Date: Monday, February 25, 2002 3:50 PM
From: AISHA DOMINGUE
Subject: “More Than ‘Mixed’: Strengthening the Spectrum of Multi-Cultural Realities”
“More Than ‘Mixed’: Strengthening the Spectrum of Multi-Cultural Realities”
Smith College MISC is hosting the Sixth Annual Pan-Collegiate Conference on the Mixed Race Experience on the weekend of April 5-7, 2002 in Northampton, Massachusetts. As the title suggests, we hope to give insight into some of the intricacies of various mixed-race experiences and broaden the scope of those experiences. With speakers, participants, performers, and presenters from various backgrounds, age groups, fields, and communities, this year’s conference promises to be one of great import. Our keynote speaker is biracial actor and comedian Amy Hill. Along with Hill, professors and students from a number of colleges and universities will present on various topics, including queer and multiracial youth culture and running student organizations.
Opening the conference on Friday evening is Smith College ’92 alumnae, Maura Nguyen Donohue’s dance troupe, In Mixed Company. They will perform their innovative dance piece “BOTH” meant to challenge the ‘either/or’ notions of identity politics and to reveal women as both powerful and beautiful. Andreana Clay a U. C. Davis graduate student will be presenting her work on mixed women with white mothers and its implications on body image. Joining us from University of Puget Sound is Jolie Harris presenting groundbreaking research through her thesis on multiracial queer youth. Professor Carolyn Powell is a Smith College lecturer in Afro-American Studies she will highlight the main themes of her popular seminar on “passing” and mixed race families.
In addition to our workshops and speakers, we are integrating a leadership component to the conference. MISC would like to aid other mixed-race organizations in creating a strong foundation, from which groups may grow, and provide information on starting an organization for campuses without them. Building a strong network of organizations on campuses across the country is the ultimate goal of this aspect of the conference.
Our panel on leadership is being lead by Jen Chau, the founder Wellesley College’s Fusion and more recently Swirl Inc., Chau will be introducing us into the post-college world of the mixed race community and why it is important to stay active. CarolAnn Baldwin is a coordinator for the New England Bone Marrow Donor Program. She has spent many years trying to increase the numbers of minority and mixed donors on the national registry, and she will be sharing with us the importance of volunteering and information on how to set up a drive in your area. Tamra Bates is an amazing resource to the Smith College community as the Student Activities Coordinator, as an insider in the world of colleges and universities she will share with us the secrets of starting and maintaining a viable student organization.
Please join Smith College MISC in the annual conference and building lasting working relationships across campuses. For more information and to register please go to http://sophia.smith.edu/misc/ Please direct all questions to misc@smith.edu