The University of Massachusetts will host a series of events focused on the topic of racism in the United States and the Black Lives Matter movement from March 23 to March 28.
The series, called “Research & Reflection on Black Life”, is described on the UMass website as “a campus-wide, interdisciplinary engagement with the Black Lives Matter movement.”
“A range of departments and campus guests will explore a variety of related issues and different perspectives,” wrote UMass Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy in a campus-wide email.
The series will begin with “Social Science Research Methods at the Frontier: Affirming Black Lives Matter,” a panel in which three professors will “reflect critically on the frontiers of research methods in each of their disciplines in light of the fight for racial justice.” Dawn Dow of Syracuse University, Fredrick Harris of Columbia University and Linda Tropp of UMass Amherst will host the panel on March 23 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. in the Campus Center Hadley Room.
The themes of police militarization and racially based abuse of power will be covered in the lecture “Resisting Police,” given by Paul Amar on March 24. This will be followed the next day by a discussion on the same topic, hosted by Amar and others. Both events will be held at 4 p.m. in the Cape Cod Lounge.
The series will conclude with a dialogue called “Social Science Research at the Frontier: How Do We Heed The Call?”, which will feature scholars from different schools in the Five Colleges speaking about social science research as it relates to the Black Lives Matter movement. It will be hosted on March 28 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. in Room 107 of Bartlett Hall.
Other events in the series include a two-day workshop on confronting racism in the U.S., a symposium about feminist poet June Jordan and an event about the past and future of the Black Lives Matter movement, hosted by the DuBois department of Afro-American Studies.
The University Museum of Contemporary Art will also host a video installation about black male identity in the United States during this week.
Stuart Foster can be reached at [email protected] or followed on Twitter @Stuart_C_Foster
