In Black Community
Featuring Kris Marsh (University of Maryland) and Angel Jones (Southern Illinois University)
Monday, October 30, 2023 at 4:30pm
Film Screening of Love Jones (1997)
IC Dome
Tuesday, October 31, 2023 at 4:30pm
Kris Marsh and Angel Jones in conversation
IC Dome
In Black Community is a two-day interactive program that takes an immersive look into the rich diversity encompassed within the so-called “Black Experience.” The forum-style program explores how popular media, academic projects, and public scholarship can come together to explore the Black experience, while acknowledging that it spans an extensive spectrum of cultures, histories, and lived realities. Day one, will feature a film screening and discussion of the popular 1990s film Love Jones, wherein we will discuss how the film’s portrayal of Black relationships, platonic and otherwise, shape, inform, or contrast our contemporary understandings. Day 2, featuring scholars Dr. Kris Marsh and Dr. Angel Jones, will use their work to delve into how scholars and the public alike can investigate, engage with, think about, theorize, reflect on, and build solidarity with Black communities.
Dr. Kris Marsh received her PhD from the University of Southern California in 2005. She was a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Carolina Population Center at the University of North Carolina before joining the faculty of Maryland where she has been tenured since 2014. She has been a visiting scholar at the University of Southern California, University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and the University of Johannesburg. In 2020, Dr. Marsh was appointed to the Prince George’s County Police Reform Task Force and was the Chair of the subcommittee on recruiting, hiring, training, promotions/evaluations, human resource, and mental health. In February of this year, Dr. Marsh released her book, along with Cambridge University Press, that examines the mental and physical health, wealth, residential choices and dating practices of an emerging Black middle class that is single and living alone. Dr. Marsh is also in the beginning stages of a book that interrogates navigating racism, sexism, and classism among Black golfers.
Dr. Angel Jones is an educator, activist, and critical race scholar who uses creative methods such as hip-hop and poetry to center the voices and experiences of the Black community. Her research explores the impact of racism on mental health with a focus on microaggressions and Racial Battle Fatigue. Dr. Jones is also a public scholar who uses social media as an educational tool to increase access to academic scholarship. She is the author of Street Scholar: Using Public Scholarship to Educate, Advocate, and Liberate which is an unapologetic call-to-action that challenges academia to thoughtfully and intentionally engage in public scholarship. Dr. Jones has been interviewed by multiple media outlets including Forbes, USA Today, and Insider for her expertise on racism in the United States.
Sponsored by the Aydelotte Foundation, Black Studies, and Sociology & Anthropology at Swarthmore College.
