Black Studies

A panel of Black Studies professors from Middlebury College will talk to students about the Black Studies major and course offerings. All students are welcome to attend, meet professors and fellow students, and ask questions about the Black Studies Program at Middlebury. 

Lessons in Drag- Kareem Khubchandani

Your favorite South Asian drag auntie brings the nightclub to the classroom (and vice versa) to explain how critical social theory matters in queer nightlife. Touching on themes that include globalization, black feminist theory, diva worship, and islamophobia, she stages the nightclub as a site of politics and pleasure. Part lecture, part lipsync, part audience participation, the show demonstrates how much drag teaches us, even requires us, to be in relation with the rest of the world.

What does it take to dream the future we want? What does it mean to let go of the old in order to try something new?

Join artist and catalyst Kaylynn Sullivan TwoTrees and artist & Middlebury scholar-in-residence Carolyn Finney as they lean into the borderlands of possibility to support multiple visions of the future.

Bring your open heart and good questions!

Click here for more information and to register for Zoom link.

“Who I am is the possibility of the transformation of humanity.  What I’m giving up is that I’m misunderstood” – Mahting Putelis

Who do you stand with?  Where do you stand?  What does it mean for us to have something in common?  CEO of Hunt to Eat Mahting Putelis and artist-in-residence Dr. Carolyn Finney open up with each other about identity, conservation, generational trauma, & the challenge of walking the talk.  Join them as they take the leap – bring your open hearts and good questions!

Asian Americans, the fastest growing immigrant group in the US, are increasingly voting for Democrats. High rates of Democratic support are notable among Asian Americans because many have high incomes, immigrated from communist countries, or are Evangelical Christians. Why do Asian Americans vote for Democrats despite these conservative predispositions?

“Nothing is more intimate than your body in the world” – Alice Randall

NY Times bestselling author & activist Alice Randall joins artist & Middlebury scholar-in-residence Carolyn Finney for a conversation where they give up the “t” on the intimate experience of being a black body on a green and imperiled planet. 

Join them as they go off the beaten path to dig into self-care, allyship, Black possibility and the art of living. 

What would a Black Walden Pond look like? 

Muslims in the United States have become one of the most politically salient minority groups since the advent of 9/11, yet we have a limited understanding of what motivates their political engagement. Current political participation does not offer a comprehensive understanding of what motivates the community-based political behavior of Muslims. I introduce ummah consciousness as a construct to identify what motivates the political engagement of Muslims in the U.S.

Climbing, hiking and hanging outdoors - what does the N word have to do with outdoor recreation and all things green? Cultural appropriation.  Invisibility.  DEI.  It’s not easy being green.  And why should we care?

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.