A panel discussion, titled “Conversations on Gender and Blackness in the Age of Trayvon Martin,” will open Washington University in St. Louis’ African and African-American Studies fall colloquium series at 10:30 a.m. Friday, Sept. 6, in the Women’s Building Formal Lounge.
The theme of this year’s series is “50 Years Since the March on Washington: Reflections on Then and Now.”
The event, which includes a coffee reception at 10 a.m., is free and open to the public. To RSVP, call (314) 935-8556 or email afas@wustl.edu.
Washington University faculty will lead the discussion. The panelists are: John G. Baugh, PhD, the Margaret Bush Wilson Professor in Arts & Sciences; Katherine Goldwasser, JD, professor of law; Jeffrey Q. McCune, PhD, associate professor in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies and in the Performing Arts Department, both in Arts & Sciences; and Vetta L. Sanders Thompson, PhD, associate professor at the Brown School.
“We kick off the series with a critical reflection of the Trayvon Martin incident,” said Shanti Parikh, PhD, director and associate professor of African and African-American Studies (AFAS) and of anthropology, both in Arts & Sciences. “We use this unfortunate case as a way of demonstrating the important role of academics in advancing public dialogue and policies about race, class, gender and rights in the U.S.
“Academic contributions are particularly vital today as the issue of race has become a polarizing and difficult subject,” Parikh said.
The discussion is co-sponsored by Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies.
The other talks in the series are at 4 p.m. and also are free and open to the public. Informal receptions will precede the talks. Unless otherwise noted, they will be held in the Danforth University Center, Room 234.
The colloquium series schedule follows:
Tuesday, Sept. 17: Khalil Muhammad, PhD, director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York and author of The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America, will present the Distinguished Visiting Scholar lecture in Holmes Lounge, Ridgley Hall. Muhammad also will speak at the Missouri History Museum on Sept. 16.
Thursday, Oct. 17: Pero Gaglo Dagbovie, PhD, professor of history at Michigan State University, on “‘God Has Spared Me to Tell My Story’: Mabel Robinson Williams and the Civil Rights/Black Power Movement.”
Wednesday, Nov. 6: Tommie Shelby, PhD, professor of African and African American Studies and of philosophy at Harvard University. Location to be determined.
Tuesday, Nov. 12: Kennetta Hammond Perry, PhD, assistant professor of history at East Carolina University, on “Are We To Be Mauled Down Just Because We Are Black?’: Racial Violence, Gender and the Politics of Mourning.”
Tuesday, Dec. 3: Ashley Farmer, PhD, postdoctoral fellow, Clayman Institute for Gender Research, Stanford University, on “Story of a Frame-up!: Mae Mallory’s Letters From Prison and Black Women’s Black Power Activism.”
For more information about the colloquium series, contact AFAS at (314) 935-8556 or by email, afas@artsci.wustl.edu.