This CSREA event and October 2 symposium mark the occasion of the tenth anniversary of Katrina in New Orleans. 

5:00 p.m. Performance by New Orleans poet and activist Sunni Patterson

6:00 p.m. Keynote Lecture: Professor George Lipsitz, UC Santa Barbara, "Walking With New Orleans: Where Do We Go From Here"

In this talk, Professor Mendieta will consider the under-examined and original philosophical contributions of Angela Y. Davis. He will argue that she bridges Marxist inspired historical materialism, through the mediation of Marcusian critical theory,Foucauldian genealogies of punishment and confinement, Black feminist analysis, the intersectionality of race, gender, and class, and a century old American autochthonous Black critical political philosophy. 

September 2015 - May 2016

The prevailing images that we see of Native Americans are often antiquated stereotypes and do not reflect the diversity, vibrancy, or modernity of Native peoples. "Native inspired" trends and images are everywhere: in popular culture, fashion, hollywood, and music, and conversations about cultural appropriation have become more mainstream. Yet Native voices are largely absent.

Photographer Dana Gluckstein will discuss her exhibition, DIGNITY: Tribes in Transition. The exhibition will be on display at the Watson Institute from September 10 to November 6, 2015.

DIGNITY: Tribes In Transition consists of 60 black-and-white portraits taken over three decades. According to the artist, the photographs aim to "capture the fleeting period of world history where traditional and contemporary cultures collide. The black and white portraits of Indigenous Peoples pay homage to these imperiled cultures, signaling our collective interdependence and fragility."

Following up on The New Jim Crow: The Past, Present and Future of Policing and Mass Incarceration in America

Please join us to extend the conversation about Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow with a panel of activists and scholars with deep experience in civil and human rights law, the politics of mass incarceration, and contemporary efforts, on and off campus, to address the intersection of policing, prisons, and race.

Tracee Ellis Ross '94, an honorary degree recipient, is widely recognized for her comedic roles as Joan Clayton in Girlfriends and more recently as Dr. Rainbow Johnson in the series black-ish. Ms. Ross graduated from Brown University in 1994 with a bachelor’s degree in theater arts and will be awarded an honorary degree during this year’s Commencement. Professor Tricia Rose '93 PhD, Director of the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America, will interview Ms. Ross and Vice Provost for the Arts Michael Steinberg will introduce the forum.

Film screening: Ghosts of Amistad: In the Footsteps of the Rebels
Introduction and Q&A with Prof. Marcus Rediker, author of The Amistad Rebellion: An Atlantic Odyssey of Slavery and Freedom

The Gospel of Healing Volume I: Black Churches Respond to HIV/AIDS is a documentary film that profiles five innovative models of faith-based HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and/or care primarily targeting African American communities. Viewers will learn how these HIV health ministries were established, what factors contribute to their effectiveness in their communities, what were their common views on faith, healing and the role of the church as the Black community’s primary source of social justice and leadership, in the post-civil rights era.

How does retrieving the ornamental logic of Orientalism impact how we think about race, personhood, and modernism? In her talk, Professor Anne Cheng will explore the meeting of violence and beauty and ask what kind of life subsists as broken or superfluous things. Through a series of readings of literary, legal, and visual texts, her talk will isolate instances of dark, miraculous moments when ornaments become flesh. 

What I Am Thinking About Now: Vanessa Fabien, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Africana Studies and the Cogut Center for the Humanities