Shabazz Lecture to Relate the Teachings of W. E. B. Dubois the Current Economic Crisis

Shabazz lecture to relate the teachings of W. E. B. DuBois the current economic crisis

Amilcar Shabazz, professor and chair of the W.E.B. DuBois Department of Afro-American Studies, presents the next lecture in the Commonwealth Honors College Faculty Lecture Series on Wednesday, February 23, at 6:30 p.m. in the Student Union Ballroom.

His talk, "Reading W. E. B. DuBois in the Context of the Present Economic Crisis" examines the teachings of this major civil rights activist and pioneering sociologist of the African American experience. Shabazz explores the insight DuBois provides into the current economic situation.

A Fulbright Senior Specialist and international scholar, Shabazz teaches in the area of historical studies with an emphasis on the political economy of social and cultural movements, education, and public history. His book Advancing Democracy: African Americans and the Struggle for Access and Equity in Higher Education in Texas has received numerous honors. Shabazz has also published The Forty Acres Documents, a sourcebook on reparations, and co-edited Women & Others: Perspective on Race, Gender, and Empire.

Commonwealth Honors College introduced its Faculty Lecture Series this semester in recognition of faculty who have made significant contributions to research or creative activity. Through lectures that highlight academic excellence and scholarship, these faculty share their ideas and insight with honors students in sessions open to the campus community.

Many of the talks in the faculty lecture series relate to themes in "Ideas that Changed the World," the Honors Seminar in which honors students examine books and other works that have profoundly shaped the world we live in. The texts in this class and the related faculty lectures are meant to be exemplary for students who have the potential themselves to achieve outstanding things.

The series will continue in April with three additional lectures:

Steve Goodwin, Dean, College of Natural Sciences and Professor, Microbiology Daffodil Lecturer on Sustainability and the Environment "Can Science Save Our Planet? UMass Research and the Environment" April 5, 2011, 6:30 p.m., Student Union Ballroom

Elizabeth Barker, Director and Chief Curator, Mead Art Museum, Amherst College Kathryn & Paul Williamson Lecturer “How Citizen Kane is like the Mona Lisa: Moving Definitions of a Work of Art” April 20, 2011, 6:30 p.m., Student Union Ballroom

Susan Krauss Whitbourne, Professor, Psychology Undergraduate Research Conference Keynote Speaker "Searching for Fulfillment: What it Means for Your future" April 22, 2011, 10:00 a.m., Campus Center Auditorium Scott Auerbach, professor of chemistry, kicked off the series on January 26 with "Seeing the Light in the 21st Century: R U Still in Plato's Cave?" In his talk, Auerbach compelled his audience to think about obsessive texting, suggesting it is a form of entrapment, similar to that experienced by the prisoners in Plato's "Allegory of the Cave." In his critique of Plato's extended metaphor for the way we perceive and believe in reality, Auerbach advocated for critical and balanced intellectual inquiry.