What forces shape Black lives as they are lived around the globe? Taking as its premise the notion that all aspects of Black lives matter, the series features Liberal Studies faculty, students, alumni, and guests in discussion about how migration, erasure, racial capitalism, cultural appropriation, and other manifestations of globalism impact the lives of people of African descent the world over.
Black Lives in Global Contexts
September 25, 2020 12:00 - 1:30pm EDT
Black Lives in Global Contexts: Migration
Professors Shivers and Menghraj—current and former NYU Florence faculty appointees, respectively—will discuss how notions of Blackness shift as people of African descent migrate. They will also talk about their respective experiences of race beyond U.S. borders and invite attendees to share their own cross-national perspectives on Blackness. Watch Zoom Recording
October 16, 2020 12:00 - 1:30pm EDT
Black Lives in Global Contexts: Erasure
In this conversation, Professors Minu Tharoor and Ifeona Fulani will discuss the multiple layers of meanings of the term "erasure" in the context of colonial histories and current lives. They will also share instances and experiences of erasure that have impacted their thinking, their teaching, and their understanding of the world. Watch Zoom Recording
November 20, 2020 12:00 - 1:30pm EDT
Black Lives in Global Contexts: Racial Capitalism
In this session, Sarah Balakrishnan (University of Virginia) and Michael Ralph (Social and Cultural Analysis, NYU) will join us for a discussion of racial capitalism, a term that has gained renewed traction in recent years. Drawing on their own scholarship, they will explore the historically intimate relationship between race and capitalism, as mediated through various colonial and postcolonial projects. They will also interrogate the potential of "racial capitalism," however defined, to help us understand global forms of racialized violence today. Dina M Siddiqi (Liberal Studies, NYU) will moderate the conversation. This event is co-sponsored by the New York Center for Global Asia. Watch Zoom Recording
December 3, 2020 5:00pm EDT
The Struggle for Black Lives: Global Visions and Historical Legacies
Liberal Studies, in collaboration with the NYU BeTogether Global Scholars & Innovators Series, is thrilled to welcome NYU students, faculty, administrators, alumni, the public and other members of the NYU community to the latest installment of the Global Lecture Series, which each year brings an internationally renowned speaker to Washington Square Campus. This year’s lecture is part of the LS NYUWomXn100 and Black Lives in Global Contexts series. Historian, author, and professor Keisha N. Blain will speak on The Struggle for Black Lives: Global Visions and Historical Legacies.
In this talk, historian Keisha N. Blain discusses the international dimensions of the Black freedom struggle from the early twentieth century to the present. Drawing on a wealth of historical examples, including the organizing efforts of Black women and working-poor activists, Blain’s talk highlights how internationalism has shaped—and continues to shape—Black politics in the United States. African American activists, of all walks of life, have worked to build alliances with other people of color around the globe, linking the fight for civil rights with a vision of international human rights. This understanding of Black internationalism helps to connect the current wave of Black Lives Matter (BLM) uprisings to the political ideas and activism of historical figures such as Madam C.J. Walker, Mittie Maude Lena Gordon, Pearl Sherrod, and many others. The international support for the wave of US protests in 2020 underscores the vitality of these transnational bonds.
February 19, 2021 12:00 - 1:30pm EDT
Black Lives in Global Contexts: Cultural Appropriation
In this session, Shy Mitchell (NYU ’20, Global Liberal Studies with concentration in Critical Creative Production), Michella Germain (NYU '20, Psychology with minor in Social and Cultural Analysis), and Kaylah Haye (Boston University '20, Graphic Design with minor in Printmaking) will discuss the intersection of Black lives and K-pop, with particular attention to the roles race, activism, and cultural appropriation play in mediating relationships between the two. Jeannine Chandler (Liberal Studies, NYU) will moderate the discussion. Watch Zoom Recording
November 12, 2021 12:00 - 1:30pm EDT
Black Lives in Global Contexts: Trans-Pacific Representations / K-pop Part II
In this session, the continuation of a Spring 2021 discussion about the intersection of Black lives and K-pop, Crystal S. Anderson, PhD (Assistant Director, Teaching Excellence at Stearns Center for Teaching and Learning and Affiliate Faculty in Korean Studies, George Mason University) will join NYU alumna and K-pop enthusiast Shaya Morgan (NYU ’21, MA, Higher Education and Student Affairs, Steinhardt) in a conversation about representations of Blackness in Korean pop culture and music. Jeannine Chandler (Liberal Studies, NYU) and Suzanne Maria Menghraj (Liberal Studies, NYU) will moderate the discussion.
April 11, 2022 12:00 - 1:30pm EDT
Black Lives in Global Contexts: Opera's Artistic Architectures
In this session, Trinidadian soprano Natalia Dopwell and Brooklynite contralto Nicole Joy Mitchell join us for a conversation about performing within—and renovating—the complex architectures of opera, a classically European art form. Karen Karbiener (Liberal Studies, NYU) will moderate and Suzanne Maria Menghraj (Liberal Studies, NYU) will host the discussion, the seventh in a series that considers what forces shape Black lives as they are lived around the globe.
October 19, 2022 6:00 - 7:30pm EDT
Black Lives in Global Contexts: Blackness in Southwest Asia: Between Iranian Cinema and the Arabic Novel
Liberal Studies hosts poet, scholar, and translator Mona Kareem (Crown Center, Brandeis University) and scholar Parisa Vaziri (Near Eastern Studies, Cornell University) for a conversation about Blackness in Iranian cinema and the Arabic novel. Suzanne Maria Menghraj (Liberal Studies, NYU) will host the discussion, the eighth in a series that considers what forces shape Black lives as they are lived around the globe. The event is co-sponsored by the Office of Global Inclusion, Diversity, and Strategic Innovation and by the Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies.