Department of African American StudiesUniversity at Buffalo

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DEPARTMENTAL NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

NEW UNDERGRADUATE COURSE OFFERING FOR SPRING 2008!
"Bonded Women"
African American Studies 461 LSW
Tuesdays and Thursdays 3:30-4:50pm
with Professor Lilliam Williams
Please see the attached document for more information on the "Bonded Women" course

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African American Studies Summer School Course Offerings

Section one, May 21-June 29, 2007
AAS 586--The Multicultural School Curriculum, MW, 5:00-7:30, three credit hours (3)
Instructor:  Dr. Y G-M Lulat
Location:  Merriweather Branch, Buffalo and Erie County Public Library
1324 Jefferson Avenue (at Utica)

The course description follows:
Among the many educational reform trends in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom in recent years has been the well-intentioned advocacy of infusing the school curriculum with a multicultural perspective. This course critically examines the successes and failures of this trend. Topics that will be covered include: a general history of education from the perspective of the struggle for civil rights; the sociological basis of curriculum theory, practice and development; the history of multiculturalism in school curricula; multiculturalism and the hidden curriculum; the multicultural class lesson: theory versus practice; the alternative school movement and the politics of the multiculturalism; the multicultural curriculum and school achievement; the future of the multicultural curriculum: debating the pros and cons.

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African American Studies is pleased to support the Theatre & Dance Department's celebration of the works of Suzan Lori-Parks.

365 DAYS/ 365 PLAYS, By Suzan-Lori Parks

The 365 Days/365 Plays Festival is a nation-wide staging of 365 plays written over the course of one calendar year by Pulitzer Prize-winning, African-American playwright Suzan-Lori Parks. She is the writer and director of the award-winning Broadway play "Top Dog/Under Dog." Theatres and universities across the country are each staging one week of plays from the annual cycle to unfold an epic production of all 365 plays. Web site: http://www.365days365plays.com

Here at UB, we are producing Week #24 of the festival (April 23-29) as a collaborative project between Media Study and Theatre & Dance. Theatre and dance students will join forces with students in media. Our production will be staged in the Intermedial Performance Studio and will
combine both virtual and live actors, settings, and interfaces.

Performance Dates: Thursday, April 26 and Friday, April 27, Times TBD

Media Study Television Studio, Performance is free

The Suzan-Lori Parks Symposium with visiting scholars will be held at 3p.m. on April 26, Location TBD

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Lecture by filmmaker Zeinabu irene Davis
Thursday February 22, 2007 at 3:00 in Capen 31

This event is sponsored by the African American Studies Department and the
Institute for Research and Education on Women and Gender.

Black Women in Film: One Filmmaker's Journey

Women of African Descent have been a part of cinema history from its very beginnings in 1896 where they were test subjects for the camera to make sure that there were no harmful side effects from being filmed to creating a rich history of images made by them and about them. Indeed Black women have a complicated history with mass media - indeed mainstream media has perpetuated stereotypes of Black women such as the Mammy, the tragic mulatto, the emasculating woman (Sapphire) and the video 'ho. On the other hand, more recently Black women actresses have been gaining more respect and exposure and earning both Academy Award nominations and Golden Globe awards. Does this signify change? Where are the Black women directors and producers? This lecture briefly looks at some of the history of black women in Hollywood film in front of and behind the camera through the discussion of the filmmaker's involvement in media making. Through examples of her work, Professor Davis will illustrate how she combats stereotypes and offers more fully developed representations of Black women.

Professor Zeinabu irene Davis is a full Professor in the Department of Communication at University of California, San Diego where she teaches and continues to make film. Her feature film, Compensation is a part of the Women's Film Festival and won the Gordon Parks Award for Best Director in 1999. She is currently completing on a documentary on a Black woman
trumpet player, Ms. Clora Bryant and as a proud mother of two, she is also making a video essay on breastfeeding and Black women.

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Thursday, Feb. 22, 2007, at 7 pm
11th International Women's Film Festival

COMPENSATION, with director Zeinabu irene Davis in person!
1999, US, 95 minutes, BW Feature.
Inspired by a poem written by Paul Laurence Dunbar, this moving narrative presents two unique African-American love stories between a deaf woman and a hearing man. Malindy, an educated seamstress, befriends Arthur, a recent migrant to 1910 Chicago; this tale is woven alongside the contemporary story of Nico, a children's librarian, who learns ASL in order to date Malaika, a graphic designer. Director Davis incorporates title cards, dialogue, and silent film music with images of Chicago past and present to provide a view of Black Deaf culture and the vast possibilities of language and communication.

Market Arcade Film and Arts Center, 639 Main Street, Buffalo NY
(across from Shea's Theater)
TICKETS: $8.50 general, $6.50 students, $6 seniors

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OTHER NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS


Last Modified: December 20, 2006


Department of African American Studies
732 Clemens Hall, Box 604680, Buffalo, New York 14260-4680
Phone: (716) 645-2082 Fax: (716) 645-5976
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