When a Heart Turns Rock Solid: The Lives of Three Puerto Rican Brothers On and Off the Streets

WHAT: The Sociology/Anthropology Department and the UIS Speakers Award Committee invite you to join us for a Public talk by sociologist Timothy Black entitled “When a Heart Turns Rock Solid: The Lives of Three Puerto Rican Brothers On and Off the Streets”.

WHEN: Monday, November 2, 2009 from 2:00 to 3:15 p.m.

WHERE: UIS Founders Residence Hall 153

DETAILS: Timothy Black is an associate professor of Sociology and director of the Center for Social Research at the University of Hartford, Connecticut. He will present results of 18 years of interviews and participant observation of street life in Springfield, Massachusetts. His sociological analysis focuses on the lives of three Puerto Rican brothers. In the book, the brothers speak articulately for themselves. Black combines their own accounts of their lives with his observations of drug trade and drug treatment, education, the legal and correctional systems along with in-depth interviews with many participants in the brothers’ lives, including family, friends, partners in crime, teachers, and case workers. Professor Black applies sociological insights to evaluating and developing public policy, and his research focuses on communities often invisible or feared in American society.

The event is free and open to the public.

For more information contact Lynn Fisher at 217/206-7938 or lfish1@uis.edu.