Afternoon Workshops

Monday, January 15, 2001

All workshops will be held in Pettengill Hall with classroom locations to be announced.

I. Concurrent Workshops 2–3 p.m. Session One

• Education
Stacey Smith, assistant professor of education, and Eduardo Mauel Duarte, Hofstra University

Democracy, Difference and Civil Provocation: Learning Through Discomforting Encounters
Thirty years after the height of the Civil Rights movement, we continue to face the challenges of building multicultural and democratic college campuses. Based loosely on our recently published volume, Foundational Perspectives in Multicultural Education, this session will investigate the sorts of tensions that complicate projects of building campus communities that are at once multicultural and democratic. Participants will explore the roles played by "discomfort" and "civil provocation" in our classrooms and other "public" spaces. We will discuss participants' experiences with "discomforting dialogues" and whether such exchanges are harmful or useful in terms of democratic ideals. We will also unpack the notion of "civil provocation" and discuss whether this concept is appropriate in the context of classroom settings. This session aims to be dynamic and interactive, combining personal experience with pedagogical, political, and philosophical inquiry.

• History
Lillian Guerra, assistant professor of history

Sweatshop Labor and Bates Purchases

• Math
Bonnie Shulman, associate professor of mathematics

What's Math Got to Do With It?
Is "multicultural mathematics" an oxymoron? Most of us think of mathematics as the one subject that is context-free — a static, neutral and determined body of knowledge. But mathematics has its roots in every culture. In this workshop, we will discuss some mathematical contributions from other cultures and other times than our own. Some questions we will consider (bring more of your own): What are the origins of mathematical knowledge? How can we reconceptualize mathematics to incorporate non-Eurocentric views and include the historiography of how and why the Eurocentric view became "standard"? What are the effects of culture, language and ideology on the mathematics people develop? What is the relationship between mathematics knowledge and power? What is emancipatory mathematics knowledge?

Ethnomathematics, a term introduced in 1985 by Ubiratan D'Ambrosio, a Brazilian mathematician and historian of science, offers a broader view of mathematics. Ethnomathematics describes the study of "mathematical techniques developed in different cultural groups for the purpose of explaining, understanding, and coping with reality."

• Atlanta Interdenominational Theological Center
The Rev. Randall C. Bailey, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Hebrew Scripture

The Bible and Reconciliation: Help or Hindrance?
Throughout the history of the Civil Rights Movement, biblical texts and imagery have been used as resources for addressing social conflict. Yet the Bible, with its tendency to create and to demonize "the Other," may not be a helpful guide for dealing with such conflict. Though The Bible certainly contains the "love your neighbor/enemy" ethic, the ethos of "the Other" also seems to predominate the text. This discussion centers on whether we may have to go against or beyond foundational Biblical documents in addressing intergroup conflict.

II. Concurrent Workshops 3:10–4:10 p.m. Session Two

• Office of Affirmative Action
Joanna Lee, director of affirmative action

Review of A History Short Term Experience: The Geography of the Civil Rights Movement
Students from the Geography of the Civil Rights Movement Short Term 1999 course will share their immersion experience with geographic trajectory that mirrored the lifelong odyssey of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Through stories, scrapbooks, slides and discussion, the students will move you from their arrival in Atlanta, Ga., on to Montgomery and Selma, Ala., to several sites in Mississippiā and finally into Memphis, Tenn. They will speak of their learning experiences and, for some, their life altering changes as they visited historic sites and talked with people who were part of the Movement campaigns for Civil Rights and Voting Rights.

• English
Kate Adams, assistant professor of English, and Wendy Wagner, assistant professor of English

The Politics of Reading: The Impact of King's Legacy on the Literary Canon
What do we read in college English courses? Who decides? And why does it matter? This workshop will examine the English curriculum and the role of students in shaping it — from the transformations generated by civil rights activism, to the conservative backlash known as the 1980's "culture wars," to the contemporary specter of "PC" pedagogy. This interactive workshop will provide an opportunity for students and faculty to discuss the history and present condition of the English curriculum, particularly as it affects us here at Bates.

• Anthropology
Loring Danforth, professor of anthropology

Who Can Be a Pequot? The Foxwoods Casino and the Construction of Native American Identity
We will listen to an audio recording of an interview with Jeff Benedict, the author of the controversial book "Without Reservation: The Making of America's Most Powerful Indian Tribe and Foxwoods, the World's Largest Casino." Then we will discuss some of the important issues raised by the book. What is ethnicity? How are ethnic identities constructed? Who decides whether someone is black or white or Native American? Can someone who was white become a Native American? Come help us argue with Jeff Benedict's point of view.

• Education
members of the department

Deconstructing and Transcending Stereotypes in Today's Schools
Through role playing, movie clips, and group discussions, we will examine preconceptions in schools as well as the teacher's role in the transformative process of understanding stereotypes.

• Read the text of "Letter from a Birmingham Jail"