Researcher to Speak at UA About Black Europeans, Photography

Duke University researcher Tina Campt will be on campus next month for a lecture and other events that are part of the launch of the UA's doctoral degree program in women's studies.

Seldom is there a mainstream discussion about Africans in Europe, but The University of Arizona will be hosting a Duke University researcher whose work explores the history of Africans in Germany and other parts of Europe.

Tina Campt, an associate professor of women's studies, will speak at the UA next month as part of a series of events helping to launch the University's doctoral degree in women's studies.

"We wanted to hold a high-profile talk by somebody who works on gender, race and transnationalism, which are some of the issues that get to the heart and soul of what our doctorate is all about," said Laura Briggs, head of the UA women's studies department.

Campt's talk, "The Subject of Diaspora: Archive, Photography and the Sight and Sense of Race," will draw from her forthcoming book. Titled "Image Matters: Archive, Photography and the African Diaspora in Europe," the book details the photographic history of black Europeans during the 20th century.

"Her work addresses a central concern within women's studies in that she is thinking about gender and race in relation to each other," said Miranda Joseph, a UA associate professor in both the women's studies and geography and regional development departments.

Campt has studied ways in which blacks from both Britain and Germany have used photographic art to explore issues related to community and self-identification.

The lecture will be held April 1 in Room 204 of the Richard P. Harvill Building, 1103 E. Second St., from 5-6:30 p.m. and is free and open to the public. Also during her two-day visit to the UA, Campt will meet with the new doctoral degree seekers in women's studies and also UA faculty who have formed research clusters.

Joseph, who helped coordinate Campt's visit, said studying and understanding how discrimination and oppression are interconnected is critical, particularly for scholars.

For instance, it is important to understand why certain laws affect people of color differently depending on country of origin and nationality. Likewise, issues of race, class and gender are played out differently from one community to the next. Understanding why these differences exist get to the crux of critical studies, Joseph said.

"Understanding how racialized identities have emerged is a crucial issue, certainly in the U.S. with migration and changing population, but also all over the world," she said. "It has implications for political and power dynamics."

But Campt's lecture is not relevant only to academics.

"Anybody who is interested in photography, how to make meaning from photographs and what the impact could be – especially in relation to race – would be interested in this talk," Joseph said. "And there are not that many people who study black Europeans, so this will help us get out of our usual focus on African Americans and recognize that the African diaspora includes Europe."

Campt has long studied the history and condition of blacks in Europe, particularly German blacks. More recently, she has studied the use of photography and ways in which it is subjective and objective.

The lecture coincides with the launching of the doctoral program in the UA women's studies department.

Campt's visit also coincides with other events: the department's forums about human papillomavirus, or HPV, and the Sociologists for Women in Society's two-day conference.

The first HPV academic forum will be held April 1 in Room 114 of the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, 1295 N. Martin Ave., from noon to 2 p.m. The event is part of the Scholars' Series and include a panel discussion featuring Anna R. Giuliano, a nationally recognized HPV researcher who is a medicine and epidemiology professor at the University of South Florida.

A second forum – the community forum – will be held April 4 from 3-5 p.m. at the El Pueblo Neighborhood Center, 101 W. Irvington Road. The forum is meant for a Spanish-speaking audience.

A third forum, a community forum that will be held in English, will be held during the fall semester. Details are forthcoming.

Both educational forums will address issues associated with HPV, treatment and the HPV vaccination, which is now available to women. Event organizers note that more than 20 different HPV strands exist and that an estimated 50 percent of those who are sexually active will contract an infection.

Event collaborators are the Center of Excellence in Women's Health, the Southwest Institute for Research on Women and the Women's Studies Advisory Council.

Also, the women's studies deparment is co-hosting the Women in Society conference, which will be held at the UA April 3 and 4, featuring speakers from major universities across the United States.

Such events, including Campt's visit, help involve the community in the dissemination of knowledge, said Briggs, who is also an associate professor for anthropology.

The benefit is that such events "promote and encourage the kind of intellecual community that will sustain the doctorate for ourselves and for the wider community," Briggs said.