UIS Speaker Series presents "Radical Presence: Black Faces, White Spaces and Other Stories of Possibility"

WHAT: The University of Illinois Springfield Engaged Citizenship Common Experience (ECCE) Speaker Series presents the Sustainability Week Keynote Lecture, “Radical Presence: Black Faces, White Spaces and Other Stories of Possibility.”

WHEN: Thursday, November 3, 2016, at 6 p.m.

WHERE: UIS Brookens Auditorium, located on the lower level of Brookens Library

DETAILS: Professor Carolyn Finney argues that the legacies of slavery, Jim Crow and racial violence have shaped our cultural understandings of the “great outdoors” and determined who should and can have access to natural spaces.

Finney’s lecture will explore environmental narratives and their relationship to race, identity and decision making. Her recent book, “Black Faces, White Spaces,” explores the role of memory and identity in influencing African American environmental participation, and the general disconnect between African American environmental professionals and their white counterparts regarding perceptions of exclusion and racism. To envision a path forward, she highlights the work of African American environmentalists while exploring issues of identity, visibility and the concept of home.

Finney is an assistant professor of geography at the University of Kentucky. Her research explores how issues of difference impact participation in decision-making processes designed to address environmental issues.

For a list of other upcoming ECCE Speaker Series events and more information, visit www.uis.edu/speakerseries/. All events are free and open to the public.