UW Black Studies Center to Host Inaugural Webinar Oct. 13

The newly formed Black Studies Center at the University of Wyoming will present its first webinar Tuesday, Oct. 13.

The free webinar, titled “After Fifty Years, Does Black Studies Matter? A Critical Critique,” will begin at 5 p.m. Those interested in viewing the webinar can do so by joining via a Zoom link at https://uwyo.zoom.us/j/97887885558.

“The University of Wyoming Black Studies Center’s inaugural webinar seeks to examine the origin and development of Black studies as one portion of a broader discussion regarding the legacy of Black studies after 50 years of existence,” says Fredrick Douglass Dixon, the center’s director and an assistant professor in the UW School of Culture, Gender and Social Justice.

A three-member panel will discuss the past, present and future trajectory of Black studies. Dixon will moderate the panel.

Panelists are:

-- Ashley Howard, an assistant professor in the University of Iowa’s Department of History. Her research interests include African Americans in the Midwest; the intersection between race, class and gender; and the global history of racial violence.

-- Rik Stevenson, a visiting assistant professor of African American studies at the University of Florida. His primary research examines the role of suicide by drowning as a form of resistance during the trans-Atlantic slave trade. His other research interests are in the research and recovery of sunken slave vessels.

-- Marcus DuBois Watson, an assistant professor of Africana studies and individualized studies at the State University of New York-Buffalo State College, and a former UW faculty member. His research focuses on international development; digital technology; and social activism in South Africa, Ghana and the United States.  

The next UW Black Studies Center webinar will take place Tuesday, Nov. 10.

For more information, email Dixon at fdixon@uwyo.edu or go to www.uwyo.edu/as/black-studies-center.