Black Studies

Moonlight is an American coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Barry Jenkins, based on Tarell Alvin McCraney’s unpublished semi-autobiographical play, In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue. The film explores the three stages in the life of the main character: childhood, adolescence, early adult life, and the difficulties he faces with his sexuality and identity while growing up in the Liberty City area of Miami, Florida.

Watch the official trailer here. 

Judas and the Black Messiah is an American biographical crime drama film directed and produced by Shaka King. The film is about the late-60s infiltration of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party to gain intelligence on Chairman Fred Hampton. It received six Academy Award nominations and is revered as one of the greatest films of the 21st century.

Watch the official trailer here. 

Mother of George tells the story of a newly married Nigerian couple, Ayodele (Isaach de Bankolé) and Adenike (Danai Gurira), who manage a small restaurant in Brooklyn, NY while struggling with fertility issues. The film explores the challenges of defying cultural expectations.

Watch the official trailer here. 

Do the Right Thing isathought-provoking film directed by Academy award winner, Spike Lee. It is touted as one of the most groundbreaking and culturally significant films of its time and centers around one inner city day in Brooklyn, NY where temperatures and racial tensions reach a boiling point. “You can do nothing, you can do something, or you can…Do the Right Thing.”

Watch the official trailer here. 

 

During World War II, Black people living in Nazi Germany and occupied Europe were in some cases incarcerated in internment and concentration camps. One of the most significant visual documents of this neglected chapter of the war are a series of drawings and paintings created by Caribbean artist Josef Nassy during his internment. This talk introduces the little known Josef Nassy Collection as a unique visual record of the experiences of Black prisoners in the Nazi camp system.

Come by to see the work of Black Studies students anytime between 10 am and 3 pm and join us for lunch and student film presentations between 12:10-1:10 pm.

Location: Carr Hall 005

Erin Durban and Lucinda Ramberg, two feminist, queer, postcolonial scholars, will have a conversation about queer anthropology: What does it mean to queer anthropology? How can we do anthropology, as well as ethnographic methods more broadly, in a queer way and for queer purposes?

Erin Durban, a scholar of queer anthropology, will discuss their book The Sexual Politics of Empire: Postcolonial Homophobia in Haiti. Evangelical Christians and members of the global LGBTQI human rights movement have vied for influence in Haiti since the 2010 earthquake. Each side accuses the other of serving foreign interests. Yet each proposes future foreign interventions on behalf of their respective causes despite the country’s traumatic past with European colonialism and American imperialism. As Durban shows, two discourses dominate discussions of intervention.

The Black Studies department invites you to come to celebrate the new academic year, meet our faculty, make new friends, and join great conversations at our welcome back gathering! Lite fare and beverages will be provided.