W.E.B. Du Bois: The Forgotten Founder of American Sociology
Monday, March 26, 2012
Noon-1 p.m.
Butler Reception Room
Aldon Morris, Ph.D., is the Leon Forrest Professor of Sociology and African American Studies at Northwestern University. He is completing a book examining the sociology of W.E.B. Du Bois and his preeminent role as a founder of American sociology. Morris is a former Chair of Sociology, Director of Asian American Studies and Interim Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern University.
Du Bois was one of a handful of scholars of the 20th century with a sustained global impact on sociological, literary and political knowledge. In this talk, Morris will draw on evidence from his forthcoming book demonstrating that Du Bois was the founding father of scientific sociology in the United States; that is, American scientific sociology was founded in a segregated black university by a black man.
This research disconfirms the accepted wisdom that American scientific sociology was founded by elite white sociologists in elite white universities. This talk will explore the methods Du Bois pioneered and his novel theorizing that laid the foundations for subsequent sociological analysis, and will offer a radical revision of the dynamic forces that undergird knowledge production in social science.
For more information, contact Elijah G. Ward, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Sociology and Director, African American Studies at eward@sxu.edu
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