KNOXVILLE –- Intercultural Intersections will feature director Spike Lee’s satirical film “Bamboozled” at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 17, in the Hodges Library Auditorium at the University of Tennessee.
Intercultural Intersections, sponsored by the Ready for the World initiative, is a series of Sunday afternoon events designed to help UT students, faculty, staff and the public explore cultures meeting across national, ethnic, racial, religious, political and sexual boundaries. Events include films, forums and other activities.
“Bamboozled” is about a frustrated African-American TV writer who proposes a blackface minstrel show in protest, but to his chagrin it becomes a hit.
Meredith McCarroll, a doctoral student in English whose dissertation project is representations of blackness and whiteness in film and literature, will facilitate a discussion of the film’s issues directly after the screening.
Here’s a look at other films that will be shown during upcoming Intercultural Intersections:
• Feb. 24 — “Hip Hop: Beyond Beats & Rhymes,” directed by Byron Hurt, a former college quarterback-turned-activist, is a personal and heartfelt documentary that explores gender roles in hip-hop and rap music.
• March 2 — “Wild Woman Don’t Have the Blues” looks at Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Ida Cox, Alberta Hunter, Mamie Smith and other great female blues performers of the 1920s who helped launched a craze for the genre.
• March 9 — “What I Want My Words to Do to You” focuses on a writing group led by playwright and activist Eve Ensler at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility.
The goal of “Ready for the World: The International and Intercultural Awareness Initiative” is to transform the campus into a culture of diversity that best prepares students for working and competing in the 21st century. The initiative involves increasing the diversity among students, faculty and staff; infusing the curriculum with international and intercultural content; expanding study-abroad and work-study opportunities; and encouraging students to take advantage of all of these opportunities.
For more information about Ready for the World, see http://www.utk.edu/readyfortheworld/.
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Contact:
Amy Blakely, (865) 974-5034, amy.blakely@tennessee.edu