Cornel West will spend his Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Washington D.C. with President-elect Barack Obama.
But before he heads to the capitol, West will speak at Baker University Center on Sunday, where he will be both the keynote speaker at the African Studies Department's 100 Years of Progressive Islam Conference and part of the African American Studies Department's 40th Anniversary celebration.
A writer, speaker and scholar, West has often been called one of America's most provocative public intellectuals. The Class of 1943 University Professor at Princeton University, West's 1993 book on racism in American democracy, Democracy Matters, has sold more than half a million copies.
West has published 18 other books and three albums, including a CD of socially conscious music with artists such as Prince and Talib Kweli. He provides weekly commentary on Public Radio International and helped influence the story line for The Matrix trilogy.
In our business of higher education
(West is) one of the best known higher academics said Steve Howard, director of the African Studies Department. (His speech is an) opportunity for students to encounter one of the greatest minds of our time.
Howard invited West to come to Ohio University in April to be the main speaker at the conference.
Islam is always portrayed as one entity and we are trying to point out there are about a billion Muslims in the world of all shapes and sizes he said. We are trying to point out there are progressive Muslims with progressive ideas about war and peace.
The conference is celebrating the 100th birthday of Mahmoud Mahamed Taha, a Sudanese Muslim who is known for his progressive views about women in Islam, Howard said. West wrote about Taha in Democracy Matters, making him an interesting key note speaker, he said.
The African American Studies Department joined African Studies in cosponsoring West as part of their 40th Anniversary Celebration, said Ronald Stephens, chair of the department.
The department was created in 1967 during the start of the Black Studies movement, Stephens said. It began as the Center for African American Studies, transitioned to the Afro-American Studies Department in the '80s and officially became the African American Studies Department in 1994, he said.
We understand the value of being one of the oldest African American studies departments in the country
he said. We wanted to highlight the past and forecast the future.
West's speech is just one in a series of anniversary events that began last quarter. Stephens said he hopes to have a banquet and a symposium later in the school year.
West is an ideal speaker for the anniversary and for OU because he has been able to bring African American issues to a broader audience, said Robin Dearmond Muhammad, associate professor in African American Studies and the 40th Anniversary committee chair.
He has a speaking style and a presence and way of using words that people find very engaging
Dearmond Muhammad said. (He) provokes thoughts about social issues that are important today.
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Anna Sudar
