May 26, 2015
New Center for Communication, Difference and Equity opens
The University of Washington communication department will open its new Center for Communication, Difference and Equity with public events May 27 to 29, on campus and off.
“The CCDE is a space — a physical space, intellectual space and community space — where we as a department and as a university are going to be able to center these issues of power, privilege and difference,” said Ralina Joseph, professor of communication and the center’s director.
“And to think of how we can not only talk frankly about disproportionality in terms of race, gender, sexuality, class and disability, but how we can actually make a difference in changing the way in which these experiences are lived and structure all of our lives.”
There will be an evening workshop on cross-cultural communication May 27 and a panel discussion on the cultural implications of the television show “Empire” the evening of May 28.
Herman Gray, professor of sociology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, will give the keynote address, “Precarious Diversity: Media, Representation and Inequality,” at 10 a.m. May 29 in Room 214 of the HUB. This will be followed by a staged reading of “The Mamalogues” by Lisa Thompson.
May 29 events also include two panel discussions, both in the Simpson Center, Room 202 of the Communications Building:
- “Is Equity a Scholarly Responsibility?” 2 to 3:45 p.m.
- “Thinking With and Through Difference: Popular Representations, Race, and Political Economy,” 3:45 to 5:15 p.m.
The event will end with a reception from 5:15 to 7 p.m. in rooms 126 and 129 of the Communications Building.
The events are free but RSVPs are requested online, where the full schedule also is listed.
- Watch a conversation between Ralina Joseph and David Domke, chairman of the communication department.
