Scholars to discuss Spike Lee’s ‘Chi-Raq’

In a dialogue centered on Spike Lee’s latest film, “Chi-Raq,” a distinguished guest-scholar will join UIC faculty to address the film’s depiction of gender and sexuality and black identity, its setting in Chicago and director Lee’s delving into the city’s violence problem as an outsider.

UIC’s department of African American studies presents the panel discussion, “African American Studies Examines Pop Culture: Spike Lee’s ‘Chi-Raq,’” at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Residents’ Dining Hall, Jane Addams Hull-House Museum.

Guest panelist is Salamishah Tillet, associate professor of English and Africana studies at the University of Pennsylvania and the co-founder of A Long Walk Home, Inc., a nonprofit that uses art therapy and visual and performing arts to end violence against girls and women. Tillet wrote a New York Times article in December, “In Spike Lee’s ‘Chi-Raq,’ It’s Women vs. Men, With a Vengeance.”

UIC panelists include Beth Richie, professor of African American studies and criminology, law and justice; David Stovall, professor of educational policy studies and African-American studies; and Elizabeth Todd-Brieland, assistant professor of history.

For information, call 312-996-2950.