Montevallo, Ala. – Acclaimed philosophy professor Dr. Lewis R. Gordon will be visiting the University of Montevallo as a part of a visiting lecture series curated by Dr. Myron M. Beasley, the Paschel V. Vacca Distinguished Visiting Professor on Thursday, April 14. Gordon will deliver a lecture entitled “Fanon Today or Oxygen for Humanity” in Merchants and Planters Bank Auditorium in Humanities Hall at 5:30 p.m.
Gordon will also be available for a book signing at Eclipse Coffee and Books in Montevallo on Fri., April 15 at 4 p.m.
As an Afro-Jewish philosopher, political thinker, educator and musician, Gordon was raised on the island of Jamaica and grew up in the Bronx, New York. He is currently a professor of philosophy and Africana studies at UCONN-Storrs. He was also recently a Nelson Mandela Visiting Professor of Politics and International Studies at Rhodes University in South Africa.
Since his graduation from Yale University and the Lehman Scholars Program of the City University of New York, Gordon’s philosophy and social theory have been studied in a variety of disciplines. In addition to theories of social transformation, decolonization and liberation, Gordon’s research in social and political philosophy also addresses problems of normative political concerns beyond justice.
He has written for political forums, newspapers and magazines such as the Pambazuka News, the Johannesburg Salon and The Mail & Guardian. Gordon has lectured across the globe, founded and co-founded book series, journals and organizations including the Caribbean Philosophical Association, where he served as the first president from 2003 to 2008.
Gordon’s visiting appointments include visiting professor of philosophy and government at the University of the West Indies at Mona, Jamaica; European Union Visiting Chair in Philosophy at Université Toulouse Jean Jaurès, France; and Writer-in-Residence at the Birkbeck School of Law at the University of London in 2016.
Gordon’s written works include Bad Faith and Antiblack Racism (1995, 1999), Fanon and the Crisis of European Man (1995) and Her Majesty’s Other Children: Sketches of Racism from a Neocolonial Age (1997), which won the Gustavus Meyer Award for Human Rights in America. He also authored A Companion to African-American Studies (2006), a NetLibrary Book of the Month in February 2007. He has written more than 200 articles, many of which have been translated into several languages, as well as interviews and essays for public forums, including Truthout.org where he now serves on the Board of Directors.
For more information on Dr. Lewis Gordon please visit www.lewisgordon.com.
About The University of Montevallo
The University of Montevallo seeks to be unique in higher education in Alabama, by providing students from throughout the state an affordable, geographically accessible, “small college” public higher educational experience of high quality. Settled within an atmosphere of national historic beauty and offering a tradition of innovative cultural expression, we seek to provide professional programs supported by a broad base of arts and sciences that are designed for intellectual and personal growth in the pursuit of meaningful employment and responsible, informed citizenship.