Professor Michael Eric Dyson Heads to... Log Out | Topics | Search
Moderators | Register | Edit Profile

Email This Page

  AddThis Social Bookmark Button

AALBC.com's Thumper's Corner Discussion Board » Culture, Race & Economy - Archive 2007 » Professor Michael Eric Dyson Heads to Georgetown « Previous Next »

Author Message
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya

Post Number: 6165
Registered: 07-2006

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Posted on Thursday, July 05, 2007 - 07:23 pm:   Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Ban Poster IP (Moderator/Admin only)

Outspoken Scholar of Black Culture Joins Faculty

By Susan Kinzie
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 4, 2007; Page B06




Georgetown, which has never been known for scholarship in black issues, lured Dyson from the University of Pennsylvania. (Before that, he had jumped around among the University of North Carolina, Brown University, Columbia University and elsewhere. "I want to sink some roots," he said.)

He'll be a "university professor," a post that gives him free reign across academic departments, and he expects to work in English, theology, sociology, philosophy and African American studies.

It's the kind of hire that gets the school attention; Dyson is often mentioned in the same breath as such star scholars as Cornel West and Henry Louis Gates Jr.

It's also the kind that can irk some academics. Dyson is a pop-culture guy, not a researcher hidden in a library or a lab. He's on the radio, he's on TV, he's on book tour, he's talking about hip-hop and Cosby and Don Imus. His latest book has an introduction by Jay-Z and an afterward (sorry, "intro" and "outro") by Nas.

And he's endorsing Barack Obama this week to a crowd of thousands at the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans. He and his wife are involved with Obama's and Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaigns, respectively. With an election coming, it's a great time to be in Washington, he said the day after he watched the Democratic candidates debate at Howard University.

He plans to "forge connections between the city and the university, with the black community, which perhaps felt alienated from Georgetown."

O'Donnell said that, in the past, Georgetown has been "less engaged in the city's life, on our hilltop in Northwest. We've turned that around in the last 30 to 40 years," with many volunteers in public schools, legal clinics and other programs. "Sometimes reputation lags a little bit. We'd like to do even more."

The city is "a laboratory of social ills that need to be addressed," Dyson said, and he foresees opportunities to work in the schools, leverage the power of black churches in the area and strengthen the connections and visibility of existing Georgetown programs.


Full Article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/03/AR2007070302090.html
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Yvettep
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Yvettep

Post Number: 2121
Registered: 01-2005

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Posted on Friday, July 06, 2007 - 12:54 pm:   Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Ban Poster IP (Moderator/Admin only)

Thanks, Tonya! You might be interested that Elijah Anderson is also leaving Penn. (For Yale?) He is probably less well known than Dyson, but has done some fascinating work on urban communities. http://www.ssc.upenn.edu/soc/People/andersonelijah.htm
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Serenasailor
Veteran Poster
Username: Serenasailor

Post Number: 1688
Registered: 01-2006

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Posted on Friday, July 06, 2007 - 09:05 pm:   Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Ban Poster IP (Moderator/Admin only)

YEAH MICHEAL ERIC DYSON!!!

Topics | Last Day | Last Week | Tree View | Search | Help/Instructions | Program Credits Administration

Advertise | Chat | Books | Fun Stuff | About AALBC.com | Authors | Getting on the AALBC | Reviews | Writer's Resources | Events | Send us Feedback | Privacy Policy | Sign up for our Email Newsletter | Buy Any Book (advanced book search)

Copyright © 1997-2008 AALBC.com - http://aalbc.com