Undergraduate Academic Affairs

Escape the Cape: Changing Perspectives on Partner Violence and Media Images

In this lecture and conversation, Dr. Carolyn West examines the cultural impact of media images of African Americans, particularly African American women. She takes an interdisciplinary approach to understand the dimensions of intimate partner violence and contextualizes it with other forms of abuse. Dr. West also grounds her talk in themes of resilience, well-being and living an authentic life.


Presented to students on November 24, 2020.

Photo of Carolyn WestFeaturing Carolyn West

Dr. Carolyn West is an award-winning author, filmmaker, keynote speaker, and professor of psychology at the University of Washington Tacoma. She is devoted to creating inspirational films, presentations, workshops and trainings that empower domestic violence and sexual assault survivors during their healing journey and that educate and equip professionals with the skills to provide culturally sensitive services. She’s the author of “Violence in the Lives of Black Women: Battered, Black, and Blue.”