Greening the Globe
“Eco-Apartheid or Educational Equity: Building Green and Orange Pathways out of Poverty”
Monday, October 5, 12 noon, 8417 Social Science
“Hip Hop as Liberatory Praxis: Using Hip Hop to Build an Environmental Justice Movement”
Monday, October 5, 7pm, 1100 Grainger
Dr. A.A. AKOM is one of the most important emerging voices on anti-racism, environmental justice, and educational equity in the United States. He is a powerful speaker with a unique ability to connect with diverse audiences. A writer, activist, and educator, he has spoken on numerous college and high school campuses including UC Berkeley, Stanford, Harvard, Texas, as well as in the heart of the prison industrial complex at San Quentin and in San Francisco County Jails. A Freirian teacher, an organic intellectual, and a health activist, Akom has provided anti-racism trainings and engaged in collaborative consulting projects with several large urban and suburban districts nationwide, as welll as with public health organizations, community-based organizations, around the world. As one of America’s leading experts on health inequality and educational equity, Akom’s research examines common urban challenges including: health disparities, educational equity, affordable housing, environmental racism, and unequal access to high quality food markets, transit, and open space. His work offers comprehensive solutions and inspirational models for two of America’s biggest social problems—environmental degradation and educational under-achievement. His unique way of addressing race, class, gender and other axes of social difference not only serve to rejuvenate hope, but also create new frameworks for reducing health and educational disparities in our classrooms and communities. Akom is currently editing two books, Greening the Globe: A Critical Reader on Environmental Health, Educational Equity, and Social Justice; and The Hip Hop and Critical Pedagogy Reader: Re-Imagining Race, Space, and Power in Classrooms in Communities (Peter Lang Press). He is also working on his first solo authored book, Ameritocracy: The Racing of our Nations School Children, where he explores African American and Latina/o advocacy around issues of environmental toxins, medicalized models of social unrest, and racial disparities in health and education. Always thought provoking, provocative, and cutting edge, Akom is a highly sought after speaker among national and international audiences for his important commentaries on environmental justice, urban education, public health, and urban planning.