April 26 Book Talk on Cosmopolitan Canopy Proposes Alternate Concept of Race, Civility

Cosmopolitan Canopy Proposes Alternate Concept of Race, Civility

April 26 Book Talk with Author, Acclaimed Sociologist Elijah Anderson

(Washington, DC)-Noted author and acclaimed Yale sociologist Elijah Anderson will speak about his recent book, The Cosmopolitan Canopy: Race and Civility in Everyday Life, at a special program on Thursday, April 26, 2012 at 6:30pm at Busboys & Poets, 14^th and V Streets, NW in Washington, DC.  Busboys & Poets founder Andy Shallal will introduce Anderson and the discussion will be moderated by Virginia Tech’s Derek Hyra, Associate Professor of Urban Affairs and Planning.  The public is invited to attend this free event, co-sponsored by Virginia Tech’s School for Public and International Affairs and its Urban Affairs and Planning Program, George Washington University’s Department of Sociology and Teaching for Change. See the flyer at http://tinyurl.com/7aofl49.

About the author: Elijah Anderson holds the William K. Lanman, Jr. Professorship in Sociology at Yale University, where he teaches and directs the Urban Ethnography Project. His most prominent works include The Cosmopolitan Canopy and the award-winning books Code of the Street and Streetwise. His writings have also appeared in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, and The New York Times Book Review. He lives in New Haven and Philadelphia.

About the book: The Cosmoplitan Canopy offers a significant reinterpretation of America’s racial dynamics.  “Following his award-winning work on inner-city violence, Code of the Street, sociologist Elijah Anderson introduces the concept of the "cosmopolitan canopy"-the urban island of civility that exists amidst the ghettos, suburbs, and ethnic enclaves where segregation is the norm. Under the cosmopolitan canopy, diverse peoples come together, and for the most part practice getting along. Anderson's path-breaking study of this setting provides a new understanding of the complexities of present-day race relations and reveals the unique opportunities here for cross-cultural interaction.” (Source: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., Publishers)