About this Event
Join us for a thought-provoking book talk featuring Jonathan Metzl with panelists Holly McCall, Keith Caldwell, and Phyllis D.K. Hildreth and moderator Dr. Tracy Sharpley-Whiting as they discuss Dr. Metzl's groundbreaking book, "What We've Become: Living and Dying in a Country of Arms." Metzl is a gun violence expert who writes about gun violence in America to address stereotypes that link guns with race or mental illness, or that blame mental illness for mass shootings and other gun crimes.
About the Book:
What We've Become provides a critical analysis of America's relationship with firearms, examining how this culture influences and shapes our lives and deaths. Through a blend of narrative and research, the author, Dr. Jonathan Metzl, illuminates the impact of gun violence on individuals and communities, challenging readers to reconsider the values and policies surrounding this pervasive issue.
About the Panelists:
- Dr. Jonathan Metzl is the Frederick B. Rentschler II Professor of Sociology and Psychiatry and the director of the Department of Medicine, Health, and Society, at Vanderbilt University. Dr. Metzl is the award-winning author of seven books including What We've Become: Living and Dying in a Country of Arms. Being a gun violence expert, professor, and psychiatrist allows Dr. Metzl to speak and write about gun violence in America, and in particular to address stereotypes that link guns with race or mental illness, or that blame mental illness for mass shootings and other gun crimes.
- Holly McCall is the editor-in-chief of the Tennessee Lookout, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news outlet dedicated to covering Tennessee state government, politics and policy and an award-winning columnist. She has been a fixture in Tennessee media and politics for decades. Her lifelong interest in politics was spurred by her mother, Patricia McCall, who served six terms as a member of the Franklin (Tenn.) Special Schools District Board in the 1970s and 1980s, and McCall took her first political job as a Tennessee legislative page in 1980. She has served in communications roles for, among others, the presidential primary campaigns of Hillary Clinton (2016) and Michael Bloomberg (2020) and in the administration of Nashville Mayor Karl Dean.
- Keith Caldwell is an advocate and activist focused on gun violence prevention and community health. He is a graduate of American Baptist College in Nashville, Tennessee and has pursued graduate studies at Vanderbilt University School of Divinity. He was trained by Rev. James Lawson in nonviolent philosophies and was appointed as Senior Pastor at Centenary United Methodist Church in Memphis.
- Phyllis D. K. Hildreth is Vice President for Strategy and Institutional Advancement at the American Baptist College and also heads the college’s Called to Lives of Meaning and Purpose Initiative. She was previously Associate Professor at Lipscomb University’s College of Leadership and Public Service; Chief Counsel, Maryland Public Defenders’ Office; Deputy Secretary, Maryland’s Department of Juvenile Justice, and Managing Director, Baltimore City Juvenile Justice Center. Ms. Hildreth serves on the boards of the Metro Government Community Oversight Board in Nashville and the Children’s Defense Fund and the Nashville Conflict Resolution Center.
- Dr. Tracy D. Sharpley-Whiting is Vice Provost for Arts, Libraries, and Global Engagement and the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Distinguished Professor of African American and Diaspora Studies and French and Italian at Vanderbilt University. She was previously Associate Provost of Academic Advancement. Founding editor of the journal Palimpsest, co-chair of CHAT, and a member of the research collective Le Groupe de Recherche d’ACHAC, she is a trained European comparativist and a feminist scholar of the African Diaspora in the Americas, Anglophone and Francophone Africa, and Europe. Author/editor of 16 books, her latest include the co-edited Sexualités, identité & corps colonisés: XVe siècle – XXIe siècle (Groupe de Groupe de Recherche ACHAC, 2019) and La Vénus hottentote: écrits, 1810 à 1814, suivi des textes inédits (L’Harmattan, 2018). She is currently writing Men I’d Like to Have Known and the One Woman I’d Like to Have Met. Sharpley-Whiting earned her Ph.D. in French Studies from Brown University.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Vanderbilt Divinity School, 411 21st Ave S, Nashville, United States
USD 0.00
