DEI   

Prerequisite: Watch the movie, American Fiction (2023)

Issues surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion are being challenged as our nation becomes more diverse. Creating venues where honest dialogue can happen are needed as we grapple with understanding and valuing all of our citizens regardless of different beliefs and experiences. Using the arts as a vehicle to examine the ways in which racism and discrimination impact our sense of ‘self’ allows for a more objective exploration of these issues. The movie American Fiction will be used to center the discussion for the seminar. There are many themes in the movie including multiple perspectives on race relations, the multi-layered and wide range of human experience, and family relations. This seminar will encourage dialog on the generational, structural, and systemic aspects of racism that impact us as individuals and as a society. The seminar will be four in-person sessions to encourage authentic participation.

This seminar will be lead by DEI commitee members, Faye Askew-King and Jane Spinner. 

Rather than a history of antisemitism, this study group will get us into the psychological "guts" of antisemitism. Drawing on imagery of "the Jew" from a range of sources--across different cultural and historical contexts--we ask: Who is this "creature" as represented? What specific fears and phobias do representations of Jews draw upon? The format will involve engaged participation with the images and their implications. Frankly, it is not comfortable work, but it is necessary if we are to move beyond more superficial discussions of the phenomenon.

Hank Greenspan is a psychologist, oral historian, and playwright who has been teaching and writing about the Holocaust--as both scholar and dramatist--for nearly five decades.

We will read the book Overground Railroad, The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America, by Candacy Taylor, to learn about the evolution of the Green Book. We will also learn about Idlewild, MI, a black resort, and sundown towns.

Susan Doyle retired from academia after 17 years as an academic advisor at UM. Her Ph.D. is in African American literature, and she is still learning about aspects of the black experience in America.