UMD News: April 2, 2001

Communication Associate: Public Relations | Lori Melton | lmelton@d.umn.edu | (218) 726-8830

April 2, 2001
Susan Beasy Latto, Director of Public Relations 218 726-8830
Drew Digby, UMD Department of History 218 726-6201 ddigby@d.umn.edu

UMD Presents Lecture---April 4
"Sex in the Country: Politics and Representations Beyond the Metropolis"

The UMD Department of History will sponsor a lecture entitled "Sex in the Country: Politics and Representations Beyond the Metropolis", by Dr. Richard Phillips, Department of Geography, University of Salford, Manchester, England, on Wednesday, April 4th at 6 p.m. in the UMD Tweed Museum of Art. The presentation is free and open to the public.

The lecture is part of an initiative to stimulate research on cultural and historical topics related to sexuality outside of major metropolitan regions. In addition to the public lecture, Dr. Phillips will participate in UMD classroom discussions with students and in a faculty seminar.

Dr. Phillips' visit is also part of a campaign by the Northeast Minnesota Historical Center to develop its archival collections on underrepresented groups in the region. The Northeastern Minnesota Historical Center is a joint unit of the UMD College of Liberal Arts and the St. Louis County Historical Society. It is housed in the UMD library.

Dr. Phillips is the co-editor of De-Centering Sexualities: Politics and Representations Beyond the Metropolis (Routledge 2000), a book designed to redress the imbalance in which sexual identities and politics in the city are privileged over those in the country. The book includes the interdisciplinary fields of history, geography, law, cultural studies, and gay & lesbian studies. He has also authored Imagined Geographies and Sexuality Politics: The City, The Country and The Age of Consent.

On Thursday, April 5th at 12 noon in the UMD Public Library, annex room 202, Dr. Phillips will also participate in a meeting to discuss ways to better preserve the history of the region's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community. The public is invited to attend this meeting.

Funds for the visit were provided by a grant from the UMD Chancellor's Office through the Chancellor's Diversity Initiative. Co-sponsors include: the UMD Department of Geography, Department of Composition, Tweed Museum of Art, and the Northeast Minnesota Historical Center.

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