During the week of February 24, the internationally renowned historian, author, and public intellectual Vijay Prashad will be in residence in the UMass Amherst History Department as the 2020 Writer-In-Residence. During this residency, he will visit several graduate classes; host a writing workshop for students; host two community-based events; attend numerous gatherings with faculty, students and staff; and deliver a public keynote lecture.
In his lecture, titled History to the Defeated May Say Alas, Dr. Prashad will explore what it means to look honestly at the ruins of the past to find shards of hope for the future. This lecture will take place on Wednesday, February 26, at 6:00pm in Flavin Family Auditorium (Room 137 Isenberg School of Management, 121 Presidents Drive, UMass Amherst). A book signing will follow with books available for purchase courtesy of Amherst Books. Prashad’s lecture is co-sponsored by sixteen departments and programs from all institutions in the Five College consortium.
Also during his residency, Prashad will facilitate a community discussion of his edited volume, Strongmen. Numerous copies are available at Forbes Library, a co-host of this event. The discussion will take place at 6:30 pm on Monday, February 24 at Historic Northampton (46 Bridge St, Northampton).
The following day, Prashad will interview longtime Jackson Street School Principal Gwen Agna during an “evening assembly” marking her 40-year career as an educator. Together, they will explore the past, present, and future of public education in our age of austerity, anxiety and unending crises. This event will take place at Edwards Church (297 Main St, Northampton) and is co-presented by the Jackson Street School PTO with a dozen community and university collaborators, including the Hampshire Regional YMCA, JFK Middle School, and Northampton High School.
A historian, journalist, public intellectual, and activist, Vijay Prashad is the Director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, Chief Editor of LeftWord Books, and Chief Correspondent for Globetrotter. He has written twenty-five books, including the two-volume history The Darker Nations and The Poorer Nations; and he has edited twenty books, including Liberate the Colonies. For twenty-five years he has been a foreign correspondent for Frontline, India’s national magazine. Prashad holds a PhD in History from the University of Chicago.
The UMass/Five College Writer-in-Residence Program facilitates sustained conversation with widely-read authors whose historical work engages broad public audiences. It is organized annually by the UMass/Five College Graduate Program in History.