Race and Racism: Global Perspectives

In celebration of the launch of the exhibition “The Color Line” at the Musée Quai Branly, the Center will dedicate the first week of

By
Joelle Theubet
September 29, 2016

In partnership with the Columbia Masters Program in History and Literature in Paris, and in celebration of the launch of the exhibition “The Color Line” at the Musée Quai Branly, the Center will dedicate the first week of October to themes of race and racism. Programs include:

Monday, October 3: “Forgotten: The Untold Story of D-Day’s Black Heroes, at Home and at War.” Linda Hervieux will present her recently published account of the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, the only black combat unit to take part in the D-Day landings.

Tuesday, October 4: “Writing Race: Black Expatriates in France.”  Marcellus Blount, Columbia Professor of English and Comparative Literature, will moderate a panel on black expatriate writers featuring Alice Craven and William Dow, both Professors of Comparative Literature and English at the American University in Paris. Prior to the roundtable, Columbia Professor of Comparative Literature and English Robert O’Meally will speak about “The Color Line” exhibit and his collaboration with its curator, Daniel Soutif.

Friday, October 7: “Violence, Racisme et Religions: Les échos des expériences américaines dans le monde.” This roundtable will discuss the new biography, Cornel West: Une pensée rebelle, written by Mahamadou Lamine Sagna, a Senegalese sociologist and researcher at the Laboratoire de changement social and politique at the University of Paris-Diderot. Patrice Vermeren (Director of the Department of Philosophy at University Paris VIIII) and Stephane Douailler (Professor of Philosophy at Paris VIII) will be on the panel.

Saturday, October 8: “Cinema and Engagement."  Co-sponsored by Les éditions Noir sur Blanc, this event will feature documentary filmmaker Rita Coburn Whack speaking about her new film “Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise,” which premiered at Sundance this year. Her lecture will be followed by a conversation with Françoise Zamour, specialist on film and race and professor at the Ecole Normale Supérieure. This event is a lead-up to an evening tribute to Maya Angelou on October 10 at L’Odéon Théâtre de l’Europe.