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Ford Hall Forum

The Ford Hall Forum is the nation's oldest continuously operating free public lecture series. Its mission is to foster an informed and effective citizenry and to promote freedom of speech through the public presentation of lectures, debates, and discussions. Forum events illuminate the key issues facing our society by bringing to its podium knowledgeable and thought-provoking speakers. These speakers are presented in person, for free, and in settings, which facilitate frank and open debate.

http://www.fordhallforum.org/

Deliberate and Unafraid: Examining the Plight of the Black Woman Cultural Critic

Thu, May 12, 2022

As cultural criticism becomes more valuable than ever, marginalized writers are still routinely pushed to the sidelines and no one is more ostracized than the Black woman critic. But what happens when they manage to find the courage to write–and ultimately find success–anyway? Join award-winning Boston Globe cultural columnist Jeneé Osterheldt as she moderates a discussion among journalist Clarissa Brooks, writer, cultural critic, and community organizer, Erica Campbell, News Editor at NME, and Candace McDuffie, journalist and cultural critic, as they explore this topic in depth. ### Resources Books that inspired Clarissa: [Misogynoir](https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/misogynoir-transformed-black-womens-digital-resistance_moya-bailey/27142551/item/47825335/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw4PKTBhD8ARIsAHChzRKoOuoT1rUk2vypC1Uu6z19R7vIcZSeLWUexSs_NzNoS7hDoMDKaxYaApt5EALw_wcB#idiq=47825335&edition=58138873) - ['Glitch Feminism'](https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/glitch-feminism-a-manifesto/26138950/item/41838276/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw4PKTBhD8ARIsAHChzRKFWg5GKAzFraqNEkLWiHA6D2xUGLWLIl9cEZ42DEfrM7baCn2J_XoaAi2TEALw_wcB#isbn=1786632667&idiq=41838276) [Jia Tolentino on what happens when life is an endless performance](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jia-tolentino-on-what-happens-when-life-is-endless/id1081584611?i=1000447807714) [The Guardian: The journalist as influencer: how we sell ourselves on social media](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/oct/20/caroline-calloway-writers-journalists-social-media-influencers) [Black Criticism Is Always Good — Especially When Black Art Isn’t](https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2021/05/10463837/black-criticism-important-them-series-backlash) [NY Times: The Vitality of Black Criticism](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/07/arts/music/black-critics-pop-conference.html) [What Happens When the Line Between Hip-Hop Journalist & Online Personality Becomes Blurry?](https://www.okayplayer.com/culture/no-jumper-dj-akademiks-hip-hop-journalist-2018.html)

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Catherine Filloux and Claudia Bernardi: Under The Skin

Thu, May 5, 2022

Catherine Filloux is an internationally recognized award-winning playwright who has been writing about human rights and social justice for over 25 years. Her new one-person play “Under the Skin” is about the internationally acclaimed visual artist and human rights activist Claudia Bernardi, who is part of a generation that grew up in Argentina under a military junta, Filloux and Bernardi show clips from the virtual workshop of the play and share how they embarked on this collaboration of trust, having first met in Belfast, Northern Ireland. They discuss aspects of the play including its historical perspectives, Bernardi’s participation with the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team, as well as the community art model Bernardi has shared with communities that suffered political violence in many parts of the world. The conversation is moderated by Toni Shapiro-Phim, PhD, a Brandeis University professor whose work focuses on efforts at the nexus of the arts, human rights, and social justice concerns, and who has worked with Filloux and Bernardi in theatrical, educational, and community endeavors. ### Resources The Disappeared Are Appearing: Murals that Recover Communal Memory International Journal of Transitional Justice Oxford University Press Published: 26 November 2019 Claudia Bernardi: Author [Abstract](https://academic.oup.com/ijtj/article-abstract/14/1/193/5643962) [Article (free access)](https://academic.oup.com/ijtj/article/14/1/193/5643962?guestAccessKey=3d64083b-09fe-45ed-81a4-9d64b29b6ae3) [Argentinian Artist Claudia Bernardi Visually Unearths Brutalities Of Past Present](https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackieabramian/2021/01/07/argentinian-artist-claudia-bernardi-visually-unearths-brutalities-of-past-and-present/?sh=75f959b53a07) By Jackie Abramian FORBES Magazine [“La Bestia/ The Beast”](https://solispress.com/9781910146460.html) Claudia Bernardi: Author Voices On The Move: An Anthology About And By Refugees Edited by Domnica Radulescu and Roxana Cazan Solis Press/ England 2020 [Cartography](https://smoca.org/2020/06/17/museum-musings-claudia-bernardi/ ) Claudia Bernardi: Author Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art [Second Chances](https://directory.weadartists.org/second-chances) Claudia Bernardi: Author WEAD, Women Eco Artists Dialog [“The Tenacity of Memory”](https://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9783319749648) by Claudia Bernardi “Doubling the Voice, Expanding the Frame: Re-imagining Witnessing Against Torture” Bringing together the voices of torture survivors from TASSC International with non-survivor academics, clinicians, and advocates Edited by Elizabeth Swanson, Ph. D. and Alexandra Schultheis Moore [Horrors and Dreams](http://clas.berkeley.edu/research/art-horrors-and-dreams) Claudia Bernardi: Author Berkeley Review of Latin American Studies, University of California, Berkeley, Fall 2015. “Urdimbre de Historia” Claudia Bernardi: Author Aesthethika, Revista Internacional de Estudio e Investigación Interdisciplinaria sobre Subjetividad, Política y Arte International Journal for the Study and International Investigation of Subjectivity, Politics and Art. Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina. Vol 8, No 1, Septiembre 2012 ISSN 1553-5053 [Version online](http://www.aesthethika.org/Urdimbre-de-historias) “An Angel Passes By: Silence and Memories at El Mozote” Claudia Bernardi: Author “Inhabiting Memory: Essays on Memory and Human Rights in the Americas” Edited by Marjorie Agosin Wing Press, San Antonio, Texas “The Moral Imagination Embodied/ Insights from Artists Navigating Hybrid Identities In Scholarship and Practice” by Kathryn M. Lance The International Journal of Conflict Engagement and Resolution 2016 (4) 1 55 doi: 10.5553/IJCER/221199652016004001004

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Midterm Pulse Check: Can Biden’s Party Beat the Odds?

Wed, Apr 20, 2022

There is a widespread expectation that the Democrats will suffer losses in the 2022 midterms at all levels. This would not be unusual, since it is a regular pattern in which the party of the president in office loses ground in midterm elections. The political environment is challenging, with pain at the gas pump, inflation stretching pay checks, pandemic fatigue, disappointment with what Biden has not been able to deliver, the war in Ukraine, and bitter partisan divisions over hot button issues. Will Biden’s performance amidst all this bad news be rewarded or punished at the polls? The closing episode of this series will examine the state of the state —and the race— as we approach midterms. Experts in political economy, polling, campaigning, and presidential politics will unpack what’s important and pull out their crystal balls to look ahead to what will happen in November.

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Taking Stock: Biden’s Equity Agenda

Tue, Apr 5, 2022

Upon assuming office, President Biden proposed an ambitious equity agenda, designed to address systemic racial, gender, ethnic and economic disparities. One year into his Presidency, we will examine his record. He has made some historic picks to lead his Administration and nominated the first black woman to serve on the Supreme Court. However, even a much scaled down social spending bill—which would have delivered some of the most consequential investments in the social safety net since the New Deal—seems dead in the water. The Biden Administration’s efforts to address voting rights, immigration policy and economic inequalities have been stalled by a deeply divided Congress. GBH News Senior Reporter Phillip Martin leads a panel discussion to examine the present impact and future fate of Biden’s equity agenda, the fierce backlash, and how this is likely to influence voter enthusiasm in the midterms. This series builds upon Suffolk University’s historic mission of access, opportunity, and engagement with our alumni and the communities to which we belong. It’s sponsored by the Department of Political Science and Legal Studies in collaboration with the Ford Hall Forum, The Washington Center and GBH’s Forum Network.

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Too hot to handle: Climate Change meets American Politics

Wed, Mar 23, 2022

The newly released United Nations IPCC Report tells us we are at the point of no return with climate change, and that the situation is worse than they thought. It’s easy to see: wildfires, epic storms, floods, and droughts worsen each year. Combine that with rising sea levels, loss of species and the changing weather affecting our growing seasons, and the situation looks grim indeed. World leaders attending COP26 last November did not produce an international agreement to mitigate carbon emissions and turn the tide. Meanwhile, President Biden’s climate proposals have been stripped from his major legislative efforts, forcing him to resort to executive action, which has in turn been blocked by courts. Young people have had enough and are taking to the streets to protest while climate skeptics and lobbyists push harder for the status quo. What are the implications of this impasse? Environment Correspondent Carolyn Beeler leads a discussion looking into the science, policy and politics of the climate crisis now and what actions must happen next to pull us back from the brink.

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The Great Divide: Policy Making in Polarized Times

Tue, Mar 1, 2022

From charged school board meetings to shouting matches in Congress, on social media platforms and increasingly partisan media outlets, the level of incivility and outright hostility to anyone with views opposed to one’s own is alarming and unproductive. Real policy debates and compromise cannot be accomplished in an environment in which participants ascribe malign intent or even dehumanize others. Polarization in the United States has created both legislative stasis at the federal level and also widened the red state/blue state gulf, all contributing to a widespread lack of trust in democratic institutions by voters. How did we get here and how can we dial down the divisions? How will this impact our democracy? President Biden promised a return to civility in his Inaugural Address. Has he made any headway or is the situation only worsening? Join us to unpack these questions with former policymakers and experts in the field. The Washington Post's Arjun Singh moderates a panel discussion with former congressmen Scott Klug (R-WI) and Larry LaRocco (D-ID) as well as democracy scholar Dr. Jennifer McCoy.

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Challenges to Safeguarding our Democracy

Wed, Feb 16, 2022

Is there an alert system to notify us about the health of our democracy? In this episode we will examine the impact of partisan rancor not seen since the Civil War, declining trust in institutions, doubts about our election process, and the insurrection on January 6, 2021. There is emerging consensus that democracy in the United States is threatened. What can we do about it? Our panel will consider the health of our democracy and discuss solutions for restoring faith in our institutions and our democratic systems for everyone. This series builds upon Suffolk University’s historic mission of access, opportunity, and engagement with our alumni and the communities to which we belong. It’s sponsored by the Department of Political Science and Legal Studies in collaboration with the Ford Hall Forum, The Washington Center and GBH’s Forum Network.

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Pulse Check: Biden’s Agenda One Year In

Wed, Jan 26, 2022

One year into the Biden Administration how can we assess its performance? Which of the priority agenda items have seen progress? What have been the successes, failures and the reasons for these in the world he inherited? How has that landscape changed? Which areas are most meaningful for the health of our democracy, the health of the world that future generations will inherit? Join us as we attempt to unpack these questions and “score” Biden’s performance heading into midterms that are widely predicted to bring him a similar “shellacking” that President Obama acknowledged in his first midterm cycle.

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Exploring Unconventional Black Feminist Art

Wed, Nov 17, 2021

Boston Globe cultural columnist Jeneé Osterheldt moderates a discussion with three Black women artists. She asks what makes their work a beautiful resistance and explores why Black femme radical imagination and art is a beautiful resistance. Learn about the inspiration behind each woman's work and how their chosen craft is what Audre Lorde would call _a vital necessity of our existence._ Osterheldt delves into what it means to be Black and femme and how everyone loves a Black woman until she dare speak for herself and use her art as her portal. She shines a light on the backlash experienced by Candace McDuffie and shares her own experience with death threats, as well as what nearly all Black women with a platform endure both by their own community and other communities. She brings in a little Toni, a little bell, a little of each artist and how we root for one another and persist through the f**kery. ###Resources [A Beautiful Resistance](bostonglobe.com/abeautifulresistance) | Instagram: @abeautifulresistance Poems by Ashley Rose: [Poem for Mayor Janey 100th Day in Office](https://youtu.be/c312nGSzsoc) [The Haunting 2020 NAACP Convention Poem of the Year/ March for Mothers BLM ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXJL3etwAZU&authuser=0) Ashley's WGBH Stories from the Stage, [The 1996 Flood of Roslindale](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_-1ubOolps&authuser=0) [“Not Liking Beyoncé's "Kitty Kat" Doesn't Make Me Anti-Black,”](https://www.essence.com/op-ed/not-liking-beyonces-kitty-kat-doesnt-make-me-anti-black/ ) by Candace McDuffie for _Essence_. Listen to Oompa’s single [“Closer”](https://open.spotify.com/album/5kVUFD5JzgqsrfSOt0j3hR?si=2JH09NCNTSSV1J058rQDlw&nd=1 ) Oompa’s latest album, [UNBOTHERED](https://open.spotify.com/album/4awaXFZzfvJT9g3Qm3nwnN?si=WKv62JI5ROuGkGZe9THrMg&nd=1 ) was released independently on October 1

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Ford Hall Forum: Laura Spinney on How the 1918 Spanish Flu Changed the World

Thu, Oct 7, 2021

Laura Spinney, internationally acclaimed science journalist and author, will discuss her latest non-fiction title, "Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How it Changed the World." In the book, Spinney examines the enduring effects of the pandemic flu, which killed over 50 million people worldwide, and society's response: how it altered global politics, race relations, family structures, and thinking across medicine, religion, and the arts. Spinney will discuss the parallels or lack thereof between the Spanish Flu and COVID-19, what we can learn from history, how pandemics begin and how they end, and our tendency to forget pandemics. The afternoon’s moderator is Udodiri R. Okwandu, Presidential Scholar, Harvard University.

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