March 16, 2007
April 5 Clark lecture examines racism and its enduring guises
 Worcester, Mass. - Clark University will present "Periracism," a lecture by Ann duCille, Wesleyan University professor of English and African American Studies, beginning at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 5, in the Grace Conference Room of the Higgins University Center, 950 Main St.
In "Notes on the State of Virginia," first published in 1782, Thomas Jefferson waxed at once poetic and scientific about the biological differences between the races. Difference was, of course, more than skin-deep for Jefferson, but like so many of his time, he was fascinated by the external geography of the other. In her talk, drawn from a book in progress, DuCille argues that racialized thinking about color, quality, and character hasn't changed as much since the 17th and 18th centuries as polite society would like to believe. Moreover, this ever-present racism, which she defines as periracism, often masquerades as social grace, civility, and liberalism.
Professor duCille is holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in American Civilization and an M.A. in Creative Writing from Brown University, and received a B.A. in English from Bridgewater State College. She is the Chair of the English Department at Wesleyan University and was the Director of the African American Studies Program and Center from 1999 to 2003.
Professor duCille's many awards include the May 2001 Achievement Award from the Black Women's Collective at Wesleyan, the 1999 Distinguished Visiting University Professorship at Washington University, and the 1997 Myers Center Award for the Study of Human Rights for Skin Trade. Professor duCille is the author of The Coupling Convention: Sex, Text, and Tradition in Black Women's Fiction (Oxford University Press, 1993) and Skin Trade (Harvard University Press, 1996).
This free, public event is part of Clark's African American Intellectual Culture Series and the Difficult Dialogues Program, funded by a major Ford Foundation grant and aimed at creating a culture of dialogue on campus. For more information, contact 508-793-7479.
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