Cornell University will host a free symposium on Black critical thought Oct. 2, bringing faculty and students from multiple disciplines together for presentations and a keynote conversation with cultural theorist and poet Fred Moten.
The Black Critical Thought Symposium is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the A.D. White House, according to Cornell. Admission is free, meals will be provided, and a reception will follow.
The program will examine how Black critical thought reshapes central ideas in the humanities and social sciences. Organizers say participants will consider the psychological, social, political, historical and philosophical structures that influence knowledge and experience.
Parisa Vaziri, an associate professor of comparative literature and Near Eastern studies in Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences, said faculty and students working in Black studies wanted a stronger sense of community and visibility across campus. She said those interests shaped the symposium.
A keynote conversation with Fred Moten
Moten will join the event for its closing keynote conversation. He is a professor of performance studies and comparative literature at New York University, where he teaches Black study, poetics and critical theory.
Moten received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2020 for work in Black aesthetics, cultural production and social life. Cornell's announcement also identifies his involvement in collaborative social and artistic study groups, including the Black Arts Movement School Modality and the Harris/Moten Quartet.
Vaziri said Moten's work has influenced scholarship across disciplines and helped make Black thought central to conversations in the humanities. The event's cross-disciplinary format is intended to connect scholars and students whose work approaches those questions from different fields.
The symposium is open to attendees at the A.D. White House on Friday, Oct. 2. Cornell says the day will conclude with the Moten conversation and a reception.
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