How Do I Look?: A Race and Beauty Symposium Hosted by Lewis & Clark

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Kemea Smith, GoLocalPDX Contributor

Keynote Speaker, Michaela Angela Davis

Lewis & Clark kicks off their 11th Annual Ray Warren Symposium, exploring questions of race, beauty, and desire.

"This year's symposium invites us to consider both how we look at others and how they see us," said Kim Brodkin, Lewis & Clark assistant professor and symposium coordinator. "How we wear our hair, how we adorn our bodies, how we style ourselves, what we consider to be beautiful or desirable in ourselves and others--these are not only questions of personal taste and self-expression but also issues of power and politics."

Brand manager of Black Entertainment Television (BET), Michaela Angela Davis will start the symposium off this evening, with a panel discussion analyzing skin colorism, black style, and fashion. She will be joined by professor and publisher Dr. Yaba Blay, and Award winning blogger Patrice Grell Yursik aka Afrobella.

Thursday’s keynote event presented by Mimi Thi Nguyen, University of Illinois Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies and Asian American Studies, will focus on the threat and the act of securing beauty.

How Do I Look? Race, Beauty, and Desire Photo Credit: Lewis and Clark

The final keynote event will be a series of original monologues by a group of Lewis & Clark students, about the experiences and feelings toward race, ethnicity, and identity.

Additional panel discussions that center around the Pacific Northwest and American Indian fashion designers, as well as an art exhibition examining the themes of identity, will be open to the public.

The Ray Warren Symposium is named after former Lewis & Clark college baseball player, ethnic student services director, and Dean of Admissions, Ray Warren. Warren died of cancer in December of 2004. His legacy of recruiting and supporting students of color and the athletic program, live on through the symposium.

The Ray Warren Symposium How Do I Look?, is free to the public and will be held at various locations on the Lewis & Clark campus, 0615 S.W. Palatine Hill Road, November 12th -November 14th. For a complete schedule all the events and panel discussions click here.