Finalists vying for the position of University of New Mexico African American Studies director will be on campus throughout February.
AAS, the African American Student Services Center and College of Arts and Sciences are hosting a series of free community receptions for the candidates. Each candidate will also give a talk. The schedule is as follows:
• Cynthia Young, University of Southern California, “Shot in Watts: State Violence and Indie Film,” Friday, Feb. 11, from 3:30 –5 p.m., Ortega Hall, rm. 335. Reception will follow, 5:30 – 6:30, Student Union building, Sandia room.
• Darryl Thomas, State University of New York, “Back to Empire! African Americans Challenging Diverse,” Thursday Feb. 17, from 3:30 – 4:30 p.m., Ortega Hall, rm. 313. Reception will follow, 5 – 6, Student Union building, luminaria rm.
• William A Darity Jr., University of North Carolina, “Racial Wealth Inequality and Reparations,” Monday Feb. 21, from 3:30 – 4:30 p.m., Ortega Hall, rm. 335. Reception will follow, 5 – 6, Student Union building, sandia rm.
Young is an assistant professor in the Department of English and the American Studies and Ethnicity Program at the University of Southern California. Her lecture explores independent black cinema in the 1970's.
Thomas, is an associate professor in the departments of Africana Studies, Political Science and Philosophy, Interpretation and Culture Graduate Program at the State University of New York, Binghamton. He is the former Chair of Africana Studies at SUNY, Binghamton. His lecture, his study engages literature associated with Africana Studies, foreign policy, world politics, and race.
Darity is the Cary C. Boshamer Professor of Economics and director of the Institute of African American Research at the University of North Carolina. His lecture examines the evidence of black-white differences in net worth, the causes of the disparities, and the implications for the case of reparations for African Americans.
A fourth finalist, Finnie D. Coleman, Ph.D., visited campus and gave a research lecture, “Back Talkin' & Signifyin[g]; Discursive Strategies in Black Literature and Culture (Olaudah Equiano to Eric B. & Rakim),” in January.
Coleman is an assistant professor of English and assistant director of the Office of Honors Programs at Texas A&M University. Coleman's talk focused on ways in which cultural forms have been recruited to support purposes ranging from racial uplift ideologies and self-help movements to the struggle for civil rights and efforts to eradicate gender inequity and violence in black communities.
For more information, contact Vera Norwood , 277-7372, vnorwood@unm.edu .
Contact: Laurie Mellas Ramirez, (505) 277-5915
Posted by scarr at February 4, 2005 10:44 AM