Virtual program on YouTube live, 7 p.m.

The Model Minority Myth, Anti-Asian Racism, Anti-Black Racism, and COVID-19

Jennifer Ho – University of Colorado Boulder

This talk will look at the ways Asians in America have been objects of racism—from the first entrance of Chinese immigrants to California in the 19th century to the current mass shootings of six Asian women in Atlanta. What both anti-Black and anti-Asian racism share are the roots in white supremacy that position Asians as the “good” model minority, a myth that serves to divide and conquer minority racial groups in the U.S.  Ho will share strategies to combat anti-racism of all kinds for people who want to be anti-racism advocates and allies.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Department of English and the Women’s & Gender Resource Center.

Topic overview by Bao Tran ’23

Biography

The daughter of a refugee father from China and an immigrant mother from Jamaica, whose own parents were, themselves, immigrants from Hong Kong, Jennifer Ho is the director of the Center for Humanities & the Arts at the University of Colorado Boulder, where she also holds an appointment as Professor Read more

Virtual program on YouTube live, 7 p.m.

Livestream Link

Intersections of Race and Gender in Contemporary Iberian Studies 

N. Michelle Murray – Vanderbilt University

This talk will provide a brief overview of the representation of migrant women by Spanish directors in the films Flores de otro mundo, Princesas, and Amador. The talk connects these works to the writings of Lucía Asué Mbomío Rubio and Quan Zhou Wu, whose novels reflect and nuance the established frameworks for representing race and gender in contemporary Spain.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Department of Spanish & Portuguese and the Women’s & Gender Resource Center.

Topic overview by Gabriella Farrell ’21

Biography

N. Michelle Murray is an assistant professor of Spanish at Vanderbilt University. Her research and teaching focus on contemporary Spanish literature and film. Her first book Home Away from Home: Immigrant Narratives, Domesticity, and Coloniality in Contemporary Spanish Culture (UNC Press for North Carolina Studies in Romance Languages and Literatures, 2018) studies representations of immigrant women as domestic workers in contemporary Spain. She has published articles in Research in African Literatures, Symposium, Letras Femeninas, Studies in Spanish and Latin American Read more

Virtual program on YouTube live, 7 p.m.

Caring for Our Elders: A Conversation on the Present and Future of Claremont Nursing and Rehabilitation Center

Dr. Michael Daniels
Jean Foschi
Sherry Knowlton ’72
Tim Potts ’71
Dave Sarcone (moderator)

The Claremont Nursing and Rehabilitation Center has been a Cumberland County resource since 1829. It is a community-based non-profit with an open admission policy, focused on providing quality skilled nursing services to residents in a caring and dignified environment. However, deficit budgets in recent years have prompted the County Commissioners to decide to sell the Center to a private nursing home facility provider in order to avoid property tax increases. There are currently two potential buyers, and commissioners anticipate that a sale will be finalized by the summer of this year. This event will explore potential costs to our residents of a sale and discuss ways the center might be kept as a county owned resource.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues.

Biographies

Dr. Michael Daniels, MD, MBA, is a general practitioner based in Mount Holly Springs. He is a residency trained, board certified family physician with additional certification in geriatrics. For 35 years he Read more

Virtual program on YouTube live, 7 p.m.

Strongman Propaganda and Personality Cults from Mussolini to the Present

Ruth Ben-Ghiat – New York University

This talk examines the “authoritarian playbook” strongman rulers used to get to office and stay there: corruption, propaganda, violence, and the myth of national greatness. The talk will focus on how propaganda and personality cults tie everything together – and how to push back against authoritarian disinformation.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and cosponsored by the department of Italian & Italian studies and history.

Topic overview by Gabriella Farrell ’21.

Biography

Ruth Ben-Ghiat is a historian, educator, and commentator on fascism, authoritarian leaders, and propaganda — and the threats these present to democracies around the world. Professor of history and Italian studies at New York University, she is author or editor of seven books and many essays and op-eds in media outlets including CNN, The New Yorker, and The Washington Post. Her newest book is Strongmen: From Mussolini to the Present (Norton,2020), which examines the authoritarian playbook (corruption, violence, propaganda, and virility) that such leaders have used for a century.

Video of the Presentation

Read more

Virtual program on YouTube live, 7 p.m.

