Delta Phi Alpha to Host Induction Ceremony

The Delta Phi Alpha National German Honor Society is hosting its induction ceremony at 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 14, in CHEM 144.

The guest speaker for this year's event is Ervin Malakaj; he will present a talk on "Audre Lorde's Germany."

Malakaj's research focuses on German media history, queer German and international film cultures, and critical pedagogy, and along with colleagues, he co-founded the scholarly collective Diversity, Decolonialization and the German Curriculum. 

In his talk, he will address the impact African American poet and scholar Audre Lorde had on the burgeoning Afro-German movement in 1980s Berlin.

From Malakaj's synopsis:

"As one of the most important intellectuals of the 20th century, Audre Lorde helped shape international discourses on the formation of power structures and their violent relationship to gender and race. During her time in Berlin, she made a great impact on the Afro-German community and contested the inherent sexisms and racisms structuring German intellectual cultures of the 1980s and 90s. This presentation will examine the links between Lorde's community and intellectual work in this international context and position her as a major agent in transnational intellectual history."

Malakaj's presentation is open to the wider campus community and is co-sponsored by the Department of World Languages, Literatures and Cultures, the Honors College, African and African American Studies, Gender Studies, International Studies, and the Center for Multicultural and Diversity Education.