Multiculturalism and Immigration Shock
What: In his lecture, Professor Lauter argues that worldwide immigration, generated mainly by the effects of rampant international capitalism, is producing a new cultural paradigm that has in many ways begun to replace the paradigm of multiculturalism. Where multiculturalism focused on issues of identity, the new paradigm being produced by what Prof. Lauter has called "immigration shock" invokes issues of globalization, citizenship, the flows of people and money across borders, the meaning of borders themselves. And these issues in turn raise for secular democracies a range of problems and possibilities that are, in fact, being engaged by creative teachers and artists across the globe.
When: Wednesday, November 14 ~ 4 p.m.
Where: Wean Terrace Room B, Mather Hall on the Trinity College campus
Background:
Professor Lauter has served as President of the American Studies Association (of the United States), and he is General Editor of the groundbreaking Heath Anthology of American Literature, now in its fifth edition.
In the 1960s, Lauter served as Peace Education Secretary and Director of Peace Studies for the American Friends Service Committee, and executive director of the U.S. Servicemen's Fund. During 1964 and 1965 he worked in freedom schools in Mississippi, then in Roosevelt University's Upward Bound program, and in 1967 he became director of the first community school project in the nation, at Adams-Morgan in Washington, D.C. He was also active in the faculty and staff union at the State University of New York, serving as statewide vice-president for academics, as chapter president, and as grievance officer, among other positions. He was also one of the founders of The Feminist Press and its treasurer and an editor for fourteen years.
Lauter has served as director of American Studies, as English department chair, and has for many years been the director of the graduate program in American Studies.
This event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.