Eric King Watts of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will deliver the 2018 Josephine Jones lecture on “Flesh to Speech: The Problem of Racism for Public Address.”
Watts, an associate professor at UNC’s Department of Communication, will explore the ways in which public voice is invented, performed, consumed and suppressed, with particular attention paid to black public voice.
The annual public lecture series—primarily organized by the Center for Communication and Democratic Engagement—is funded through a bequest by Josephine B. Jones and co-sponsored by the CU Boulder Department of Communication; the College of Media, Communication and Information and others.
The lecture will serve as the keynote for the 30th anniversary of the Public Address Conference (PAC), an annual event that brings together top scholars of rhetoric and politics to analyze and engage pressing civic issues, from ancient times until today.
This year’s conference theme, “Embodying Justice,” will involve discussions of race, education, reproduction, climate, the economy, immigration, queer memory and more.
The conference will take place Thursday, Sept. 27, through Saturday, Sept. 29.
The Josephine Jones lecture is free and open to the public, as are two afternoon pre-conference roundtables on education and justice. Other PAC sessions required registration, which is now closed.
If you go
Josephine Jones lecture “Flesh to Speech: The Problem of Racism for Public Address”
Who: Open to the public
When: Thursday, Sept. 27, 5–6:45 p.m.
Where: Center for Academic Success and Engagement (CASE), auditorium
Public Address Conference pre-conference roundtables
Who: Open to the public
When: Thursday, Sept. 27 | “Education and Justice” pre-conference symposium 2:30–3:30 p.m. | “Rhetorical Studies and Trends in Higher Education” roundtable 3:30–4:40 p.m.
Where: University Memorial Center, Room 235
