Hello!
The African-American (AFAM) Studies Department at Boston University is hosting an event, which guarantees to unpack cultural politics with you…
{Stealing Culture: The Complicated Politics of Cultural Appropriation}
Tuesday March 20th, 6-7:30pm
BU Photonics Center, RM. 206 8 Saint Mary’s Street, Boston, MA 02215
Imagery courtesy of artist: Shannon Wright, “Shared or Stolen: An Examination of Cultural Appropriation”
this panel has been organized by students to pull on the contentious strings surrounding race and culture on college campuses. this is a forum created to delve into topics such as, “African-Americans appropriating African culture, ethnic minorities appropriating other minority cultures, as well as broader questions of cultural ownership in the context of racism and inequality.”
This event features…
“Special Guest:
Dr. Adrienne Keene, Asst. Professor of American Studies and Ethnic Studies, Brown University
Author of nativeappropriations.com
Panelists:
Dr. Saida Grundy, Asst. Professor of Sociology and African American Studies, Boston University
Dr. Joseph Rezek, Associate Professor of English, Boston University
Dr. Takeo Rivera, Asst. Professor of English and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Boston University”
The AFAM studies department has the power to draw me to these events because of the way BU students organized this forum based in their awareness of the campus, the depth and clarity of their opinion and fierce decision to open up the conversation to anyone who will make the effort to listen in person.
As I reflect over my past four years in undergrad, I can call myself out on how inherently impressionable I’ve been without any action. I’ve felt stuck in all the newness of environment, the excitement of going to school with more than 20 people of color in the whole school, consuming a breadth of information at a seemingly alarming rate. I take a lot of what I am taught as fact and keep going about my day as opposed to curating my own individual response. As I move forward, a phrase sticks with me from all my years of schooling is, “in your own words.” I wanna live to see the day where I do not need that guideline but can say, “yes, this is my informed opinion, I’d like to share it with you and open up a conversation.”
This upcoming exploration of the central idea of appropriation, which we can see on campus, in the media, and in our artist’s work can help us listen, digest and formulate what we even believe we see and how we process.
So, I employ any friends part or not par of the student body to attend this event:
