Fenno talk opens conference on race

Fenno

roundtable discussion with Congressional scholar and Distinguished University Professor Richard Fenno Jr. will open a conference devoted to new perspectives on the study of race and political representation May 2 to 4 at the University.

Sponsored by the Center for the Study of African-American Politics, experts will examine detailed portraits and analyses in Fenno's latest book, Going Home: Black Representatives and Their Constituents. The discussion begins at 3 p.m. Friday, May 2, in the Great Hall of Rush Rhees Library and is free and open to the pubic.

One of the nation's most respected scholars of Congress, Fenno is the William J. Kenan Professor of Political Science at Rochester. He has written more than a dozen books about Congress and the American system of government.

Fenno will be joined by three panelists who have researched and lectured on topics central to power in the black community, its political representatives, and other aspects of African-American politicians: David Canon, professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and author of Race, Redistricting, and Representation; Carol Swain, professor of law and of political science at Vanderbilt University, known for her highly acclaimed book Black Faces, Black Interests: The Representation of African Americans in Congress; and William Nelson, professor of political science and research professor of African-American and African Studies at Ohio State University, who has focused his research and teaching on black politics and public policy, among other specialties, and is the author of Black Atlantic Politics: Dilemmas of Political Empowerment in Boston and Liverpool.

Valeria Sinclair-Chapman, assistant professor of political science, will be moderator of the discussion. This spring's conference has been organized by the Center for the Study of African-American Politics at the University. Under the direction of Fredrick Harris, associate professor of political science, the center takes an interdisciplinary approach to the study of African-American issues and is one of a few university-affiliated centers for research in African-American politics and society in the United States. Within the College, the center is associated with the Department of Political Science and the Frederick Douglass Institute for African and African-American Studies.

After the opening session, the conference will move to Hutchison House on East Avenue on Saturday, May 3, and Sunday, May 4, for presentations of academic papers by political scientists from around the country.

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