobilization.

Co-sponsored by the Africana Studies Program, the Latina/o Studies Program, the Multicultural Center, and the Political Science Department. For more information, please contact Professor Neil Roberts.

2/12
Lecture by John L. Jackson Jr.
"Racism, Post-Raciality, and the Hidden Injuries of Colorblindness"
7:30 p.m.
Bronfman Auditorium

John L. Jackson Jr., Richard Perry University Associate Professor of Communication and Anthropology, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, is the author of Racial Paranoia: The Unintended Consequences of Political Correctness (March 2008). Details to come ...

DECEMBER

12/8
Hip-Hop @ Williams Research Symposium
12:30 - 2:30 p.m.
Griffin Hall Room 3

Does Williams College have DJs, MCs, B-Boys, and graffiti artists? How do female Hip-Hop fans navigate the misogyny of Hip-Hop? Can graffiti be used to empower Williams students? Who controls urban radio? Why do New England volleyball teams love Hip-Hop? Where did all the female rappers go? Why does Hip-Hop dominate the college party scene? Is Hip-Hop "dead"?

Students from Professor Gosa’s AFR/SOC 305 "The Hip-Hop Generation: Power, Identity & Social Change" class will present short films, photography, graffiti, original rhymes, and research findings about hip-hop culture. Live music, hip-hop/urban dance, and interactive graffiti installations will be on-site. Refreshments!

Free and open to the public. Sponsored by the Department of Anthropology & Sociology and the Africana Studies Program.

NOVEMBER

11/17
Congressional Black Caucus
4:00 p.m. - Student Q&A sessions with members of the Congressional Black Caucus. (Reservations required: Contact Carrie Greene in the Dean of Faculty Office.)
8:00 p.m., Chapin Hall - Congressional Black Caucus post-election conversation, moderated by Lesley Stahl.

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and a dozen members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) will join in a discussion of "Race and the New Congress" on Monday, November 17, at 8:00 p.m. in Chapin Hall. The event, to be moderated by 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl, is free and open to the public; seating is on a first-come basis. A reception in the Paresky Student Center will follow the discussion.

The gathering, initiated by Visiting Lecturer in Political Science Bernard Moore, will be the first of CBC members since Congress recessed for the election. Moore, executive director of the non-profit think tank Second Chance for Social Justice, is a policy advisor to caucus member Danny Davis.

In January 1969, newly elected African American representatives of the 77th Congress joined six incumbents to form the Democratic Select Committee to address legislative concerns of black and minority citizens. The Committee was renamed the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) in 1971. The vision of the founding members of the CBC, to "promote the public welfare through legislation designed to meet the needs of millions of neglected citizens," continues today. Its members have been at the forefront of legislative campaigns for human and civil rights for all citizens.

This event is sponsored by The W. Ford Schumann '50 Program in Democratic Studies. the Office of the President, Africana Studies, the Multicultural Center, and the Claiming Williams initiative.

The caucus members so far expected to take part are:

• James E. Clyburn (S.C.), Democratic Leadership Majority Whip
• John Conyers Jr. (Mich.), Chairman, House Committee on Judiciary
• Robert. C. Scott (Va.), Chairman, Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security
• Bennie G. Thompson (Miss.), Chairman, House Committee on Homeland Security
• Shelia Jackson Lee (Texas), Chairwoman, House Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure Protection
• Danny K. Davis (Ill.), Chairman, House Subcommittee on the District of Columbia
• John Lewis (Ga.), Member of the House Committee on Ways and Means
• Chaka Fattah (Pa.), Member of the House Committee on Appropriations
• Diane E. Watson (Calif.), Member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs
• Hank Johnson (Ga.), Member of the House Committee on Armed Services
• Donna M. Christensen (V.I.), Member of the House Homeland Security
• Yvette Clarke (N.Y.), Member of the House Committee on Education and Labor

11/11
Fiction Reading by Uwem Akpan
4:00 p.m.
Griffin Hall Room 3

Nigerian-born Jesuit priest Uwem Akpan is the author of Say You're One of Them, a collection of short stories set in war-torn Africa. Refreshments will be served following the reading.

Free and open to the public. Sponsored by the Africana Studies Program and the English Department's "The Novel in the World" series.

11/6
Lecture by Richard Thompson Ford
"Race Relations in the USA"
8:00 p.m.
Brooks-Rogers Recital Hall

Richard Thompson Ford, George E. Osborne Professor of Law at Stanford Law School, presents the annual Allison Davis '24 and John Davis '33 lecture. Professor Ford is the author of The Race Card: How Bluffing about Bias Makes Race Relations Worse (Farrar Straus and Giroux 2008).

11/5
Sterling Brown '22 Africana Studies Lecture Series: Lecture by Binyavanga Wainaina
"Three Forked Tongues! See How They Run!"
5:00 p.m.
Griffin Hall Room 3

Sterling Brown ’22 Visiting Professor of Africana Studies Binyavanga Wainaina will speak on narrative permission: cooperation versus violence in Kenyan electoral politics, with a focus on the lives of Kenyans as depicted in Barack Obama's Dreams from My Father and in his own forthcoming memoirs, Discovering Home (2009).

OCTOBER

10/28
Sterling Brown '22 Africana Studies Lecture Series: Reading by Binyavanga Wainaina
5:00 p.m.
Griffin Hall Room 3

Kenyan author, journalist, and winner of the Caine Prize Binyavanga Wainaina, Sterling Brown ’22 Visiting Professor of Africana Studies at Williams, will read from his forthcoming memoirs, Discovering Home (2009).

Free and open to the public. Co-sponsored by the English Department’s "The Novel in the World" series.

10/27
Africana Studies Open House & Pizza Party
Hungry? Curious? Come see what we’re about!
5:30–7:30 p.m.
North Academic Building Room 040

All are warmly invited to an Open House with pizza & soft drinks hosted by the Africana Studies Program--not just for concentrators and potential concentrators but also for anyone interested in learning more about Africana Studies at Williams.

Events Archives