1. Kansas State University
  2. »Division of Communications and Marketing
  3. »K-State Today
  4. »American Ethnic Studies Showcase lectures 2018 begin today with Jessica Falcone

K-State Today

February 27, 2018

American Ethnic Studies Showcase lectures 2018 begin today with Jessica Falcone

Submitted by Russell Norris

2018 American Ethnic Studies Showcase lectures

The American ethnic studies department faculty and affiliated faculty have recently presented research lectures around the globe: in Canada, Mexico, the Netherlands, Cuba, Morocco, Yoeme Nation, Australia and New Zealand. The American Ethnic Studies Showcase lecture series began in fall 2017 in an effort to promote intellectual diversity on campus and showcase American ethnic studies in the campus community and broader community. The showcase makes it possible for K-State faculty and students to engage with cutting-edge diverse research, fostering cohesion and greater understanding of people of color.

The 2018 lectures begin at 1:05 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 27, in 201A Waters Hall with a presentation by Jessica Falcone, titled "American Buddhist Landscapes." Falcone will argue that scholars working with a diverse array of American Buddhists can, and should, utilize inclusive language in their scholarship. Her lecture is based on ethnographic work with a Japanese-American-established Zen community in Hawaii, as well as two very different Tibetan Buddhist American communities.

Falcone is a Philadelphia native who received her doctorate in sociocultural anthropology from Cornell University. She is currently an associate professor of anthropology at K-State, as well as the coordinator for the anthropology program. In cultivating expertise in South Asian studies through anthropological fieldwork, Falcone has engaged with research spanning grassroots activism in India; transnational Tibetan Buddhist discourse regarding holy objects and prophecy in India's pilgrimage places; notions of cultural citizenship in the Tibetan diaspora in India; collegiate Gujarati-American dance competitions; extremist Hindu-American summer camps; and finally, Sikh-American activism post-9/11. She is currently engaged in an ethnographic research on Zen Buddhist practice and community in Kona, Hawaii.

The following presenters also are part of the 2018 American Ethnic Studies Showcase:

  • Yolanda Broyles-González, "César Chávez and The Chican@ Civil Rights Movement," 11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. March 15, 13 Leasure Hall. 
  • April Petillo, "Native Nations (re)Building: Community Defined Development," noon April 16, 13 Leasure Hall.
  • Isabel Millán, "Social Justice in Chicana/Latina Children's Picture Books," 1:05 p.m. April 24, 112 Leasure Hall.