About the Colloquium:

This colloquium involves two panel discussions and two concurrent breakout sessions that analyze and discuss various representations of black masculinity and femininity in a variety of cultural artifacts. The aim is to look critically at film, music videos, literature, online and print media, and song while discussing issues such as intersectionality, reinforced gender norms, social modeling, and more. The panelists are invited guests from a variety of academic and artistic backgrounds. The breakout sessions will discuss how this question can be integrated into the classroom through writing assignments and creative projects.

This colloquium is an open, interdisciplinary conversation about how black identity is represented in popular culture and in the retelling of history. Topics could include (but are not limited to) discussions of reality TV, the entertainment industry, motion pictures, literature, documentary film, theatre, and academic discourse.

The colloquium will be moderated by activist, lecturer, writer, and award-winning documentary filmmaker Byron Hurt.

About the Moderator:

Byron Hurt is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, a published writer, and an anti-sexist activist. His documentary, Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. It was later broadcast nationally on the Emmy award-winning PBS series Independent Lens, drawing an audience of more than 1.3 million viewers. To date, Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes (BBR) has been selected to appear in more than 50 film festivals worldwide and The Chicago Tribune named it "one of the best documentary films in 2007." His current documentary Soul Food Junkies has been recently featured on PBS and is currently being screened across the country.

In addition to being a filmmaker, Hurt is a nationally respected activist. Since 1993, he has been using his craft, his voice, and his writings to broaden and deepen how people think about race and gender. His first film, I AM A MAN: Black Masculinity in America, is a 60-minute award-winning documentary that captures the thoughts and feelings of African-American men and women from over fifteen cities across the country. Hurt challenges audiences to interrogate the damaging effects of patriarchy, racism, and sexism in American culture.

To find out more about Byron Hurt go to http://www.bhurt.com/about.php.

Participants in the Colloquium:

Dr. Mark Anthony Neal - Professor, African & African American Studies (Duke University)

Dr. William Darity - Arts & Sciences Professor of Public Policy Studies and Economics; Chair of African and African American Studies; Director of the Research Network on Racial and Ethnic Inequality at Duke University (Duke University)

Shirlkeymu Winston – Assistant Professor, Department of History, Government & Public Policy (Saint Augustine’s University)

Dr. Santiba Campbell - Assistant Professor, Psychology (Bennett College)

Dr. Joseph Jordan – Associate Professor, African and Afro-American Studies; Director, Sonja Haynes Stone Center (UNC-Chapel Hill)

Rukiyah Dillahunt - Education, labor, and peace activist, and former assistant principal in the Wake County Public School System

Kimberly McCrae – Program Coordinator, Duke Women’s Center (Duke University)

Schedule:

9-9:30am - Check In at the Prezell R. Robinson Library

9:30-10:45am - Panel 1: Rappers, Scholars, and Real Housewives: Redefining Black Identity Today

Panelists are Dr. Mark Anthony Neal, Dr. William Darity, Dr. Santiba Campbell, Shirlkeymu Winston

10:45-11:00am - Break

11:00am-12:00pm Break Out Sessions

Session 1 - TBA

Facilitated by Natalie Bullock-Brown

Session 2 - TBA

Facilitated by Chris Massenburg

12:00-1:30pm - Lunch on your own

1:30-2:45pm - Panel 2: Back in the Day: Historical Representations and the Privilege of Telling

Panelists are Dr. Joseph Jordan, Rukiyah Dillahunt, Kimberly McCrae

2:45-3:00pm - Break

3:00-4:00pm - Where do we go from here?

Info about the colloquium:

Chris Massenburg at cdmassenburg@st-aug.edu or 919-516-4099

Natalie Bullock Brown at nbrown@st-aug.edu or 919-516-4727