“How does it feel to be a problem?” asked W. E. B. Du Bois of African Americans in his 1903 classic The Souls of Black Folk. In 2001, Vijay Prashad asked South Asians “How does it feel to be a solution?” In his kaleidoscopic critique, Karma of Brown Folk, Prashad looked into the complexities faced by the members of a “model minority” he claimed was consistently deployed as “a weapon in the war against black America.” Fifteen years later, Prashad’s lecture revisits the questions and issues raised in his work. Prashad is the George and Martha Kellner Chair of South Asian History, Director and Professor of International Studies Program atr Trinity College. He is the author of seventeen books, including Karma of Brown Folk (2000), Uncle Swami (2013), Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting (2001), Darker Nations (2007), and Poorer Nations (2013). His most recent book is Letters to Palestine: Writers Respond to War and Occupation (2015). He is a columnist for al-Araby al-Jadeed, BirGün, and Frontline, as well as Chief Editor of LeftWord Books (Delhi).The lecture will be presented in conjunction with the exhibit Beyond Bollywood: Indian Americans Shape the Nation, created by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center and the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service. The Mathers Museum’s presentation of the exhibit and related programming has been generously funded by Indiana University alumnus Robert N. Johnson, the Madhusudan and Kiran C. Dhar India Studies Program, the Asian American Studies Program, and the Department of American Studies. The event will be free and open to the public.
Free visitor parking is available by the Indiana Avenue lobby entrance. Metered parking is available at the McCalla School parking lot on the corner of Ninth Street and Indiana Avenue. The parking lot also has spaces designated for Indiana University C and ST permits. During the weekends free parking is available on the surrounding streets. An access ramp is located at the Fess Avenue entrance, on the corner of Ninth Street and Fess Avenue. Reserved parking spaces are available on Ninth Street, between Fess Avenue and Indiana Avenue. If you have a disability and need assistance, special arrangements can be made to accommodate most needs. Please call 812-855-6873.
Cost: Free
For more information contact:
Mathers Museum of World Cultures
(812) 855-1696
[email protected]