Cultural and media critic Sut Jhally will visit Denison University as part of the Harriet Ewens Beck Lecture Series. One of the world's leading experts on advertising and media studies, Jhally will speak on "The Media and the New Racism: Why America Can't Think Straight About Race." The lecture is set for 6 p.m., Thursday (Nov. 15) in the Slayter Hall Auditorium and is free and open to the public. Jhally, a renowned public speaker and teacher, is the founder and executive director of The Media Education Foundation.

"Jhally's lecture will discuss how images in popular culture confuse Americans' thinking about race and class, and how these images leave Americans helpless to deal with national controversies," says Gareth Euridge, assistant professor of English at Denison. Jhally will also discuss the violent and desperate state of the inner cities in America.

Jhally is the author of four books and numerous scholarly and popular articles. The producer of a dozen films, he is best known for his controversial and award-winning film,Dreamworlds: Desire/Sex/Power in Music Video. The film was described by the Los Angeles Times as "a scathing examination of pop video's use and abuse of women." Other films by Jhally include:The DateRape Backlash: Advertising and the End of the World; andKilling Us Softly 3 ? Advertising's Image of Women.

He has won the coveted "Distinguished Teacher Award" at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where the student newspaper also voted him "Best Professor." He was named one of New Woman magazine's "People of the Year" in 1992.

The Beck Lecture Series features scholars whose work is in the field of creative writing and is made possible by the Harriet Ewens Beck Fund. The fund is named in honor of the late Harriet Ewens Beck and was established by her husband, Gordon Clark Beck, a 1906 Denison graduate. Over 250 distinguished writers - poets, novelists, short story writers, dramatists, and critics - have visited Denison as Beck lecturers in the past 32 years.

About Denison:

Denison University, founded in 1831, is an independent, residential liberal arts institution located in Granville, Ohio. A highly selective college enrolling 2,100 full-time undergraduate students from all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries, Denison is a place where innovative faculty and motivated students collaborate in rigorous scholarship, civic engagement and the cultivation of independent thinking.

For press inquiries:

Name

Barbara Stambaugh

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Director, Media Relations

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stambaughb@denison.edu

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(740) 587-8575