Fall Reception 2021

This CHI salon is the first in a series of events throughout the spring semester exploring Black queer life and futures showcasing research, activism, and art in Black queer diaspora studies. The series, emerging from a CHI Research Seminar, considers the possibilities of blackness and queerness amidst our ‘reemergence’ from COVID-19 and our ongoing navigation of cultures of turbulence and inequalities. It keenly asks what speculative futures are possible where Black queer and trans life and happiness are central to the project of society, and what do we need in the present to make these futures possible? The salon features Paul Joseph López Oro (Smith College) and CHI Fellow Watufani Poe.
Registration is required.
During World Wars I and II, African American troops were subjected to experimental medical treatments based on racial stereotypes. Professor Khary Oronde Polk, of the Black Studies and SWAGS departments, discussed his book, Contagions of Empire, which examines the bias behind these treatments and the physical and mental toll they exacted on their recipients. The National World War I Museum and Memorial hosted this discussion and provided the video.
VIDEO AND TRANSCRIPTIt’s a subculture often dismissed with a punch line: Nigerian youth who email unsuspecting victims and convince them to send money in return for nonexistent goods or deals. This semester, 25 Amherst students looked beyond the punch line to the young perpetrators of the infamous scam.
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