Lecture: Contemporary Idealogical Threats to African Americans

Faculty and students are invited to attend an upcoming lecture by Dr. Michael Tillotson on "Contemporary Ideological Threats to the Internal Security of African Americans".

Thursday April 15, 2010, from 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Ethnic Studies and Psychology Building @ San Francisco State University
Room 101.

In the aftermath of two terms of the Reagan presidency, the Republican Revolution, Contract with America and the rise of "Centrist" democratic leadership, a surprising mix of intellectual, social and political ideas emerged in the last decade of the 20th Century to form the corpus of ideas located in the post racial project. Intellectual and political positions such as postmodernism, essentialism, the social construction of race and the color-blind position resulted in an amalgamation of ideologies that (Dr. Tillotson argues) neutralize African American agency. This presentation will illuminate, explore and critique the post racial discursive interventions present in this body of ideas and argue that if accepted uncritically these concepts have the potential to reduce the collective agency of African Americans. Using an African centered lens this presentation will also highlight the lack of continuity between the post racial projects public pronouncements, polemical stances and central ideas versus the lived reality of most African Americans.

Dr. Michael Tillotson Ph.D. is currently a Post-Doctoral Fellow in African American Studies at the University of Houston. He holds Associates and Bachelor?s degrees in Liberal Studies from Indiana University in Bloomington. He has a Masters degree in Africana Studies from the University of New York and received his Ph.D. in African Americans Studies from Temple University in 2008. His current research agenda centers on the intersection of Anti-Egalitarian, Hegemonic
Ideologies and their influence on African American reality. He is the author of the forthcoming book: Invisible Jim Crow: Contemporary Ideological Threats to the Internal Security of African Americans.

For any further information please contact:
Serie McDougal III, mcdougal@sfsu.edu