Events
Cosponsors
- The Humanities Institute at Stony Brook (HISB), Stony Brook University
- Barnard College
- Columbia School of the Arts
- Institute for Research on Women, Gender and Sexuality
- Institute for Comparative Literature and Society
Notes
- Image Credit/Caption: IJanet Mendelsohn (1967-69). Property of Cadbury Research Library Special Collections

The Jamaican-born Stuart Hall was the leading post-colonial intellectual of Great Britain from the 1960s until his death in 2014 at 82. He was one of the founders, along with Richard Hoggart, of cultural studies, pioneered in the mid-1960s at the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies. Hall later moved to the Open University as Professor of Sociology in 1979 where he remained until he retired in 1997. Described by Henry Louis Gates of Harvard University as “Black Britain’s leading theorist of black Britain,” Hall’s influence extended across all intellectuals on the New Left. His theorizations of race, ethnicity, feminism, and nationality as well as his diagnoses of the strategies and discontents generated by “Thatcherism” rocked political and academic worlds, shaping their discourse for the rest of the 20th and into the 21st century. The conference is called “Policing the Crises” after Hall’s seminal work on race relations in Britain and the ways in which his ideas continue to address political as well as academic concerns in our time.
Please note this conference will take place at the following locations:
- Tuesday, Sept 24: Diana Center Event Oval, Barnard College.
- Wednesday, Sept 25: Stony Brook Manhattan Campus (387 Park Avenue South).
- Thursday Sept 26: Diana Center Event Oval, Barnard College.
Registration Details
This event is free and open to the public. Registration is preferred but not required; you can register through Eventbrite here.
Livetweeting
We encourage all attendees to livetweet the event using the hashtag #PolicingTheCrises.
Program
time4:45pm - 5:00pm EST
Welcome and Introductions
time5:00pm - 6:30pm EST
Roundtable, "Reconstructing the Popular"
Chair
E. Ann Kaplan
Distinguished Professor of English and Cultural Analysis and Theory
Stony Brook, State University of New York
Rob King
Associate Professor of Film
Columbia University
Bruce Robbins
Old Dominion Foundation Professor in the Humanities
Columbia University
Jane Gaines
Professor of Film
Columbia University
time6:30pm - 7:30pm EST
Reception
time8:30am - 9:00am EST
Coffee
time9:00am - 10:30am EST
Keynote
David Scott
Professor of Anthropology
Columbia University
Introduction
Tina Campt
Professor of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Barnard College
time10:45am - 12:30pm EST
"History of the Present: Race, Nation, Empire"
Chair
Kathleen Wilson
Professor of History
State University of New York, Stony Brook
Antoinette Burton
Professor of History
University of Illinois
Bill Schwarz
Professor
Queen Mary University of London
Geoff Eley
Karl Pohrt Distinguished University Professor of Contemporary History
University of Michigan
time12:30pm - 2:00pm EST
Lunch (on your own)
time2:00pm - 3:45pm EST
"Where is the Black?: Revisiting the Black Popular Culture Conference (1991)"
Chair
Jane Gaines
Professor of Film
Columbia University
Kellie Jones
Associate Professor in Art History and Archaeology
Columbia University
Racquel Gates
Assistant Professor of Media Culture
College of Staten Island, City University of New York
Gina Dent
Associate Professor of Feminist Studies
University of California, Santa Cruz
time3:45pm - 4:00pm EST
Coffee Break
time4:00pm - 5:45pm EST
"Practice of the Critique: Race, Gender, Sexuality"
Chair
Tina Campt
Professor of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Barnard College
Terri Francis
Associate Professor of Communication and Culture
Indiana University, Bloomington
Rinaldo Walcott
Director, Women and Gender Studies Institute
The University of Toronto
Jacqueline N. Brown
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Graduate Center, City University of New York
time9:30am - 10:00am EST
Coffee
time10:00am - 11:45am EST
New Media: Encoding, Decoding, Coding
Chair
Rob King
Associate Professor of Film
Columbia University
Henry Jenkins
Provost Professor of Communication, Journalism, Cinematic Arts
University of Southern California Annenburg
Nicholas Mirzoeff
Professor of Media, Culture and Communication
New York University
time11:45am - 12:00pm EST
Coffee
time12:00pm - 2:00pm EST
Policing the Crises: Thinking it Forward
Tina Campt
Professor of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Barnard College
Barnor Hesse
Associate Professor of African American Studies, Political Science, and Sociology
Northwestern University
Ben Carrington
Associate Professor of Sociologist
University of Texas at Austin
Karla Holloway
James B.Duke Professor of English
Duke University
Participants
- Jacqueline N. Brown Associate Professor of Anthropology Graduate Center, City University of New York
- Antoinette Burton Professor of History University of Illinois
- Tina Campt Professor of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Barnard College
- Ben Carrington Associate Professor of Sociologist University of Texas at Austin
- Gina Dent Associate Professor of Feminist Studies University of California, Santa Cruz
- Geoff Eley Karl Pohrt Distinguished University Professor of Contemporary History University of Michigan
- Terri Francis Associate Professor of Communication and Culture Indiana University, Bloomington
- Jane Gaines Professor of Film Columbia University
- Racquel Gates Assistant Professor of Media Culture College of Staten Island, City University of New York
- Barnor Hesse Associate Professor of African American Studies, Political Science, and Sociology Northwestern University
- Karla Holloway James B.Duke Professor of English Duke University
- Henry Jenkins Provost Professor of Communication, Journalism, Cinematic Arts University of Southern California Annenberg
- Kellie Jones Associate Professor in Art History and Archaeology Columbia University
- E. Ann Kaplan Distinguished Professor of English and Cultural Analysis and Theory Stony Brook, State University of New York
- Rob King Associate Professor of Film Columbia University
- Nicholas Mirzoeff Professor of Media, Culture and Communication New York University
- Bruce Robbins Old Dominion Foundation Professor in the Humanities Columbia University
- Bill Schwarz Professor Queen Mary University of London
- David Scott Professor of Anthropology Columbia University
- Rinaldo Walcott Director, Women and Gender Studies Institute The University of Toronto
- Kathleen Wilson Professor of History State University of New York, Stony Brook