April 27, 2014

Sorry about the highlighted last entry but I had some difficulties.........

I think the Mamiya are my event planners for the spring season!!! Not only the documentary that was extraordinary but now an event, just as inspiring from another Vassar graduate!!!

STACEY FLOYD-THOMAS--presently a Professor of Ethics and Society at Vanderbilt University
                                                                                                                           (Tara's Alma Mater)
In April Stacey came back to Vassar for a lecture on "The Color Line and the Culture Wars: Religion, Education and Sub-rosa Morality in the Age of Obama".
Stacey was a former student of Larry Mamiya--a Professor at Vassar and the DEAR FAMILY I speak of so often. The lecture was also being presented "in honor of Professor Lawrence Mamiya's legacy as a scholar-activist"--who is retiring this year.
Stacey's "research and teaching interests lie at the intersection of ethics, feminist/womanist studies, Black Church studies, critical pedagogy, critical race theory and post colonial studies with an overall approach to the study of Christian social ethics that engages broad questions of moral agency, cultural memory, ethical responsibility and social justice. Her work in Christian social ethics has a threefold focus- race, gender and class. She is concerned with what she calls 'the why crisis' of faith. This lends itself to a meta-ethics that guides moral reasoning and ethics towards constructive thought that leads to  visions of social justice and the common good. She considers the work of religious discourse and Christian faith to be inseparable from thinking about how to construct a justice-seeking community."
She has received numerous honors and awards and is a dynamic speaker that can capture an audience completely!!
In a Q&A she was asked how Vassar had prepared her for her future work.
She explained that Vassar was her stepping stone but Professor Larry Mamiya was her foundation!!
He allowed her the freedom to explore, the tools to use, the knowledge to build her confidence and the total concern for her as a human being. What could be more rewarding, as a "teacher," but to have influenced a student to such an extent that she was able to go out into the world confident in her mission and so well equipped to help others. Bravo Professor Larry!!

Such a vision into a world I am so unfamiliar with and explained in a way that I could appreciate.
Thank-you Stacey.