Online only: Conference to teach "Variations on Blackness"

"Blackness" -- the word has many connotations in America and across the globe.\nThe "Variations on Blackness" conference is a three-day event that will feature lectures from both IU professors and those from other universities, an art exhibit at the IU Art Museum, a dance performance and social events. \nRegistration for the event will be from 4 to 6:30 p.m. today in the conference lounge of the Indiana Memorial Union. The conference will end Saturday.\nThe first event will be a lecture at 5 p.m. in the Whittenberger Auditorium by Edmund Barry Gaither, director and curator for the National Center of Afro-American Artists. Some other lecturers to speak throughout the event include James T. Campbell of Brown University and Brent Hayes Edwards of Rutgers University.\nAfrican American and African Diaspora studies Professor Matthew Guterl is a co-organizer of the event and said planning for the conference started more than a year ago. He said the conference brings together professors with many different perceptions on the issue. He said the conference will be about the making of race, as well as what it means to be black in America and other parts of the world.\n"It's about how race is conceived across national borders," he said. "(Race) is not only a part of America -- it's a part of the world."\nGuterl said he also believes working with professors that have many different ideas will give the conference a richer context.\n"We might be able to understand the problem (of race) so that we can fix the challenges of prejudice in the U.S. and in the world," he said. \nIU comparative literature professor Vivian Halloran is also a co-organizer of the conference. She emphasized the importance of understanding that the meaning of being black varies from person to person and from country to country.\n"We're focusing on blackness because there's this underlying assumption that race is only black and white," she said. "The problem in this is what does 'blackness' mean? There is a different perception of blackness in Amsterdam than there is in Africa."\nGuterl said he believes this conference will be beneficial to all students.\n"This is really the story of all (races), we are just happening to be focusing on one small part of it," he said. "We want students to come to a sense of who they are by thinking about how they think of other people and how they think about themselves."\nHalloran said she also believes this conference will make students question their own assumptions and views about race by defining multiculturalism and diversity.\n"We're not trying to correct any wrong views of race," she said. "We are saying that there are celebrations of blackness and combinations of blackness."\nThe event is free for all students, but registration is required. Students can either pre-register via the Web site, which will grant them access to all the lectures and the social events, or they can register in the conference room, which will only grant them access to the lectures.\nFor a complete list of the lectures and events, visit the conference's Web site at http://variations.indiana.edu and click on the word "agenda"