Annenberg School Announces New Event Series: Annenberg Conversations

Each year, Annenberg Conversations will focus on a different topic of interest, beginning with race in America.

The Annenberg School for Communication is pleased to announce a new event series entitled Annenberg Conversations. The series is designed to engage Communication research and scholarship on topical issues, and each conversation will feature a member of the Annenberg Community in dialogue with one or more interlocutors from outside the school, drawing upon diverse perspectives, experiences, and expertise — including academics, activists, artists, and many others.

Each academic year, Annenberg Conversations will focus on a different topic of interest. For the 2020-21 academic year, the inaugural Annenberg Conversations series will focus on race.

Annenberg Conversations on Race events will examine the current state of anti-Black racism in various sectors of society and highlight the role of communication and mass mediation in processes of racism and racialization. These conversations are designed to provide space to speak and listen together to engage the myriad tensions and intersections of communication themes and racial formations.

“Annenberg Conversations was born out of a desire to foster discourse on the pressing issues of our day and inspire engagement within and beyond the Annenberg School and the field of Communication,” said Dean John L. Jackson, Jr. “The series is designed to create space for the rigorous scholarship and thought leadership of our faculty to inform, and be informed by, external perspectives and expertise. It felt only right to launch with the issue of Race in America, in hopes of stimulating more nuanced understandings of some of the seemingly intractable challenges that lay before us as a society. I look forward to seeing the way these discussions will enrich our community.”

Annenberg Conversations on Race graphic

“Race, Social Justice, and Social Media”
Ben Jealous and Sarah J. Jackson
October 9, 2020

"Situating the Kardashians: Skin, Theft, Ops"
Elizabeth K. Hinton, Dixa Ramírez D'Oleo, Ren Ellis Neyra, Vanessa Díaz, and Brandy Monk-Payton
November 6, 2020

"Technology and the Reproduction of Racial Inequity"
Kadija Ferryman and Julia Ticona
January 15, 2021

"Health, Wealth, and Racial Opportunity"
Kevin Ahmaad Jenkins and additional guest
February 2021 (Date TBD)

"Taking Race Seriously in Contemporary Content Distribution"
Jeanine D. Liburd, Maori Karmael Holmes, Jasmine E. Johnson, and Aymar Jean Christian
March 5, 2021

"Re-imagining Connections between Academia and Activism"
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor and Jessa Lingel
April 2, 2021

All 2020-21 conversations will be held virtually and are open to the public.