Multicultural Lectures - audio

Claude Steele will discuss his seminal work on stereotype threat and his book Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do. Steele received a BA from Hiram College and a PhD from Ohio State University. He served as the twenty-first provost of Columbia University and has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Education, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. His book Whistling Vivaldi provides an essential roadmap for understanding the link between identity and performance, and how those of us involved in education can make significant strides in mitigating the effects of negative stereotypes in our communities. Steele was hosted by the Office for Institutional Diversity as the inaugural Community Reading Project guest; his lecture was cosponsored by the multicultural resource center and by Reed's Student Senate.

damali ayo is a Portland-based artist perhaps best known for her web-art-performance “rent-a-negro.com,” which explores the commodification of race and relationships between blacks and whites. “rent-a-negro” was featured in Salon.com, The Village Voice, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, and Harper’s magazine, and on the BBC, ABC Australia, and NPR. A resident of Portland since 1997, ayo has exhibited her work in Portland, Seattle and New York. The Oregonian recently named her “One of 12 Emerging Arts Players You Don’t Know But Should.”

The distinguished historian Philip J. Deloria, son of Native American scholar and activist Vine Deloria Jr. (1933–2005), delivers the inaugural lecture. Philip Deloria (Ph.D., American Studies, Yale University), has chaired the program in American Culture at the University of Michigan, and is president-elect of the American Studies Association. He is author of Indians in Unexpected Places (University Press of Kansas, 2004) and Playing Indian (Yale University Press, 1998). Philip J. Deloria spoke at Reed College on September 12, 2007.