‘Digitally Mapping Race in Texarkana’ is Focus of A&M-Texarkana PLACE SuperLecture

Dr. Doug Julien

Dr. Doug Julien, associate professor of English at Texas A&M University-Texarkana, will present a SuperLecture on “Digitally Mapping Race in Texarkana” Tuesday, Nov. 1, at 2:30 p.m. in University Center 210 on the A&M-Texarkana campus at 7101 University Ave., Texarkana, Texas.

The event, which is part of the 2016-17 Program for Learning and Community Engagement lecture series, is free and open to the public.

“Using free Environmental Protection Agency geospatial resources, specifically EJSCREEN (an environmental justice mapping and screening tool that provides the EPA with a nationally consistent dataset and approach for combining environmental and demographic indicators) as a backdrop to a discussion of race and location, my lecture explores ideas not intentionally expressed and ideas that were not meant to be expressed on race,” Dr. Julien said.

One part of the lecture will discuss the EJSCREEN tool and how to use it to visualize race in Texarkana from an environmental and demographic perspective, Dr. Julien said. The other part of the talk picks up Jacques Derrida's conception of analysis and interpretation in relation to Dutch composer, Jacob ter Veldhuis' controversial and innovative "Grab It!" and the rap battle between an American hip-hop group over location.

PLACE is a faculty-led program designed to create a community of learners comprising A&M-Texarkana students, faculty, staff, and the community at large. PLACE chooses an annual theme around which to organize a lecture series and other activities that provide focal points for learning and discussion. This year’s theme is “Race and Ethnicity.”

Future PLACE events include the following:

November

• Tuesday, Nov. 1, 6-10 p.m. - Screening and Discussion with Dr. Drew Morton - “Do the Right Thing” - University Center 210
• Wednesday, Nov. 16, 7 p.m. - “Coconut,” featuring Alejandro Garza, Eagle Hall, University Center (rescheduled)
• Thursday, Nov. 17, 7-9 p.m. - Dr. Leo Chavez - “The Latino Threat: Constructing Immigrants, Citizens, and the Nation” - Eagle Hall, University Center

For more information, contact Dr. Craig Nakashian at Craig.Nakashian@tamut.edu, Dr. Michael Perri at Michael.Perri@tamut.edu or Corinne Billings at Corinne.Billings@tamut.edu.