Lincoln (Neb.) - Feb. 24, 2000 - Ronald Takaki, professor of ethnic studies at the University of California at Berkeley and the nation's preeminent multi-culturalism scholar, will speak March 5 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Takaki's speech, "The Coming Multi-cultural Millennium - Bringing it Home to the UNL Community," begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Centennial Room of the Nebraska Union, 1400 R St. It is free and open to the public. A sign language interpreter will be present.
In the 21st century, there will not be a white majority in the United States and Takaki's home state is on the cutting edge of this tremendous demographic transformation. In only a few years, whites will be a minority in California - just like African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans and Hispanics. By 2050, we will all be minorities.
Takaki will ask his audience to rethink the very way they view history. His position is that by facing our national past more accurately and honestly, we can guide ourselves toward the opening rather than the closing of the American mind, and toward the uniting rather than the disuniting of the American people.
The author of seven books, Takaki most-recently published "A Different
Mirror: A History of Multicultural America" (1993), a study of American
diversity among its people from the founding of Jamestown in 1607 to the
end of the Cold War in the 1990s. It analyzes comparatively the
experiences of African Americans, Asian Americans, Chicanos and Native
Americans, as well as English, Irish and Jewish Americans. A book signing
will follow his UNL address and copies of "A Different Mirror" will be
available for sale.
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