Lind Initiative 2020
Thinking While Black
Lind Initiative 2019
America and the Climate Crisis
Lind Initiative 2018
The Unravelling of the Liberal Order
Lind Initiative 2017
The Trump Impact: Change, Challenges, Responses
Lind Initiative 2016
US Election Campaign
Lind Initiative 2015
The Politics of Inequality
Lind Initiative 2020 | January - April, 2020
Blackness as a form, concept and experience, has fundamentally shaped American iconographies, language, media, and cultural productions. This series invites us to consider Blackness as both a culture and a mode of thinking. This series will meditate on the structures of race in North America and will spotlight the seemingly disconnected forms of racial violence that hide in plain sight. How, despite shifts in rhetoric and political policy, have so many forms of racial violence persisted? How, we ask, can we rethink ourselves by understanding our relations to blackness?
This series was designed by a committee of UBC scholars. The Phil Lind Initiative’s mandate is to invite prominent US scholars, writers, and intellectuals to UBC to share ideas with students, faculty, and the wider community on some of the most urgent issues of our time.
Each of the public events held at UBC Vancouver is free to attend.
Tickets will be available approximately a month before each event.
Subscribe to our Phil Lind Initiative Newsletter for updates on when tickets will be released.
Artwork Credit: Sandra Brewster
New York Times Bestselling Poet, MacArthur "Genius" Award Recipient, National Book Critics Circle Award Winner; Professor, Yale University
Author; Distinguished writer in residence at NYU's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute
Venue: Frederic Wood Theatre, UBC, 6354 Crescent Rd, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2. Please find a map to the theatre here.
The Phil Lind Initiative 2020 series explores the theme of “Thinking While Black” in Term 2 at UBC.
We are pleased to present keynote speaker, Claudia Rankine, New York Times Bestselling Poet, MacArthur “Genius” award recipient and Professor at Yale University.
Title: “It’s What You Say: Language & Violence in the Space of the Encounter”
This event was moderated by Kaie Kellough, novelist, poet, and sound performer.
Venue: Chan Centre Concert Hall, The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, 6265 Crescent Rd, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1. Find a map to the theatre here.
The Phil Lind Initiative 2020 series explores the theme of “Thinking While Black” in Term 2 at UBC.
We are pleased to present keynote speaker, Ta-Nehisi Coates, author, MacArthur ‘Genius’ grant winner, and distinguished writer in residence at NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute.
This event will be moderated by Sara Ghebremusse, Assistant Professsor, Peter A. Allard School of Law, UBC.
Please note:
This event is now sold out. Ticket holders are requested to arrive at the theatre by 5:45 pm to secure their seat. Please cancel your ticket if you are no longer able to attend. Thank you.
We are not managing a Waitlist in advance but we encourage non-ticket holders to speak to staff at the Waitlist table at the venue on the day of the event between 5:00 PM – 5:40 PM to sign up (on a first come, first serve basis). We unfortunately cannot guarantee seats for Waitlisted guests. Thank you for your understanding.
This event will be live streamed. Please bookmark the link below. The recording will also be posted on the Lind Initiative website for 90 days following the event.
Venue: Chan Centre Concert Hall, The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, 6265 Crescent Rd, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1. Find a map to the theatre here.
The Phil Lind Initiative 2020 series explores the theme of “Thinking While Black” in Term 2 at UBC.
We are pleased to present keynote speaker, Roxane Gay, best-selling author, cultural critic, and host of the Hear to Slay podcast.
Title: “Roxane Gay: with One N”
This event will be moderated by poet Junie Désil.
Please note:
Ticket holders are requested to arrive at the theatre by 5:45 pm to secure their seat. Please cancel your ticket if you are no longer able to attend. Thank you.
Venue: Chan Centre Concert Hall, The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, 6265 Crescent Rd, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1. Find a map to the theatre here.
The Phil Lind Initiative 2020 series explores the theme of “Thinking While Black” in Term 2 at UBC.
We are pleased to present keynote speaker, Ibram X. Kendi, National Book award-winning historian and author of Stamped From The Beginning.
This event will be moderated by El Jones, spoken word poet, an educator, journalist, and community activist.
Title: “How to Be an Antiracist”
When the first Black president headed into the White House, Americans were imagining their nation as colorblind and went so far as to call it post-racial. With the arrival of Donald Trump many people are awakening and seeing racial reality for the first time. With opened minds, people are actively trying to understand racism. In this deeply personal and empowering lecture, Kendi shifts the discussion from how not to be racist, to how to be an antiracist. He shares his own racist ideas and how he overcame them. He provides direction to people and institutions who want more than just band-aid programs, but actual antiracist action that builds an antiracist America.
Stay tuned to RSVP!
Venue: Chan Centre Concert Hall, The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, 6265 Crescent Rd, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1. Find a map to the theatre here.
The Phil Lind Initiative 2020 series explores the theme of “Thinking While Black” in Term 2 at UBC.
We are pleased to present keynote speaker, Jesmyn Ward, MacArthur Genius and two-time National Book Award winner.
This event will be moderated by Canisia Lubrin, a writer, editor, critic and teacher.
Stay tuned to RSVP!