News Release

Social justice guest speaker to focus on the 'Gender Knot"


Contact: Christina Chapple

10/24/08


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Allan Johnson

     HAMMOND – Writer and teacher Allan Johnson will be featured in the annual Social Justice Lecture Series sponsored by Southeastern Louisiana University’s Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice.

     Johnson, who has worked on issues of privilege, oppression, and social inequality since receiving his doctoral degree in sociology from the University of Michigan in 1972, will speak on “The Gender Knot: Unraveling Our Patriarchal Legacy” on Thursday, Nov. 6, 2 p.m. in the Student Union Theatre.

     He will also visit with sociology classes and the Southeastern Sociological Association to discuss gender inequality in families, schools, and workplaces.

     The lecture, which is free and open to the public, is also sponsored by the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, and the Lyceum Arts and Lectures Committee, and the student body, as a whole, which supports the committee’s funding of guest speakers.

     The lecture series is designed to call attention to timely social justice issues and hear directly from individuals who are on the frontlines of these issues, said coordinator Anna Kleiner, assistant professor of sociology.

     Johnson’s lecture is also the title of his 2005 book, one of four that include The Forest and the Trees: Sociology as Life, Practice, and Promise, The Blackwell Dictionary of Sociology, and Privilege, Power, and Difference

     According to Amazon.com, Johnson “gives practical pointers on how both men and women can work for gender justice … without playing blame games.” His primary goal, said Kleiner, “is to present controversial, often difficult issues with gentle and compassionate clarity, in ways that people can not only understand, but also relate to on a personal level.”

     Previous Social Justice Lecture speakers have included Sr. Helen Prejean, who initiated the lecture series in 2005; litigation lawyer Morris Dees, co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, Malik Rahim of New Orleans’ Common Ground Collective, and peace activist Medea Benjamin.

     For additional information, contact Kleiner, 985-549-2006, or the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, 985-549-5964.



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