Join the Institute for the Study of Los Angeles’ (ISLA) scholar in residence, Dr. Alison Rose Jefferson, in collaboration with the Black Alumni Organization (BAO), for a lecture on the civic commemorative justice project, Belmar History + Art with the City of Santa Monica that reconstructs the historic Black neighborhoods experience in the South Beach area.
Following the lecture will be an interdisciplinary panel of scholars, memory workers, artists, and historians whose work engages with preserving Black life. Aaliyah Davis ‘17, BAO’s archivist, will be moderating.
Event will be on Zoom, and is free and open to the public. Click here to register for the event
Dr. Alison Rose Jefferson is a third generation Californian and public historian whose research and professional interest revolve around the intersection of historical memory, American history, the history of the African American experience in Southern California during the twentieth century great migration and Jim Crow era, heritage conservation, spatial justice and cultural tourism. Dr. Jefferson’s new book, Living the California Dream: African American Leisure Sites during the Jim Crow Era, examines how African Americans pioneered leisure in American’s “frontier of leisure” through their attempts to create communities and business projects, in conjunction with the growing African American population of Southern California during the nation’s Jim Crow era.
Olani Ewunnet (UEP '17) is an Ethiopian-American researcher, urbanist, and interdisciplinary artist currently pursuing a Masters of Design Studies, with a concentration in Urbanism, Landscape and Ecology at Harvard University. Her current research examines Africa’s growing urban landscapes, merging human-scale urbanism and soundscapes with speculative and indigenous design techniques. She is curator and research lead of art and architectural projects in Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Germany, and the United States - through research, connecting and oscillating across disciplines and geographies. Ewunnet has served as lead on Habitat III for the UNDP’s 2030 Agenda cluster as well as research manager for the Kéré Foundation / Kéré Architecture where she managed the Naaba Belem Goumma Secondary School, Sarbalé Ke at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and Xylem at the Tippet Rise Art Center. Prior to joining Harvard, she launched a small vinyl label in Berlin called SAVVY records.
Dr. Kenjus Watson is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Health and Equity Research Laboratory in the Biology Department at SF State University. He is also the Program Evaluation Director of the National Institute of Health-funded SF BUILD program at SF State and UC San Francisco. SF BUILD strives to dismantle harmful schooling environments and create affirming spaces in their stead so that marginalized students can more readily access, engage, and utilize biomedical pathways to interrupt socially determined health disparities. In addition to this work, he teaches courses on Educational Inequality, Black Studies, and Critical Race Theory in the Education Department at Occidental College. His research explores dynamics of the biopsychosocial impact of racial microaggressions (everyday anti-racism) endured by Black Students and other People of Color across K-20 educational spaces. His scholarship also investigates the potential of critical pedagogy to inspire fugitivity, refusal, decolonization, and healing amongst marginalized communities within and beyond the campus. He has collaborated with over 30 institutions/organizations within and beyond K-12 and Higher Education settings in implementing assessments and developing capacity to work mindfully on issues of social justice.
