There were no empty seats in 304C of the Student Union where Paul C. Taylor, associate professor of philosophy at Temple University, delivered a presentation titled "No Negroes in Connecticut: On Being Invisible in the Twenty First Century."
Taylor combined recognizable images of pop-culture icons and shows with philosophical ideas to effectively communicate the idea of "Black Aesthetics." He used a clip from Todd Haynes' film "Far from Heaven."
The clip served as a perfect medium for explaining Black Aesthetics since it was the inspiration for the title of Taylor's lecture. The scene Taylor showed depicted an upper-class white individual making a distasteful quip about there being "no negroes in Connecticut," while at the same time taking hors d'oeuvres from a waiter who happened to be black.
"Visibility is an experience that is affected by pre-conditions," said Taylor.
Taylor explained how our eyes are essentially trained to see certain things and how the more we know the more we see. His reference to capoeira, a mix between dance and martial arts, exemplified this point.
According to Taylor, capoeira was designed by slaves to look like dancing to the untrained eyes of their masters, which in turn allowed them to train in self-defense.
With examples like these, Taylor made the point that black people in America have been made into cardboard cut-outs of sorts, who fit into general stereotypes and stock personalities while the full complexity of their individual natures is ignored.
"I think he discussed black aesthetics and invisibility in a way that was easy to understand," said Nicole Guzzardi, a 5th-semester journalism major.
Taylor then opened the floor for questions from the audience where he answered provocative questions involving the appropriation of black culture by non-black individuals. He discussed the duality of this concept along with that of Dave Chappelle's humor; is he making fun of stereotypes or simply feeding them?
Taylor, who gives semi-regular, mostly professional talks, has written several articles and books including "Black Is Beautiful: a Philosophy of Black Aesthetics along with The Philosophy of Race." He was brought to UConn by the Institute for African American Studies, said Dr. Olu Oguibe, Interim Director for African American Studies. According to Oguibe, Taylor was a college acquaintance of the previous Director for African American Studies, Dr. Jeffery Ogbar.
"He facilitated the connection," said Oguibe.
According to Oguibe, this was the first talk of the year for African American Studies and the turnout was larger than expected as late-comers had to stand at the back and line the walls. The Institute for African American Studies will be celebrating its 20th anniversary of being an institution at UConn on Dec. 3 and Dec. 4.
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