Who Framed Bilingual Education?Voter Referenda and the Tale of Two Outcomes
In 2002, Colorado voters said "No' and Massachusetts voters said ‘Yes' to discontinuing bilingual education. Fern Johnson, Clark University Professor of English, considers how the media framed the issue in each state. She argues that the public has been ill-informed about this significant language policy issue, and that monolingual language ideology prevails in the United States. Professor Johnson's lecture will begin at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, March 13, in the Grace Conference Room, Higgins University Center.
Professor Johnson's research specializes in the study of gender, race, and ethnicity in discourse. She analyzes the complex cultural discourse codes found conversations, public speeches, television programs, advertising, news reports, and the many aspects of language in everyday life. Johnson's current research is on verbal images in advertising.
Professor Johnson teaches a range of courses at Clark that explore issues of language, identity, and culture. Her signature undergraduate course is "Language and Culture in the U.S.," which is a tour of the complexity of ancestry, languages, and cultural hybridism. Many of her offerings are cross-listed with the Communication and Culture Program, and she also participates in the Women's Studies Program. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota, an M.A. from Northwestern University, and a B.A. from the University of Minnesota.
Broken Promises, Broken Dreams
Stories of Jewish and Palestinian Trauma and Resilience
Alice Rothchild is an obstetrician-gynecologist who has worked in the health care reform and women's movements for many years. Since 1997, she has focused much of her energy on understanding the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, and will be at Clark to read from her forthcoming book "Broken Promises, Broken Dreams." Through first-hand narratives with Israeli and Palestinian women, she will pose the possibility of engaging in a different kind of conversation, grounded in empathy and forgiveness and coupled with and appreciation of the urgent need for political action. Rothchild will be speaking at 2 p.m., Wednesday, March 14 in the Grace Conference Room, Higgins University Center.
Dr. Rothchild was Medical Director of the Women's Community Health Center in Cambridge from 1977-79. After completing her residency, she co-founded Urban Woman and Child Health, Inc., a non-profit organization of physicians, midwives, and nurse-practitioners who provided ob-gyn and pediatric care to a unique mix of urban poor, neighborhood and women's health centers, and the general population.
These events are co-sponsored by the Higgins School of Humanities and the International Development, Community and