Livestream Link

What is Translation? Theory, Practice, Value

Lawrence Venuti, Temple University

Although the history of translation theory and practice has been distinguished by a range of concepts and strategies, two approaches, one instrumental, the other hermeneutic (or interpretive), have recurred so frequently they are considered the dominated models. This talk will explore the continuing pertinence of these models for both theory and practice by examining the work of various theorists and commentators from antiquity to the present.

The program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the departments of classical studies, English, French & Francophone studies, Italian & Italian studies, Spanish & Portuguese, German, and Middle East studies.

Topic overview written by Logan Cort ’22

Biography

Lawrence Venuti, professor emeritus of English at Temple University, is a translation theorist and historian as well as a translator from Italian, French, and Catalan. He is, most recently, the author of Contra Instrumentalism: A Translation Polemic (2019), the editor of The Translation Studies Reader, 4th ed. (2021), and the translator of I.U. Tarchetti’s Fantastic Tales (2020).

Video of the Presentation

  Read more

Virtual program on YouTube live, 7 p.m.

The Representation of Women in the U.S. Congress

Kira Sanbonmatsu –  Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) at the Eagleton Institute of Politics of Rutgers University

Sanbonmatsu will share data from the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) about the current status of women in elective office and discuss women’s candidacies in the 2018 and 2020 elections. She will also share findings from her coauthored book, A Seat at the Table: Congresswomen’s Perspectives on Why Their Presence Matters, about how women in Congress perceive their representational roles. The book draws on interviews with women serving in the 114th Congress.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Women’s & Gender Resource Center.

Topic overview written by Bao Tran ’23

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Kira Sanbonmatsu is professor of political science at Rutgers University and senior scholar at the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) at the Eagleton Institute of Politics. Her research interests include gender, race/ethnicity, parties, public opinion, and state politics. Her most recent book, coauthored with Kelly Dittmar and Susan J. Carroll, is A Seat at the Table: Congresswomen’s Read more

Virtual program on YouTube live, 7 p.m.

Analyzing The 2020 Elections in Pennsylvania: A Panel Discussion

Jean Foschi – Cumberland County Board of Commissioners
Valerie Gaydos ’89 – 44th Legislative District in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Matt Haverstick – Kleinbard LLC
Sarah Niebler (moderator) – Dickinson College

In October 2019 the Pennsylvania legislature passed Act 77 which allows for no-excuse mail-in voting. There was wide bipartisan support for this legislation which Governor Wolf signed into law on October 31. Some months later, however, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and President Trump began to repeatedly denigrate mail-in voting, claiming that it would lead to rampant fraud. In October 2020 the Pennsylvania Supreme Court granted a request by the Democratic Party of Pennsylvania to extend the deadline for receipt of mail-in ballots as long as they were postmarked by election day. That decision was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. In this program panelists will discuss the debate concerning mail-in voting and the many court challenges to the official results.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Department of Political Science.

Biographies

Jean Foschi is vice chairman and is the newest member of Read more

Virtual program on YouTube live, 12 – 1:30 p.m.

Wesley Lecture

Black Queer Christian Lives Matter: Race, Religion, and Sexuality – an Intersectional Conversation

Rev. Dr. Jay Williams – Senior Pastor at Union Church in Boston

The Annual Wesley Lecture will feature the Rev. Dr. Jay Williams, Senior Pastor at Union Church in Boston. The Rev. Jay (as he is known) is a queer cisgender man and partner to Robert. Williams is known as a charismatic leader and will discuss the deep roots of liberation theology and the Christian church’s difficult and important history of racism and anti-LGBTQIA+ actions. A keynote will be followed by a Q & A session to discuss these important intersections.

This lecture is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and the Center for Spirituality and Social Justice and co-sponsored by the Office of LGBTQ Services, the Popel Shaw Center for Race & Ethnicity, and the Department of Religion.

Topic overview written by Rebecca Fox ’22

Biography

Rev. Dr. Jay Williams returned to Union Church in Boston as lead pastor on July 1, 2018, having guided this congregation September 2012 – June 2017. An ordained elder in The United Methodist Church, Jay has served Read more

Virtual program on YouTube live, 7 p.m.

