Summer Pocket Talk • Session 4
Questions of Power: “America 250”
Part II
🗓️ Thursday, August 27
⏰ 6:00pm-7:30pm (Doors at 5:30pm, talks begin promptly at 6:00pm)
📍 Georgetown Neighborhood Library, 1st Floor Reading Room (3260 R St NW, Washington, DC 20007)
🚌. Transit option: Bus D80/D82, Street Parking
⬇️ RSVP, see longer details below
RSVP Form ⬇️
Despite claims of equity, justice, and progress surrounding “America 250” and the FIFA World Cup, what examples and analysis challenge this rosy picture of the nation? Are there stories that challenge the picture of a “more perfect union” both past and present and ask for whom is equality and fairness a false reality? How and why are inequalities created?
This session will feature the work of 3 early career scholars whose research sheds light onto these questions and more. Read about the speakers and their talks below:
Racialization Of Haitians in the United States:
Anti-Blackness in Immigration Policy and Identity Formation
Caryalyn Jean, MA
Recent Graduate, Masters in Sociology Research and Practice, American University
Using Haitian migration to the United States as a case study, this research argues that anti-Blackness is inherently linked to immigration policies in the United States. This research also serves a basis for future research on the ways racialization shapes the ways Black people articulate their ethno-racial identity.
Technological Futures, Industrial Realities:
Imperial Infrastructure, Activism, and Environmental Burden in Rural Northern VA and Southern MD
Meg Bonilla, Masters Student
MA in Public Anthropology, Department of Anthropology, American University
Who bears the burden of so-called development and who/what places are excluded from pictures of a better future? Bonilla’s research works in alignment with people organizing against data centers being placed in their neighborhoods by tech companies and private equity. Through analysis of the anti-data center movements in PG County and NoVA and investigation into the histories of these locales, my work offers a critique of this form of tech infrastructure and the systems of power that allow this infrastructure to further proliferate.
Beyond Polling:
Ethnographic Examination of Voting and Political Identity
John Villecco, PhD, Recent PhD Graduate
Department of Anthropology, American University
With a longitudinal focus on northeastern Pennsylvania, I used ethnographic methods to examine how voters who supported right-wing populist politicians developed their political identities and voting proclivities within their socioculturally constructed lives. My work offers a holistic, historically situated, and person-centered approach to understanding why and how people vote.
********
The Summer Pocket Talks are a series of interactive presentations and discussions, designed to kindle broader conversations and insights on timely issues and topics. All are welcome! As an attendee, you will hear from thinkers from the social sciences and humanities, be able to ask questions and discuss with speakers and other attendees, and connect with other interested in pressing topics. Complimentary tea and light refreshments are provided!