College to Present "Race and Its Meanings" Discussion Series

Ithaca College will begin a year- long lecture and discussion series, "Race and Its Meanings," on Wednesday, September 19, with a two-part presentation featuring John Mohawk, associate professor of history at the State University of New York at Buffalo, and Margaret Washington, associate professor of history at Cornell University. At 7:00 p.m. Mohawk will present "Race and Its Meanings" in Klingenstein Lounge, Egbert Hall. That will be followed by Washington’s talk, "Critical Historical Moments in Racialization in the United States."

Three additional lectures and discussions will be offered through the fall semester. These presentations will be complemented by an art exhibit and by film and video screenings. All are free and open to the public.

"As demographic shifts take place in the United States and as the nations of the world challenge currently existing hierarchies of race and power, it becomes imperative that we engage and understand the concept of race, its meanings, and its applications," says assistant provost Tanya Saunders. "To this end, Ithaca College is offering ‘Race and Its Meanings,’ a series that will raise the difficult questions so pivotal to understanding our history and our future."

The introductory lecture will be given by John Mohawk, a member of the Seneca Nation and the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy Grand Council. A spokesman for the preservation of indigenous values and culture, he has authored a number of books, including Utopian Legacies: A History of Conquest and Oppression in the Western World, Exiled in the Land of the Free, and A Basic Call to Consciousness. He has contributed essays on Native American culture and affairs to many books and has published articles in such journals as Akwesasne Notes, Indian Times, and Northeast Indian Quarterly.

He will be followed by Margaret Washington, the author of A Peculiar People: Slave Religion and Community-Culture among the Gullahs, as well as the essays "African-American Christianity: Eight Historical Essays" and "Sojourner Truth, Shadow or Substance: Writing the Legend of a Legend." Washington is currently working on a book, Sojourner Truth: A Biography. A senior adviser and on-camera expert for the 1998 PBS series Africans in America, Washington was also a consultant on the PBS films America 1900 and Liberty! The American Revolution.

Further discussions for the fall semester will be offered on these dates:

Friday, September 28 --- Allan G. Johnson, professor of sociology, Hartford College for Women, University of Hartford, will speak on "The Trouble We’re In" in Park Hall Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. Johnson’s most recent book, Privilege, Power, and Difference, explores how various forms of privilege --- especially those based on race, gender, class, and sexual orientation --- work as an interlocking system. Johnson’s talk is the keynote address for the Unity Festival, a weekend of presentations and events exploring cultural awareness and diversity. (See story on page 6.)

Wednesday, October 3 --- bell hooks, author of Black Looks: Race and Representation and Killing Rage: Ending Racism, among others, will present "Representation: Changing the Image" in Park Hall Auditorium at 7:00 p.m.

Thursday, October 25 --- Mary Frances Berry, chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and the Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought at the University of Pennsylvania, will deliver "America in the 21st Century: Demographic Reality and Social Change." The talk will take place at 7:00 p.m. in Ford Hall in the James J. Whalen Center for Music. Berry is also the Ithaca College distinguished visiting scholar in residence.

In addition to the lectures and discussions, In the Fullness of Time, an exhibit of photographs, sculptures, and paintings by 19 Jamaican artists, will be on display in the Handwerker Gallery through October 14.

The "Cinema on the Edge" series will also offer two screenings:

Monday, September 24 --- Video artist Alex Rivera will present "Retrospective: Video and Net-Based Satires on Latino/Latina Identities and Cyberculture" at 7:00 p.m. in Park Hall Auditorium. He will screen and discuss two of his works, Papapapá and Why Cybraceros?

Tuesday, December 4 --- A screening of Black Narcissus will take place at 5:30 p.m. in Park Hall Auditorium. This 1947 film tells the story of Anglican nuns trying to establish a religious community in the Indian Himalayas during British rule of the subcontinent.

Further events are being scheduled for the spring semester. The "Race and Its Meanings" series is sponsored by the Ithaca College Center for the Study of Culture, Race, and Ethnicity, Office of Multicultural Affairs, and Office of the Provost, in collaboration with the "Cinema on the Edge" series in the Roy H. Park School of Communications.

A list of suggested readings about race and its meanings, including works by the series speakers, is available at www.ithaca.edu/race.