Humanities Center Spring Lecture Series: "Decolonizing the University: Ethnic Studies"
The University of Hartford Humanities Center is happy to announce its lecture series for Spring 2023, focusing on the theme “Decolonizing the University: Ethnic Studies,” developed and led by Karen Tejada-Peña, Associate Professor of Sociology in Hillyer College.
Six University of Hartford Humanities Center Faculty Fellows and three distinguished presenters will speak on Monday evenings from 5 p.m. – 6 p.m. between Feb. 6 and April 17, in Hillyer Hall 134 (unless otherwise noted). All lectures are free and open to the university community.
Feb. 6: “Intergenerational Impacts of Urban Trauma” by Noel Casiano, Humanities Center Faculty Fellow and Associate Professor of Psychology and Human Services at the University of Hartford. Here, Noel Casiano will examine how marginalized communities of color have endured generations of poverty, a lack of resources, the destruction of the family system, and a history of traumatic experiences. He will highlight research that has argued that trauma not only has emotional and psychological negative effects, but also neurobiological implications. His talk will ultimately explore how we are currently faced with making academic, social, and scientific commitments to combat the adverse effects of these generational consequences.
Feb. 13: “Social Group Disparities among White and Non-White Groups in the U.S.” by Jonathan Gordils, Humanities Center Faculty Fellow and Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Hartford. Here, Jonathan Gordils will speak about his current research regarding the consequences and underlying processes of social group disparities (e.g., intergroup income inequality), as well as the consequences and antecedents of intergroup competition between Black and White individuals in the United States. He will include other populations of color (e.g., non-White Hispanic/Latinx and East Asian groups) to examine whether income gaps between White and non-White groups have the potential to exacerbate negative psychological perceptions.
Feb. 20: “Structural Racism: Theory, Empiricism and Future Implications of Eradicating Oppression” by Edwin Grimsley, Humanities Center Faculty Fellow and Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Hartford. In his talk, Edwin Grimsley will survey structural racism through two lenses: (1) theoretical contributions that maintain white supremacy and the status quo; and (2) empirical analyses that help society understand the contemporary depths of structural racism. This work is part of a wider scholarly project where he examines structural racism in the opioid epidemic as a driver of disparities across institutional systems for Black opioid users in NYC in an epidemic largely known as a “White problem.”
Feb. 27: “Cultural Imperialism, Public Education and Americanization Campaigns in Puerto Rico” by Solsiree Del Moral, Professor of American Studies and Black Studies, Amherst College. Solsiree Del Moral will speak to the many different forms (military, political, economic, and cultural) that U.S. imperialism has taken in Puerto Rico since 1898. In her talk, she will focus on the practice of cultural imperialism, public education, and Americanization campaigns from 1900 to 1930. A review of historical scholarship and archival sources, she will argue, challenges us to re-evaluate the narrative of U.S. cultural imperialism in Puerto Rico, especially given the fact that local teachers, in particular, emerged as the bulwark against Americanization during this period. (Talk online)
March 20: “The Impact of Land Loss on the Racial Wealth Gap” by Karen Gantt, Humanities Center Faculty Fellow and Associate Professor of Business Law at the University of Hartford. In her talk, Karen Gantt will examine the historical causes (discriminatory housing policies and lending practices, land loss through legal and illegal means) that have created a gap where the average wealth of the African American community is ten times less than that of the White community. She will specifically explore the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre as but one historical cause for this wealth gap. The descendants of those affected by the massacre, for instance, continue to question where they could have been financially had they been able to inherit family land or the once successful family business. This will lead to her discussion of other instances of land loss, including Bruce’s Beach in California, the Gullah-Geechee in South Carolina and Georgia, Seneca Village in New York, and Malaga Island in Maine.
March 27: “Whose Museum Is It Anyway?” by Anuradha Vikram, Independent Curator and Scholar. Drawing on the essay of the same name from their 2017 collection Decolonizing Culture, critic and curator Anuradha Vikram will present their recent work on the topic of historical inclusion in cultural institutions including but not limited to museums and galleries. Vikram will draw on their experience as a writer and editor covering international contemporary art exhibitions for X-TRA, Art in America, The Brooklyn Rail, and other national publications as well as curating exhibitions of BIPOC artists for Los Angeles museums and civic art entities.
April 3: “From Marginalized to Mainstream: Situating Korean Cultural Studies in the 21st Century” by Ju-Yong Ha, Humanities Center Faculty Fellow and Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Hartford. In this talk, Ju-Yong Ha will speak about his current research focusing on transnationalism, interculturality, and models of how musicians interact with local communities in NYC. Here, he will present the image of Korea through its immigrant music and culture in New York as he introduces selected Korean immigrant artists who represent the transplanted “local” tradition alongside those who perform on the intercultural global stage. He will also address the challenge of what is global and what is local, and how traditional music affects K-pop and K-drama/movies. (In Wilde Auditorium)
April 10: “Unpacking the Psychological and Academic Experiences of Race among BIPOC Students” by Michael Gale, Humanities Center Faculty Fellow and Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Hartford. Here, Michael Gale will explore the vastly different and adverse experiences BIPOC college students bring with them when compared to their White peers, all of which result from a multifaceted system of racial oppression operating at multiple levels from macro (e.g., societal, institutional, and cultural) to micro with impersonal actions born out of prejudice, stereotypes, and stigma (e.g., microaggressions). He will also address how the challenges of higher education presented to BIPOC students have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic along with what has been termed the co-occurring “pandemic of racism.”
April 17: “Transnational Engagement: Documentation Status and Immigrants’ Political Involvement” by Natalia Navas, Doctoral Candidate in Sociology at Stony Brook University. Here, Ms. Navas will examine how different types of documentation status affect political participation among the Salvadoran diaspora, exploring specifically how this status simultaneously encourages or inhibits immigrants’ political involvement (i.e., voting and fundraising) in their home and host countries. Ultimately, this lens provides a better understanding, she will argue, of the factors that inform migrants’ transnational political engagement in ways that go beyond a binary citizenship/non-citizenship status while expanding the knowledge of American groups who may be on the verge of deportation and at the mercy of a precarious documentation status.