“Latinos and the Law,” a class offered by the University of New Mexico School of Law, holds an open discussion about Senator Barack Obama’s recent speech on race relations, Wednesday, March 26 from 3-5 p.m. in the School of Law Forum Room on UNM’s north campus. The class is open to the public.
"Sen. Obama prompted all of us to engage in conversations about race. Having struggled over decades to create a student body that includes constituencies and racial groups that are frequently absent from the national debate, UNM can be a national leader on these issues,” said UNM Law Professor Margaret Montoya, teaching the “Latinos and the Law” class. “Moreover, because law and race are so closely intertwined, the School of Law is well positioned to accept Sen. Obama's invitation and create venues for these discussions."
Class will begin with a student-led discussion, members of the public will then be asked to participate. Students have previously written papers using concepts and analytical methodology from Critical Race Theory, which will be used to start the discussion.
For members of the public attending the class on Wednesday who are unfamiliar with the theory the students will be discussing, the concepts of Critical Race Theory include:
1. Race is ordinary not aberrational; it's difficult to remedy.
2. Racism and its remedies are characterized by "interest convergence"--it advances the interests of elites (materially and financially) as well as the working class (psychically).
3. Race is socially constructed--it's not biological but rather is the result of social relations.
4. Racial formations are not static--different groups are “racialized” in different ways in different places at different times.
5. Race is intersectional--persons do not have a unitary identity; instead race, gender, class, sexuality, etc create complexity because of competing and conflicting commitments, preferences and choices.
6. Race is performative--people have different ways of giving expression to their identities through their appearance (cornrows vs Afros), communication styles ("accentless" English vs. Spanglish), lifestyles (living in white neighborhood vs. living in barrio) and these are often coded with race.
UNM students, staff and faculty are invited along with the general public to attend this open class and be part of the discussion. For more information, contact Montoya at montoya@law.unm.edu.
Media Contact: Benson Hendrix, (505) 277-1816. E-Mail: bhendrix@unm.edu
Posted by bhendrix at March 26, 2008 11:29 AM