The First Amendment and Epidemics

Eugene Volokh, UCLA School of Law

Under what circumstances can an epidemic justify the government restricting religious worship services?  What about restrictions on other First-Amendment-protected activities, such as protests or political party gatherings?  Volokh will discuss how the Free Exercise Clause, the Free Speech Clause, and the Assembly Clause bear on these questions. This discussion-led presentation will be moderated by Harry Pohlman, professor of political science.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Center for Spirituality & Social Justice and the departments of political science and sociology.

Topic overview written by Scout Meredith Best ’21

Biography

Eugene Volokh has taught First Amendment law for 25 years at UCLA School of Law; he is the author of the textbooks The First Amendment and Related Statutes (7th ed. 2020) and Academic Legal Writing (5th ed. 2016), as well as over 80 legal journal articles. He is also the founder and coauthor of The Volokh Conspiracy, a Weblog (independent 2002-2014, hosted at the Washington Post 2014-2017, hosted at Reason from 2017).

H. L. Pohlman is the A. Lee Fritschler Professor of Public Read more

Virtual program on YouTube live, 7 p.m.

Air Pollution in Pennsylvania: Community Panel

Thomas Au –  Clean Air Board of Central PA
Germaine Gooden-Patterson – Women for a Healthy Environment
Naida Elena Montes – Temple University
Krishnan Ramamurthy – Pennsylvania DEP
Heather Bedi (moderator) – Dickinson College

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, air pollution levels in some parts of Pennsylvania are among the nation’s highest. The United Health Association ranks Pennsylvania’s air quality as 48th out of US states. In addition to other health implications, new research links increased levels of air pollution to higher COVID-19 death rates. To orient these concerns, this panel will include a review of key air pollution sources across Pennsylvania. Community members will reflect on localized air pollution considerations and potential opportunities for engagement.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the department of environmental studies and the Center for Civic Learning & Action.

Topic overview written by Bao Tran ’23

Biographies

Thomas Y. Au has practiced environmental law in the public interest for over 30 years.  He is currently president of the Clean Air Board of Central Pennsylvania, a citizens group of working to Read more

Virtual program on YouTube live, 7 p.m.

Program is Part of Love Your Body Week

Fatphobia as Misogynoir: Gender, Race and Weight Stigma

Sabrina Strings -University of California, Irvine

Strings will explore the rise and spread of fatphobia in the Western world and its relationship to race science. She will also consider how this dubious legacy has impacted the science behind the “obesity epidemic.”

The program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Women’s & Gender Resource Center. It is also part of Dickinson’s Love Your Body Week.

Topic overview by Bao Tran ’23

Biography
Sabrina Strings, Ph.D. is an associate professor of sociology at the University of California, Irvine. She has been featured in dozens of venues, including BBC News, NPR, Huffington Post, Medium, Mashable, Los Angeles Times, Bitch Media, and goop. Her writing has appeared in diverse venues including, The New York Times, Scientific American, Ethnic and Racial Studies, and Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society. Her book, Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia (2019), has been named an NYU Press Bestseller. It was awarded the 2020 Read more

Virtual program on YouTube live, 7 p.m.

Morgan Lecture

Bearing Witness While Black: African Americans, Smartphones, and the Fight to Preserve Our Democracy — One Video at a Time

Allissa Richardson, University of Southern California

Richardson will share how Black smartphone witnesses of the last five years launched the largest social justice movement in American history. In her new book, Bearing Witness While Black: African Americans, Smartphones and the New Protest Journalism, she explains why we cannot ignore the mobile testimonies of the afflicted — and what is at stake when we do.

The program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and the Morgan Lecture Fund and cosponsored by the Center for Civic Learning & Action; the Popel Shaw Center for Race & Ethnicity; the Women’s & Gender Resource Center; and the departments of English; math and computer science; women’s, gender & sexuality studies; Middle East studies, American studies, history and sociology.  This program was initiated by the Clarke Forum’s student project managers.

