Karsonya Wise Whitehead, Scholar of Race, Class, and Gender, to Speak at Saint Mary’s

September 8, 2016 (Notre Dame, Ind.) — The Saint Mary’s College Department of Communication Studies, Dance, and Theatre is proud to announce that Karsonya Wise Whitehead, associate professor of communication and African American studies at Loyola University, Maryland, will deliver the 2016 Ann Plamondon Lecture. Her talk, entitled “Sisterhood, Social Justice, and Scholarship: A 21st Century Conversation,” will take place on Monday September 26 at 7:30 p.m in O’Laughlin Auditorium. Admission is free, with a ticket. Contact the Moreau Center box office at (574) 284-4626 or click here for more information.

Whitehead will discuss how the notion and meaning of sisterhood is complicated and continues to evolve in the age of Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, bell hooks, and Beyoncé. Using both historical and modern day insight, Whitehead will contextualize the discussions, arguments, and debates around what it means to be a woman in today’s social, political, and economic climate. Drawing on the work of black feminist author Michele Wallace and African-American scholar Anna Julia Cooper, Whitehead’s lecture will weave together the social construction of race, class, and gender and outline what it means to commit one’s self to sisterhood and to find and claim one’s voice.

“With issues of gender, race, and class at the heart of so much of our current national conversation, we are excited to have Dr. Karsonya Wise Whitehead as our Plamondon speaker,” said Michael Kramer, professor of communication studies. “We look forward to her insights and ideas about being a woman in the United States in 2016.”  

Whitehead is a distinguished scholar, professor, and researcher known for her work on the intersection of class, race, and gender in America. She holds a master’s degree in International Peace Studies, with a concentration in race, class, and gender issues, from the University of Notre Dame. Her doctoral work at the University of Maryland concentrated on black women’s history and historical sociolinguistics.

She is a three-time Emmy nominated filmmaker and the author of several books, including “Notes from a Colored Girl: The Civil War Pocket Diaries of Emilie Frances Davis,” “Letters to My Black Sons: Raising Boys in a Post-Racial America,” “Sparking the Genius: The Carter G. Woodson Lecture,” and her most recent, “RaceBrave: New and Selected Works.”

Whitehead’s work in the field of African American studies is recognized nationally. In 2005, she was the recipient of the Distinguished Black Alumni Award from the University of Notre Dame, and for the past three years she has been selected to participate in the White House’s Black History Month Panel co-sponsored by President Barack Obama.

Presented by the Department of Communication Studies, Dance, & Theatre. This event honors Professor Emerita Ann Plamondon and is made possible by the generosity of donors to the Ann Plamondon Endowed Fund in Communication Studies.

About Saint Mary's College: Celebrating over 175 years of empowering women to make a difference in the world, Saint Mary’s College is recognized as a pioneer and continued force in the education of women. A Catholic, liberal arts institution in Notre Dame, Indiana, the College offers more than 50 undergraduate academic programs and also offers co-educational master’s degrees.