Lectures and special events from the Williams College campus in Williamstown, Massachusetts.
Barbara Smith, an author, activist, and independent scholar who has played a groundbreaking role in opening up a national cultural and political dialogue about the intersections of race, class, sexuality, and gender, spoke at Claiming Williams on February 2, 2017. Claiming Williams is an annual event where the campus community comes together to discuss issues of race, gender, identity, religion and community.
The Dance Department welcomed back to Berkshire County H. T. Chen and Dancers in a residency exploring their new work South of Gold Mountain, which is an interpretation based on the images and oral histories of the Chinese who settled in the southern states prior to WWII. Lesser known were the Chinese who came to the southern states to work on plantations, widen the Augusta Canal, and build the railroads. Starting from the diaspora that led the Chinese to the South, this piece is a collective journey of these individuals. Through the power of faith, tradition, and work ethic, as well as the bonds to other Chinese families in the South, these individuals experienced, endured, and overcame their hardships. South of Gold Mountain pays tribute to the livelihoods of Chinese grocers, laundries, restaurants, and those who quietly persevered to make a difference in the communities in which they lived.
Moving Stories: Justice and the Contemporary “Climate Refugee” Maxine Burkett '98 is a Professor of law at the University of Hawaii, whose scholarship and activism focus on international climate justice, policy change and adaptation for island peoples and the most vulnerable. Burkett has written extensively in diverse areas of climate law with a particular focus on climate justice, exploring the disparate impact of climate change on vulnerable communities in the United States and globally. Professor Burkett has presented her research on the law and policy of climate change throughout the United States and in West Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Caribbean. Her work has been cited in numerous news and policy outlets, including BBC Radio, the ABA Journal, the New York Times, and Nature Climate Change.
The New York Times Vice President and Assistant General Counsel David E. McCraw spoke on “Freedom of the Press in the Age of Trump” at Williams College on Tuesday, Jan. 10, at 7:30 p.m.
Former Vermont governor and chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) Howard Dean spoke on political leadership at Williams College on Thursday, Jan. 12, 2017
