In the keynote address of the College's annual celebrations in honor of Martin Luther King Jr., New York University professor Robin D.G. Kelley addressed the relationship between social movements and knowledge.
Kelley, who teaches history and Africana studies at NYU, is the author of several books about culture, politics, oppression and resistance. "Social movements are both key to making change and also to changing yourself," Kelley said.
Social movements generate new scholarship -- the study of race is linked to political action, feminism led to gender theory and gay and lesbian activism to "queer theory," he said.
New knowledge reshapes and gives direction to social activism he said.
"The best activists are knowledge workers," Kelley said. The relationship also works the other way.
Kelley, a graduate student at University of California Los Angeles during the 1980s said his own scholarship is heavily influenced by his activist past.
Although most students associate activism with the 1960s, Kelley said his own experience in the 1980s showed him that decade was also a time of intense domestic action and international solidarity.
Kelley said he participated in many political action and study groups on race and other social issues including one sponsored by the Communist Party.
Kelley's speech was marked by literary and artistic allusion. He also played musical clips from the work of Blues, Jazz and Hip Hop artists. According to Kelley, these artistic works not only reflect the history of black people in the United States but also show the poetic imagination -- the vision of utopia, that is necessary to sustain activism.
In his introduction to Kelley's address, College President James Wright made reference to Dartmouth's long commitment to diversity and the principles of King in his introductory remarks.
Approximately 300 students, faculty and community members attended the lecture last night in Moore Theatre.
