Scholar, poet and black women’s studies expert Akasha Hull will discuss “Marrying Sex and Spirituality” as keynote speaker at the Women and Spirituality Conference Saturday, Oct. 23.
The 29th annual conference, which continues Sunday, Oct. 24, will include 90 vendors and more than 100 workshops and discussions exploring a variety of topics through discovery, interaction, ritual and celebration. As many as 1,000 people are expected to attend.
Hull’s keynote talk will be from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Centennial Student Union Ballroom. The conference also will feature a free Saturday night drum circle at 7:30 p.m. in the Centennial Student Union lower level.
The conference is intended to encourage dialogue among women and men from different spiritual and religious traditions. It is co-sponsored by the Minnesota State Mankato Women’s Studies Department, College of Social & Behavioral Sciences and Office of Institutional Diversity.
Hull has written four books, one monograph and two short stories, as well as articles, reviews, poems and chapters in professional journals, textbooks, magazines and anthologies. She also has edited three collections. Her poetry has been featured in numerous collections.
Her latest book, "Soul Talk: The New Spirituality of African-American Women," has been endorsed by Toni Morrison and praised by Publishers Weekly as “powerful, practical and nourishing gumbo…of the heart and spirit.”
Her compilation of essays, "All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men, But Some of Us Are Brave," is considered a black women’s studies landmark, and it won the National Institute for Women of Color Award.
She has taught women’s studies and literature at the University of California-Santa Cruz, the University of Delaware and the University of the West Indies-Mona in Kingston, Jamaica. Hull earned a bachelor’s degree from Southern University at Baton Rouge, La. She earned master’s and Ph.D. degrees from Purdue University.
The Women and Spirituality Conference is open to students, faculty, staff and the public, but participants must register by Oct. 1 to qualify for reduced rates. General registration costs $60, but reduced rates are available for students or low-income attendees. More information is available online or may E-mail veldhc@mnsu.edu.
For MSU events: individuals with a disability, who need reasonable accommodation to participate in this event, are asked to contact the Office of Disability Services at 507-389-2825 (V/TTD), 800-627-3529 or 711 (MRS/TTD) at least five days prior to the event.
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