The CUNY Baccalaureate Blog

B.A. June 2005, Cultural Studies and Revolutionary Discourse

• Cum Laude
• Dean’s List
• CUNY BA/BS Alumni Scholarship
• Thomas W. Smith Academic Fellowship
• Harriet Brows Scholarship
• St. Croix United Steelworkers Union Scholarship

In consultation with Prof. Bruce Habegger, Art and Steve Leberstein, History, City College, Charles McDonald crafted a concentration combining classes from Hunter, City and The Graduate Center that integrate his political, artistic, and intellectual life. His scholarship focuses on issues of migration, anti-colonial struggle, human rights, anti-war movements, and structures of international law and justice. An accomplished photographer, his degree also includes courses on the history, aesthetics and politics of photography. He traces the origins of his interest in photo-graphy and social movements to his unmasking of St. Croix history. Photography led him to folk stories and oral traditions, which led him to learn that “rather than having been ‘given’ freedom by a benevolent governor as I had been taught in school, the slaves of St. Croix led one of only two successful slave revolts in the Caribbean. Out of my research came the realization that the power to define oneself rather than be defined is crucial to challenging power dynamics which oppress communities. I wanted to further investigate the role photography played as a medium of the masses in shaping and documenting communal identity and history.” As a poet, his work has appeared in the Hunter College literary magazine; as a spoken word artist, he has performed around the city; as a photographer, his work was featured in a solo show at the Jack Doroshow Gallery and in the City College Spring 2004 Student Photo Exhibit. McDonald worked with advocacy groups such as ACORN, Safe Horizon, the Sept 11 Fund, and NYPIRG. McDonald is currently enrolled in the Master’s in Liberal Studies (American Studies) program at the CUNY Graduate Center.