The 2022 Pembroke Center Research Roundtable, “Color Crossings: Race, Affect, Aesthetics,” considers color’s metaphorical, linguistic, philosophical, historical, perceptual and practical resonances at the crossroads of critical race theory and color theory. In drawing together these distinct but overlapping discourses, we ask how global histories of race, gender, sex and class are connected to structures of knowledge and power that are ordered by color. To begin to answer these questions, we turn to the work of artists, writers and other creators of color and explore how their art engages color’s aesthetic and affective affordances. We see color as a transgressive means of expression when employed by people of color, one with the potential to challenge the fixity of racial hierarchies and subvert hegemonic structures.

This workshop is part of a two-day event taking place on April 22 and 23, 2022. Please see the link below for the full schedule of events.

This roundtable is led by Postdoctoral Fellows Erica Kanesaka, Bernabe Mendoza, and Allison Puglisi, and Visiting Assistant Professor of Gender Studies Maria De Simone. The event represents the culmination of the year-long Pembroke Center research seminar, “Color,” convened by Professor Leslie Bostrom (Art) and Professor Evelyn Lincoln (Art History).

The Pembroke Center’s 40th Anniversary

The 2021-22 academic year marks the 40th anniversary of the Pembroke Center. The center was founded in 1981, a decade after Pembroke College—the coordinate women’s college of Brown University—merged fully with the men’s college. As the greater community honors 130 years of women at Brown, the Pembroke Center is delighted to celebrate its history of cultivating interdisciplinary work on gender and sexuality through its research, teaching, archival and community-building programs.