May 10, 2007
Social critic Andrew Jolivétte speaks on campus May 16
Writer, teacher, social critic and mixed-race studies specialist Andrew Jolivette will speak at 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 16, in 120 Kane. His title will be Mixed Race Ethnicity: New Demographics & Communities. Admission is free.
Jolivette, an assistant professor in the American Indian Studies Program at San Francisco State University, also teaches in the in the university’s Ethnic Studies Program. His work spans several different social and political arenas, including education reform, identity issues for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community; whiteness studies, gay marriage and AIDS disparities among people of color.
Promotional notes for Jolivette state that he is a Creole of Opelousa, Choctaw, Atakapa, Cherokee, French, African and Spanish descent. He is a mixed-race specialist with a strong interest in comparative race relations, Creole studies, Black-Indians and mixed-race health disparities. He is the author of two books, Cultural Representation in Native America and Louisiana Creoles: Cultural Recovery and Mixed Race Native American Identity.
Jolivette will discuss, among other topics, the 2000 census “and its implication (for) social and economic landscapes in the U.S.,” a recent study of violence and substance abuse among mixed-race Seattle youth, and health disparities for those with AIDS and mixed-race populations. In a 2005 keynote address for World AIDS Day Jolivette discussed his own HIV/AIDS-positive status.
Jeneé Jahn, program coordinator for the Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity’s Ethnic Cultural Center/Theatre, the event’s sponsor, said the programming team for the center and theater write learning outcomes for every event. Among the outcomes for this event are to demonstrate that “a broad view of multiculturalism is necessary in order to make progress in the realm of social change,” to challenge the status quo and to “promote the desire to challenge stereotypes and welcome new identities.”
The Ethnic Cultural Center/Theatre is a multicultural student center that focuses on leadership development and connecting materials learned in class with life-practical skills and community connections.
For more information about the Ethnic Cultural Center/Theater and Jolivette’s appearance, visit online at http://depts.washington.edu/ecc/ or call 206-543-4635.
