17th Annual
Dr. Donald H. Smith Distinguished Lecture
Dr. Silvio Torres-Saillant
Dominican Blackness, Unforgivable Haiti and Western Modernity
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
6:00 pm (Refreshments at 5:00)
Baruch College Library, 7th Floor
25th Street between 3rd and Lexington
Free and open to the public
Imagine two nations on one island. Imagine the two peoples bitterly opposed at home, yet often working closely together abroad. Imagine an island with a glorious history of liberation, today facing the bleak reality of foreign domination. Imagine no longer! This is Hispanola, the isle that's home to Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Here the blood of the African, the European and the Native American were blended into one, or rather two separate, but by no means completely distinct societies.
What does it mean to be Black in the Dominican Republic, white in Haiti or mixed in either? Who better to tell us than Dr. Silvio Torres-Saillant, founder of the Dominican Studies Institute in New York City and Director of the Humanities Council at Syracuse University. Who better to use the prism of his own life experiences and painstaking research to illuminate the pivotal issues of race, color and class in the Caribbean and beyond?
The Annual Dr. Donald H. Smith Distinguished Lecture
Baruch College has sponsored an annual distinguished lecture in honor of Dr. Donald H. Smith, a former associate provost and professor emeritus of education, for the past nineteen years. CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein and former Baruch College Provost Lois Cronholm created the series in honor of Dr. Smith, who was a past president of the National Alliance of Black School Educators and a passionate advocate of providing access to schooling for people in underserved communities. The lecture is funded by a multicultural grant from the Office of the Provost. Invited scholars generally specialize in aspects of African or African American history and culture.
For further information:
Dr. Arthur Lewin
646-312-4443
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The Department of Black and Hispanic Studies at Baruch College has invited Syracuse University Professor/ author Silvio Torres-Saillant to deliver the 17th annual Dr. Donald H. Smith lecture. It is scheduled for 6 p.m., December 5, Rackow Conference Room 750 in the 7th Floor Conference Center inside the Technology and Information Building.
Named after Donald H. Smith, one of Baruch’s first black administrators and past president of the National Alliance of Black School Educators, this year’s lecture is entitled, “Dominican Blackness, Unforgivable Haiti, and Western Modernity.”
Professor Silvio Torres-Saillant is Professor of English at Syracuse University and the former director of its Latino-Latin American Studies Program. He is also the founding director of the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute. He has authored and edited numerous books, including An Intellectual History of the Caribbean (Palgrave Macmillan 2006); Caribbean Poetics: Toward an Aesthetic of West Indian Literature (Cambridge University Press, 1997);Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage, Vol. IV (Houston: Arte Publico Press, 2002);The Challenges of Public Higher Education in the Hispanic Caribbean (Markus Wiener Publishers, 2004); and Desde La Orilla: Hacia Una Nacionalidad Sin Desalojos (Ediciones Librería La Trinitaria and Editora Manati, 2004), among other volumes.
WHAT: 17th Annual Dr. Donald H. Smith Lecture,
“Dominican Blackness, Unforgivable Haiti, and Western Modernity”
WHEN: 6 p.m., Wednesday, December 5, 2012
WHERE: Baruch College, 151 East 25th Street, 7th Floor Conference Center,
Rackow Conference Room 750
The event is free and open to the public. To register, contact Black and Hispanic Studies Professor Bobbie Pollard atbobbie.pollard@baruch.cuny.edu or (646) 312-1619.
About Baruch College:
Baruch College is a senior college in the
City University of New York (CUNY) with a total enrollment of more than 17,000 students, who represent 160 countries and speak more than 100 languages. Ranked among the top 15% of U.S. colleges and the No. 5 public regional university, Baruch College is regularly recognized as among the most ethnically diverse colleges in the country. As a public institution with a tradition of academic excellence, Baruch College offers accessibility and opportunity for students from every corner of New York City and from around the world. For more about Baruch College, go tohttp://www.baruch.cuny.edu/.