KINGSTON, R.I. -- January 21, 2003 -- Paul Gilroy, a leading cultural theorist, will visit the University of Rhode Island’s Kingston campus next month to give the Ninth Annual Lecture on Multiculturalism.

Gilroy, chair of African American Studies and professor of sociology at Yale University, will speak on Thursday, Feb. 13 in Chafee Auditorium, Room 271 at 7:30 p.m. The talk, free and open to the public, is sponsored by URI’s Multicultural Center.

One of the leading voices in British cultural studies, Gilroy is especially concerned with issues such as the social construction of race: the intersection of race, culture, and power; post- colonial theory; and modernity and consciousness. His interdisciplinary writings have been described as idealist, expansionist, revisionist, and by some, iconoclastic.

His books and speeches have generated attention and debate. His 1993 book The Black Atlantic: Imagining Political Culture Beyond the Color Line, is a widely used and debated text in black studies, proposed to replace the field’s traditionally regional focus (Africa, America, the West Indies) with a broader approach.

His Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness won the American Book Award in 1994. Recent work includes Against Race: Imagining Political Culture Beyond the Color Line (Belknap Press Cambridge, Mass. 2000).

Born in London, Gilroy received his doctorate from Birmingham University, generally regarded as the intellectual cradle of British cultural studies. Prior to Yale, Gilroy was a professor of sociology at Goldsmiths College, the University of London.

Gilroy will visit the URI campus on Wednesday, Feb. 12 to speak to three classes and hold an open discussion.

The annual lecture on multiculturalism is a public series featuring nationally known scholars presenting lectures and stimulating debate. Since the fall of 1999, the lectures have focused on the significance and impact of multiculturalism in a global arena.

For more information, call 874-2851 or visit the Multicultural Center.