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ONEONTA, N.Y. -- Temple University Associate Professor of Philosophy
Paul C. Taylor,
who is serving as Faculty in Residence at the
Center for Multicultural
Experiences at the SUNY College at Oneonta, will offer two presentations
at the College. Admission to both events is complimentary, and members of
the community are invited to attend.
On Tuesday, March 11, at 7 p.m. in the Center for Multicultural
Experiences in Lee Hall, Dr. Taylor will offer a presentation entitled "The
Last King of Scotland or the Last Negro on Earth? the Ethics of Race on Film
(with apologies to paul mooney)." Dr. Taylor argues that Western films tend
to oversimplify black lives, in part by making black people part of the
backdrop for stories about other people; that filmmakers inherited these
tendencies from the wider world around them; and that they make these
tendencies clear and visible in ways that normal life tends not to. He
criticizes the big-screen devaluation of black life and recommends this
critical practice as a weapon against the devaluation of real black lives.
On Wednesday, March 12, at 7 p.m. in the Red Dragon Theater of the Hunt
College Union, Dr. Taylor will present "Barack's Not Black, Cosby Was Right,
and Other Myths About Race in the US." He argues that during Barack Obama's
quest to become the first black President, people started to question his
blackness, and that the disagreement over Obama's blackness, despite his
traditionally black features and Kenyan roots, testifies to the widespread
acceptance of the idea that race goes deeper than appearance and ancestry.
Dr. Taylor will explore how the worries about Obama's identity reveal the
influence of several widespread myths about race and its meanings in the
twenty-first century. He will explore some of these myths and explain why
dispelling them is an essential next step in the halting and uneven journey
toward multiracial democracy.
This year's Faculty in Residence program at the Center for Multicultural
Experiences is offered in conjunction with the
Africana and Latino
Studies Department. More information about Dr. Taylor's appearance at
SUNY-Oneonta is available from the Center for Multicultural Experiences at
(607) 436-2663.
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