The Social Action 4 Social Change Committee in the School of Social Work at York University is hosting a week-long “teach-in” at the Keele Campus. Starting March 18 and continuing to March 22, faculty will conduct in-class discussions on connecting liberalism, settler colonialism, facism, white supremacy and the “new” right.
Two public events part of the teach-in
On March 19, the teach-in will feature an Artivism Art Festival and the screening of the film Sorry to Bother You (2018). The events will take place from 5 to 8 p.m. in Room 802, South Ross Building. Sorry to Bother Your tells the story of a young Black telemarketer who adopts a white accent to succeed at his job. Swept into a corporate conspiracy, he must choose between profit and joining his activist friends to organize labour.
Arun Kundnani. Image source: https://www.kundnani.org/
On March 21 from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. in Room 802, South Ross Building, the teach-in will to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination with a keynote lecture by Arun Kundnani titled, “Anti-Muslim Racism and the Politics of Empire.” Kundnani is a visiting assistant professor of media, culture, and communication at New York University, and teaches terrorism studies at John Jay College. He has been a visiting Fellow at Leiden University, Netherlands, an Open Society Fellow, and is the former editor of the journal Race and Class. He is the author of The Muslims are Coming! Islamophobia, extremism, and the domestic War on Terror (Verso, 2014) and The End of Tolerance: Racism in 21st century Britain (Pluto, 2007).
In his talk, Kundnani will examine the historical origins of anti-Muslim racism in the United States, the systems of state surveillance and violence that have been constructed through it, and how scholars and activists should respond. Drawing on the scholarship of Stuart Hall, Aimé Césaire and Frantz Fanon, it is argued that Islamophobia is intertwined with the histroy of racism and empire and was central to the election of Donald Trump.
The lecture is free, organizers request that those interested in attending submit an RSVP.
To learn more about the teach-in and the keynote lecture, contact Professor Anne O’Connell by email at aoconnel@yorku.ca.