Black Studies

Many worry that uncivil discourse can undermine democratic processes. Yet, what exactly does it mean for discourse to be uncivil? In an experiment on white Americans, I randomly vary several features of uncivil discourse to see which features more strongly trigger people’s perceptions of incivility. I find that white Americans’ perceptions of incivility are extremely subject to societal and personal biases.

Public opinion on immigrants and immigration varies wildly and support for these vulnerable populations is subject to ideas of deservingness and threat. These ideas, I argue, are filtered through racial identities that are heightened when individuals believe terrorist threats may be possible in their immediate areas. These racial identities are complex and change the ideas of who is dangerous or worthy of support for entry to the United States.

Join us for a discussion with Alexis Pauline Gumbs about her book entitled Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals.

Register in advance for this webinar here. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

The Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs Program on Anti-Racist Theory and Action around the Globe presents Robin D.G. Kelley, Distinguished Professor of History and African American Studies at UCLA and Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. History, speaking about “Black Spring, White Winter: Reflections on the Long History of the Black Radical Tradition in a Fascist World.”

Please join us for a Zoom talk with Dr. Nell Irvin Painter.

Biologist Richard Goldsby and anthropologist Mary Catherine Bateson discuss their new book on the genetic and social structural aspects of race and racism.

Doors open at 6:15 p.m., suggested parking behind the Mahaney Center for the Arts

Nikole Hannah-Jones was named a MacArthur Genius for “reshaping national conversations around education reform”. This is but one honor in a growing list: she’s won a Peabody, a Polk, and a National Magazine Award for her story on choosing a school for her daughter in a segregated city. Most recently, her New York Times Magazine’s The 1619 Project, on the history and legacy of American slavery, went viral and garnered her even more honors for her groundbreaking journalism.

In this performance and artist talk, the renowned artistic duo better known as Las Nietas de Nonó will share the visceral motivations of their creative work and artistic practices in recent struggles for equity, visibility, and political change in Puerto Rico and beyond. 

Ilustraciones de la Mecánica takes up the history of medical experimentation and the pharmaceutical industry in Puerto Rico. It considers in particular the violence inflicted on Black women’s bodies in the name of medical research.

Daphne Brooks, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of African American Studies at Yale University will deliver the inaugural lecture in Black Studies. This event will mark the launch of the Black Studies Program at Middlebury College. 

This virtual lecture is open to the Middlebury community. Please register in advance for the webinar here:

https://middlebury.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_MXf9v2YuRoWZTG53qvaqIA

The Axinn Center for the Humanities presents its inaugural lecture by Emily Bernard: “Black is the Body: Writing about Race in America”

Racial identity is a construction. But just because it is a fiction does not make it untrue. In this talk, Emily Bernard  discusses the complex and central role of storytelling as a source of power, meaning, and beauty in her life as a writer, reader, and scholar of African American experience.