Dr. Sorenson will discuss how views on sexual assault have changed during the past 50-years with a particular focus on the role of college campuses.  The hour will be split between her talk and a conversation about what might be next.

The 2018 Mark D. Gordon Lecture
Join us for a conversation with Michael Arceneaux, the author of I Can't Date Jesus: Love, Sex, Family, Race, and Other Reasons I've Put My Faith in Beyoncé. Through his candor and wit, Michael unapologetically address race, sexuality, religion, as pop culture through the lens of marginalization in today’s America. Michael comments on his life as a black gay man, and how his Catholic upbringing and Howard University education have helped him give voice to an often silenced community. His writing is serious about the issues but also full of joy, humor, and love of Beyoncé! In addition to his recent book publication, Michael has written for the New York Times, The Guardian, Essence, and The Root, as well as appeared on MSNBC, NPR, and Viceland.

Organized by Ariel Resnikoff and Orchid Tierney (University of Pennsylvania).

In what way can disability and the disabled body influence poetry? This symposium will curate critical and collaborative discussions around the relationships between the disabled body and contemporary poetic practices through avenues that test the very limits of poetry, publics, and performance.

Join Penn Professor Daniel Gillion for an interactive discussion of his newest book, Governing with Words: The Political Dialogue on Race, Public Policy, and Inequality in America. Penn alumni are invited to join the discussion live on-campus in Sweeten Alumni House or online. Dr. Gillion is the Julie Beren Platt and Marc E. Platt Presidential Associate Professor of Political Science; his research interests focuses on racial and ethnic politics, political behavior, political institutions, public policy, and the American presidency. This program, free and open to all Penn alumni, is co-hosted by the Center for Africana Studies and co-sponsored by Penn Spectrum Programs and the Black Alumni Society.

Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, Canada 150 Research Chair in New Media, Simon Fraser University

It has become a truism that the Internet fosters narrow echo chambers that threaten democratic principles. To combat this fragmentation, many have advocated for more inclusive approaches to moderation and evaluation. According to Professor Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, this important work is still not enough. Chun will describe how the segregated networks of today’s internet are in fact entwined with our nation’s long history of residential segregation. Desegregating our online communities also requires us to address more concrete forms of separation and exclusion.

Penn humanities faculty are invited to participate in a lunchtime conversation about the humanities at Penn and Penn’s global initiatives. What are the resources, overlaps, and opportunities? How can we most productively develop the dialogue across these two initiatives? Roundtable members will briefly present before opening the floor for group discussion.  Speakers: William Burke-White, Amy Gadsden, Jeffrey Kallberg, and Karen Redrobe.

Annenberg Seminar: Mia Bay, Roy F. and Jeannette P. Nichols Chair in American History, University of Pennsylvania.  "Talking Back to Thomas Jefferson: African American Nationalism in the New Republic, 1776-1808"

With the the resurgence of fascism and xenophobia in the world, scholars and pundits have declared that democracy is in crisis. However, history reveals that democracies have always existed amidst systems that thrive on inequality. This workshop will focus on two questions: Are certain forms of exclusion intrinsic to the practice of democracy? How distinct is contemporary democracy’s relationship to inequality from earlier periods in history?

American Exceptionalism: What Divides Americans from the World and from Each Other? featuring Mugambi Jouet Boulton Fellow at McGill University

Penn Museum Second Sunday Culture Films - Join us as the Penn Museum Second Sunday Culture Films use raw footage of real events, places, and things that reveal important aspects of the social and material world. 

(dir. Ali Kazimi, 2016, USA/Canada, 76 min.)  Home movie footage, found by the director, follows a Chinese American family negotiating life in the suburbs of Chicago between 1936 and 1951.