Feature Stories Campus Events All Stories

W&L’s Sociology and Anthropology Department Presents Lecture Series The Sociology and Anthropology Department is collaborating with the Environmental Studies Program to present a new social justice series titled “White Supremacy and Society.”

Screen-Shot-2021-01-25-at-2.10.01-PM.jpg-1140x647 W&L’s Sociology and Anthropology Department Presents Lecture SeriesThe semester-long series is premised on the belief that research in sociology and anthropology doesn’t exist only in an ivory tower.

Starting this month, Washington and Lee University’s Sociology and Anthropology Department (SOAN), in collaboration with the Environmental Studies Program, will present a new social justice series titled “White Supremacy and Society.”

“The semester-long series is premised on the belief that research in sociology and anthropology doesn’t exist only in an ivory tower,” said Lynn Chinn, associate professor of sociology. “Sociological and anthropological research brings insight to the complexity that undergirds so many of our current social problems, and hopefully talking about this research will encourage people to act for policies that make our communities better for everyone.”

There will be a talk from the series once a month for the entire semester. All of the online lectures are free and open to the public to watch.

The first virtual event is scheduled for Feb. 11 at 4:30 p.m. Don Gaylord, a research archeologist and SOAN instructor, will give a public lecture titled “Possible School for Enslaved Folks on Back Campus: Reassessing the Liberty Hall Landscape and ts Buildings.” Registration for this talk is required and can be accessed here.

On March 4, Bo Garfinkel ’21 and Alison Bell, associate professor of anthropology, will give a lecture titled “Wild Manners of Talking and Acting: Race, Gender, Class, and Socio-Medical Evaluations of ‘Lunacy’ in Late Nineteenth-Century Virginia.” Then, on April 1, Marcos Perez, assistant professor of sociology, will present “Between Mobs and the State: The Legacy of Lynching in America’s Capital Punishment System.” Chinn will give the last lecture in the series on May 13, “Fitting the Mold: Race and Perceptions of Fit at W&L.”

“The planning for these talks started during the summer,” Perez said. “We had several discussions about how can we, as sociologists and anthropologists, contribute more to a much-needed honest and respectful conversation about some of the most pressing problems in this country.”

The public can find updates on how to register for all of the talks here.