An A.W. Mellon Foundation Sawyer Seminar investigating the historical, cultural, and structural proc
11/17/2021
Lawrence resident’s poetry spans themes of racism, activism and spirituality There are certain topics Tai Amri Spann-Ryan is reluctant to broach with his now very young daughters: topics like no-knock warrants and sleeping Black women — references to Breonna Taylor, who was killed last year in Louisville, Ky., when police stormed her apartment in a botched overnight raid. ...
06/29/2020
What an amazing story about food, history, culture and health!
Proud to be a sponsor for this extraordinary series. We hope our followers enjoy these posts and events. We know we are!
06/25/2020
The College of Arts & Sciences and Department of African American & African Studies are leading a virtual webinar series called "Black Matters 101: This Side of the Pandemics".
The series addresses the current state of national affairs as they pertain to Black people. The health pandemic created by COVID-19 has brought racism to the forefront as a public health crisis that has been and continues to be an age-old detriment for African Americans. The health disparities crisis is compounded by the persistence of police killings and civilian vigilantism that traumatize black communities.
This webinar series brings together educators, students, community activists, civic leaders, and the general public to discuss topics emanating from the volatile moment of the pandemics, and, importantly, to develop action-oriented strategies for social justice.
Catch their next webinar this upcoming Mon. June 29th, at 3:00-4:00pm, titled "Dismantling Structural Inequalities".
To register, visit: go.osu.edu/structuralinequalities
06/19/2020
Happy to announce "In the Know", a Black educational series developed by BLACK Lawrence.
BLACK Lawrence is a local collective of Black writers, educators, musicians, photographers, playwrights, and more.
This month-long series explores Black health, art and history through daily posts, videos, performances, and conversations. We are excited to collaborate with BLACK Lawrence on posts related to Black health and art.
Enjoy "In the Know" on BLACK Lawrence's page, as well as our page! Consider following us on Instagram at and for more content there.
We look forward to all the ways this series elevates local discussions around Black health, art and history, especially at the intersections of Covid-19 and the current social climate.
Our team continues to stand with - and the anti-racist work necessary to combat white supremacy across global Africa.
06/18/2020
06/17/2020
Sawyer Seminar: Black Lives Matter. - https://mailchi.mp/ku/sawyer-seminar-coming-up-this-week-2-1937l42oa4-6904754
06/01/2020
Sawyer Seminar: Health Humanities Research Collaborative Meeting (6/12/20) - https://mailchi.mp/ku/sawyer-seminar-coming-up-this-week-2-1937l42oa4-6904770
04/25/2020
While our event series is postponed until further notice, we still highly encourage interested followers to check out our would-be speakers! Including Dr. Rana A. Hogarth, who was originally scheduled to visit us next week.
Dr. Rana A. Hogarth's first book, "Medicalizing Blackness: Making Racial Difference in the Atlantic World, 1780", examines how white physicians defined blackness as a medically significant marker of difference in slave societies of the American Atlantic.
Link to an amazing interview about her book: https://m.soundcloud.com/user-190008268/information-is-the-best-medicine-6819-dr-rana-hogarth-talks-medicalizing-blackness
Chronic Conditions is a year-long seminar series investigating the historical, cultural, and structural processes that have given rise to chronic health conditions among Africans, African immigrants, and African-Americans. Through discussions, lectures, performances, and humanities-based labs, Chronic Conditions will set a new agenda for interdisciplinary research in the medical humanities, while amplifying the voices of diverse senior and emerging scholars from across the globe.
In the United States, African-Americans are more likely than whites to die from an initial heart attack, lose a child in infancy, experience higher rates of rheumatoid arthritis, obesity, and diabetes, and be treated less aggressively and effectively for cancer, pain, and depression. Parallels in these disparities have been noted in communities of African immigrants and in Africa, where age-specific mortality rates from these chronic diseases are higher there than in any other region of the world. Through a focus on communities that share African roots, Seminar participants trace how legacies of slavery, colonialism, and segregation have rendered black bodies particularly vulnerable to these conditions.
Chronic Conditions responds to rising chronic disease morbidity and mortality rates occurring in the face of unequivocal evidence that racialist assumptions, implicit bias, and overt discrimination are present in healthcare systems around the world. The Seminar combines a humanistic focus on relations of power and systems of meaning that structure and reproduce these social and epidemiological facts with the transformative power of art and storytelling. Our ultimate goal is to demonstrate how the humanities, arts, and social sciences are fundamentally important contributors to medical knowledge and practices by challenging taken-for-granted assumptions and generating new forms of understanding.
Chronic Conditions is sponsored by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and led by the Hall Center for the Humanities, the Spencer Museum of Art, and the Kansas African Studies Center at the University of Kansas.