Cornel West to Speak Today at Westfield State on ‘The Power of Deep Education’
WESTFIELD — World-renowned political activist, professor, and author Cornel West will speak today, March 4, from 5 to 7 p.m. at Westfield State University’s Woodward Center. His talk, “The Power of Deep Education,” is expected to challenge audience members to explore humanity as a point of departure for thinking about the context of race, citizenship, love, and leadership.
A professor at Harvard University’s Divinity School who has also taught at Princeton, Yale, and New York universities, West will speak to how “servant leadership” and “deep education” are needed for “self-interrogation and social transformation at the heart of service.” The talk is free and open to the public.
“Dr. West brings a lifetime of scholarship, public discourse, and activism to the goals of the Anti-Racism Education (ARE) Project in Westfield State University’s Education Department,” said Andrew Habana Hafner, associate professor of Education. “The ARE Project aims to introduce a critical, multi-cultural perspective for the WSU Education Department community that is rooted in the intentional aim of dismantling racism, and its role in intersectional forms of oppressions.
A social critic and intellectual, West’s work focuses on the role of race, gender, and class in American society and the means by which people act and react to their “radical conditionedness.” He frequently appears on television shows (such as The Colbert Report and Real Time with Bill Maher) and has been featured in more than 25 documentaries and movies. He has recorded three spoken-word albums, collaborating with Prince, Jill Scott, Andre 3000, Talib Kweli, KRS-One, and Gerald Levert. He has a passion to communicate to a variety of people to keep alive Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy of telling the truth and bearing witness to love and justice.
West has written many books, including the influential Race Matters (1993) and Democracy Matters (2004). He will sign his books tonight after his talk and question-and-answer period. Books will be available for purchase.
To reserve a seat, click here.
