2024 Inaugural Juneteenth Lecture and Dialogue Mixer

Assistant Professor of Communication at CU Boulder, who specializes in African American Studies, critical race theory, and critical hip hop studies Dr. Danielle Hodge, delivered a Juneteenth keynote address titled, "Loving Blackness and Humanizing Imagination: (Re)engaging Shared Equity Leadership in June 2024.  As an Assistant Professor of Communication at CU Boulder, who specializes in African American Studies, critical race theory, and critical hip hop studies, Dr. Hodge's work is a profound exploration of how racism and its intersecting oppressions are embedded in our everyday talk, communicative practices, institutions, and overall society.

A dialogue mixer followed the next day.  CU Dialogues understands dialogue mixer as a semi-structured interactive dialogue session designed to encourage participants to engage in meaningful conversations with a variety of people in a short amount of time. The goal of a dialogue mixer is to facilitate the exchange of diverse perspectives, promote radical listening, and foster a sense of community. 

In 2021, Dr. Hodge delivered a Juneteenth Keynote titled "Liberatory Love and Freedom: Radical Reenvisionings” for the University of Colorado Four-Campus System. The 2024 address built on that foundation and introduced humanizing imagination as a transformative approach to shared equity leadership. Dr. Hodge presents humanizing imagination as a framework that merges humanizing equity with radical imagination, offering sociopolitical possibilities for achieving equity.

Following the address, we asked participants what the most impactful part of the address was. Respondents shared:

"The idea that we all have the agency and ability and obligation to engage in collective imagination and action to shift our communities beyond anti-blackness."

"Dr. Hodge's address was very meaningful for me. I was impacted by Dr. Hodge's invitation to imagine as a revolutionary act. Her description and imagery of Black joy was beautiful, powerful, and moving."

"The presentation and delivery was top notch incredible. I loved how she used narrative stories to bring the viewers in and candor that really grounded the address and made it thought provoking and inspiring."