Topic overview by Rebecca Fox ’22

Biography

Dr. Allissa V. Richardson is an assistant professor of journalism at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School. She researches how African Americans use mobile and Read more

Virtual program on YouTube live, 12 p.m. EST

Livestream Link

Community, Connections and Commentary:
Perspectives on the US Elections from Bremen, Málaga, Moscow and Toulouse

Panelists:

Françoise Coste, representing Toulouse, France
Manuel Arias Maldonado, representing Málaga, Spain
Konstantin Sonin, representing Moscow, Russia
Neil van Siclen, representing Bremen, Germany
Sarah Niebler (moderator), Dickinson College

Given the interdependence of the world today, hearing global voices, views and perspectives is more important than ever. Join us and partners from our communities abroad for a discussion on the 2020 U.S. elections. Dickinson College collaborators representing Bremen, Germany; Toulouse, France;  Málaga, Spain;  and Moscow, Russia will give an in-depth analysis of the election results, bringing their insight and highlighting the impact of the elections both near and far.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues at Dickinson College.

Topic overview written by Gabriella Farrell ’21

Biographies (provided by the panelists)

Françoise Coste is a professor of American studies at the University of Toulouse – Jean Jaurès. She devotes her research to contemporary American politics, with a special focus on the history of women’s rights and on the contemporary conservative movement. Her biography of Ronald Reagan (Reagan Read more

Virtual program on YouTube live, 12 p.m.

Pandemic Preparedness and Environmental Awareness

Frédéric Keck

Laboratory of Social Anthropology
(CNRS-Collège de France-EHESS)

The current Covid-19 pandemic has connected public health concerns in the West (the fabric of vaccines, the use of masks and other distancing measures) with questions on what happens with bats in China, since Covid-19 is a zoonosis emerging from animal reservoirs. While preparedness asks us to prepare for future pandemics, and question how much we are prepared in the organization of public health, it also includes attentiveness to environmental changes as early warning signals of pandemics. Focusing on the perception of sentinels for influenza pandemics in Hong Kong, this talk will question how we can read viral mutations as signs of environmental changes.

The event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the departments of East Asian studies and anthropology.

Topic overview written by Amanda Sowah ’22

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Frédéric Keck is director of research at the Laboratory of Social Anthropology (CNRS-Collège de France-EHESS). After studying philosophy at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris and anthropology at the University of California at Berkeley, he has been researching the history of Read more

Virtual program on YouTube live, 7 p.m.

The State of Environmental Justice in Pennsylvania

Panelists:

Saleem Chapman, City of Philadelphia
Veronica Coptis, Center for Coalfield Justice
Adam Cutler, Fox Rothschild, LLP
Horace Strand, Chester Environmental Partnership
Heather Bedi (moderator), Dickinson College

Environmental justice aspires for all people- regardless of race, ethnicity, national origin, or socioeconomic background – to have equal access to a healthy environment, including avenues to participate meaningfully in decisions regarding their environment. Environmental injustice examines which communities and places are disproportionately exposed to environmental health risks from industrial, municipal, commercial operations, or government policies. Research in the field of environmental justice has shown that people living in poverty, as well as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) and their communities, are disproportionately impacted by environmental degradation and pollution.  This panel will focus on environmental justice work occurring in Pennsylvania, bringing together community representatives and members of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Environmental Justice Advisory Board to discuss progress and challenges to achieve environmental justice in the Keystone state. Panelists will reflect on the diversity of activism and legal actions taken to achieve environmental justice. Presenters will highlight contemporary and future efforts Read more

Livestream Event – 7 p.m.

Hedgehogs and Foxes:
Toward Climate Pragmatism

Armond Cohen – Rose-Walters Prize for Environmental Activism Recipient

Clean Air Task Force (CATF)

Climate change is the consequence of the uncontrolled use of fossil fuels, providing 80% of our energy, burned in billions of machines. It took us two centuries to create this complex global industrial system. Now we must replace it in a few decades with zero carbon machines while providing much more energy for the world’s poor. The philosopher Isaiah Berlin once cited a fable about two kinds of thinkers: “The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.” Hedgehog thinkers embrace single solutions to problems, while foxes see complexity, contingency, and risk. Climate pragmatism embraces multiple strategies and technologies, and a variety of market and policy approaches, to find what works. This is the moment for foxes, not hedgehogs.

This event is sponsored by the The Sam Rose ’58 and Julie Walters Prize at Dickinson College for Global Environmental Activism and co-sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and the Center for Sustainability Education.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Armond Cohen is executive director of the Clean Air Task Force (CATF), Read more