Speaker Series
-
The Phil Lind Initiative 2024
Pop Politics: Pop Culture and Political Life in the United States -
The Phil Lind Initiative 2023
(Un)Civil Discourse -
The Phil Lind Initiative 2022
The Future of Media -
The Phil Lind Initiative 2021
The Anti-Democratic Turn -
The Phil Lind Initiative 2020
Thinking While Black -
The Phil Lind Initiative 2019
America and the Climate Crisis -
The Phil Lind Initiative 2018
The Unravelling of the Liberal Order -
The Phil Lind Initiative 2017
The Trump Impact: Change, Challenges, Responses -
The Phil Lind Initiative 2016
US Election Campaign -
The Phil Lind Initiative 2015
The Politics of Inequality
The Phil Lind Initiative 2020 | January - November, 2020
Thinking While Black
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.
The Phil Lind Initiative is hosted by UBC’s School of Public Policy and Global Affairs.
Artwork Credit: Sandra Brewster
Series Speakers
Claudia Rankine
New York Times Bestselling Poet, MacArthur "Genius" Award Recipient, National Book Critics Circle Award Winner; Professor, Yale University
Ta-Nehisi Coates
Author; Distinguished writer in residence at NYU's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute
Ibram X. Kendi
National Book Award-winning historian and author of Stamped From The Beginning and How to Be an Antiracist
Series Moderators
#LIND20 Events
The Phil Lind Initiative Presents:
Claudia Rankine
Wednesday, January 15, 2020
6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
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 explored the theme of “Thinking While Black” in Term 2 at UBC.
We presented 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.
WATCH A RECORDING OF THE MODERATED DISCUSSION
The Phil Lind Initiative Presents:
Ta-Nehisi Coates
Tuesday, February 11, 2020
6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
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 explored the theme of “Thinking While Black” in Term 2 at UBC.
We presented 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 was moderated by Sara Ghebremusse, Assistant Professsor, Peter A. Allard School of Law, UBC.
Please Note: The video recording was posted for 60 days and removed on May 19, 2020.
The Phil Lind Initiative Presents:
Roxane Gay
Tuesday, February 25, 2020
6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
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 Chan Centre is wheelchair accessible.
The Phil Lind Initiative 2020 series explored the theme of “Thinking While Black” in Term 2 at UBC.
We presented 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 was moderated by poet Junie Désil.
Please Note:A recording of the event was posted here and has now been removed.
The Phil Lind Initiative Presents:
Jesmyn Ward
November 10, 2020
We are proud to present Jesmyn Ward, MacArthur Genius and two-time National Book Award winner, for a virtual event as part of our 2020 Phil Lind Initiative series on “Thinking While Black,” hosted by UBC’s School of Public Policy and Global Affairs.
This event was moderated by Canisia Lubrin, a writer, editor, critic and teacher.
Purchase books by Jesmyn Ward on the UBC Bookstore website.
Please Note:A recording of the event was posted here and has now been removed.
The Phil Lind Initiative Presents:
Ibram X. Kendi
November 12, 2020
We hosted this virtual event with Ibram X. Kendi, National Book award-winning historian and author of Stamped From The Beginning and How to Be an Antiracist, as part of the Phil Lind Initiative series on “Thinking While Black,” hosted by UBC’s School of Public Policy and Global Affairs.
Kendi spoke on “How to Be an Antiracist.”
This event was 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.
Purchase books by Ibram X. Kendi on the UBC Bookstore website.
Please Note: A recording of the event was posted here and has now been removed.
The Phil Lind Initiative Presents
Ibram X. Kendi and Jesmyn Ward In Conversation
November 25, 2020
National Book award-winning authors Ibram X. Kendi and Jesmyn Ward were joined in conversation at our final virtual event as part of the Phil Lind Initiative series on “Thinking While Black,” hosted by UBC’s School of Public Policy and Global Affairs.
This event was moderated by Phanuel Antwi, Assistant Professor, Department of English Language and Literatures, UBC.
Purchase books by Jesmyn Ward and Ibram X. Kendi on the UBC Bookstore website.
Please Note:A recording of the event was posted here and has now been removed.
