UNM’s Africana Studies to host 40th Annual Black History Month Kick-Off Brunch

"Someone You Should Know" is the theme of the 40th annual Black History Month Kickoff Brunch, which will be held next January. This distinguished event honors and acknowledges the contributions and achievements of Black individuals and communities.

In partnership with the UNM African American Student Services, the brunch will feature keynote speaker Hazel V. Carby, a prominent scholar from Yale University. The brunch will be held on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025, at 10:30 a.m. at the UNM SUB Ballroom. Tickets, which go on sale Oct. 4, 2024, are $25 for students, $50 for individuals and $500 for tables for 10. To purchase tickets, click here.

The Black History Month Kickoff Brunch serves as a platform for the UNM community and the broader public to unite, gain insights, and celebrate the Black community's profound heritage and cultural contributions. In addition to Carby's keynote, the event features guest speakers, performances, and discussions addressing topics related to both historical and contemporary issues.

"Hazel Carby has been a voice and a force in the fields of African American Studies and American Studies since the publication of her groundbreaking book "Reconstructing Womanhood: The Emergence of the Afro-American Woman Novelist" (1987)," said Africana Studies Chair Kirsten Pai Buck. "She describes her recent book, "Imperial Intimacies: A Tale of Two Islands" (2019), as an anti-memoir. A child of Jamaican and Welsh parentage, she uses the vehicle of the autobiography to weave a complex narrative of empire. I am so proud and happy to bring one of my personal heroes to UNM's campus."

Carby serves as the Charles C. and Dorathea S. Dilley Professor Emeritus of African American Studies and Professor of Emeritus American Studies at Yale University. She focuses her research on gender, sexuality, and race in Caribbean and diasporic cultures and transnational and postcolonial literature.

She's an award-winning author with her acclaimed book, "Imperial Intimacies: A Tale of Two Islands," which won the British Academy's Nayef Al-Rodhan Prize in 2020. Carby has also been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her publications have appeared in journals such as the London Review of Books and The Paris Review.

Carby completed her B.A. at Portsmouth Polytechnic and her PGCE at the Institute of Education, London University, later earning her MA and Ph.D. from Birmingham University.

"On the occasion of our 40th annual Black History Month Kickoff Brunch, what better opportunity to share the truly global nature of Black History than having Professor Hazel Carby join us," said Buick. "I hope that people come for the fellowship and to celebrate our diversity."

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit Black History Month Kickoff Brunch.

For additional questions, contact the Department of Africana Studies at 505-277-5644 or via email at [email protected] and [email protected].